In a small village at the base of the Alpine mountains, a greedy young man--tired of living poorly with his elderly brother on a sheep farm--talks his sibling into climbing one of the highest peaks to raid a doomed Indian aircraft of its gold. Engrossing story from Henri Troyat's novel is genuinely beautiful to behold in color-saturated VistaVision. Critics at the time complained about the interspersing of on-location footage with studio shots, as well as the age difference between brothers Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner. Poor Tracy (already well into his golden years) seems pressed to the breaking point in this physical role, while scowling mercenary Wagner is one-note obstinate throughout. Still, Tracy's work is so fluid, so compassionate and believable, one gets caught up in this saga despite the picture's weaker attributes. Expository early scenes and other minor characters are practically irrelevant, and cinematographer Franz F. Planer captures it all with astute grace. **1/2 from ****

Some breathtakingly beautiful Technicolor cinematography is the real star of this moralistic adventure tale of greed, compassion and tragedy. The film starts off interesting, suddenly descends into boredom but ends up on a high note. Average them all together, and you get a film of such different highs and lows that it ranks only average.

An airplane crash on the top of a very high mountain peak has presumably killed the passengers flying from India to Paris. A rescue crew has to discontinue plans to get to the site, so young Robert Wagner decides to go there to steal money and valuables from the corpses and the shell of the plane. Determined somehow to stop him, his (much) older brother (Spencer Tracy) goes with him. The middle of the film focuses on the trek up the mountain and is so quiet with only infrequent dialog and sounds of the wind that it is rather difficult to remain awake. But once they reach the site, that's where everything explodes, making the dragging section of the film worth suffering through. Afterall, no matter how pretty snow can be, you get tired of looking at it, whether its on the movie screen or cluttering up your driveway.

Spencer Tracy was still one of the hottest actors around in the 1950's even though he was in his mid 50's. Time and lifestyle choices made him appear to be a decade older than he was, even if he was still vibrant in his energy. He plays the character as world weary and possibly with some mental deficiencies, yet still physically strong and morally sound. But there is no way that he could be Robert Wagner's older brother. The thirty year difference between them appears to be more as Wagner looks more in his late 20's than mid 30's. Having just played a psychopathic villain in "A Kiss Before Dying", he adds an amoral one with this character, and it is fascinating to watch him being destroyed by his greed. So performance wise, this film is a triumph, but in structure, it is weak.

Veteran actors Claire Trevor and William Demarest have small roles to add local color to the people at the foot of the mountain. I wanted to see more of Trevor and her character's devoted friendship to Tracy. So I must call this film a missed opportunity with artistic flair that lacks in an interesting narrative.

Sprawling adventure detailing the obsessive search for a crashed plane including spectacular scenarios , impressive images and maintains a fair degree of intrigue . Selfish and shady Chris Teller (a young Robert Wagner) pressures his older brother (snowy hair Spencer Tracy),a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims . As they set out to inspect an inter-continental routed aircraft that crashed in the French Alps . Suffering experiences in climbing the peak , it results to be evident that one brother intends to loot , while the other designs to save whatever he can .

Wonderfully photographed story dealing with greed and selflessness . Interesting screenplay by Ranald MacDougall , being faithfully based on the novel by Henry Troyat . Top-notch Spencer Tracy as an expert climber who attempts to care his younger brother , as usual , he displays a quiet dignity . Acceptable acting by Robert Wagner as an ambitious young with a ruthless charm . Beautiful Swiss Alps scenery falls to partially compensate for several dreary lapses and script's shortcomings , especially the disparity in their ages is disconcerting ; as both protagonists playing brothers, Spencer Tracy was 30 years older than Robert Wagner in real life ; Tracy previously portrayed Wagner's father in the western Broken lance . Very good support cast playing brief interpretations , such as Claire Trevor as Marie , William Demarest as Father Belacchi , Richard Arlen as Rivial , E.G. Marshall as Solange and gorgeous Anna Kashfi film debut as Hindu Girl . Very real climbing images as well as perfectly staged scenes , being marvelously photographed by Franz Planer , he fills the screen with excitement and suspense.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Edward Dmytryck .Filmmaker Edward , better known for overtly personal movies such as The Caine Mutiny was a craftsman whose career resulted to be interrupted by the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC),a congressional committee that employed ruthless tactics aimed at rooting out and destroying what it saw as Communist influence in Hollywood . A lifelong political leftist who had been a Communist Party member briefly during World War II, Dmytryk was one of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" who refused to cooperate with HUAC and had their careers disrupted or ruined as a result. The committee threw him in prison for refusing to cooperate, and after having spent several months behind bars , Dmytryk decided to cooperate . Dmytrick's biggest film was ¨The Caine Mutiny¨ , but he also realized another mutiny film titled : ¨Mutiny¨ with Angela Lansbury , Mark Stevens and Patrick Knowles . Edward was an expert on warlike genre as ¨Back to Batan¨ , ¨Battle of Anzio¨ , ¨Young lions¨ and Western as ¨Broken lance¨ , ¨Alvarez Kelly¨ , ¨Warlock¨ among others. Rating : a complete must see , it's recommended for Spencer Tracy and climbing buffs .