Mountaineering Documentary Movies

1902, cinematography by Frank Ormiston-Smith

Shot in 1941, this black-and-white instructional film (featuring actor Alan Ladd) serves as a veritable time capsule on the history of the sport,...

Following the successful ascent of Mont Blanc, the Warwick Trading Company expedition led by Frank Ormiston-Smith went on to film the ascent of the...

A record of the ascent and descent of Monte Rosa on skis by Arnold Fanck, Hans Rhode and Sepp Allgeier. The party starts from Zermatt through the...

This short film shows an alpine march of the young fascists of the federal command of Belluno to the Mario Vazzoler refuge. From there, a group of...

Joseph Vallot and his team of guides and porters climb Mont Blanc in 1906. Their ascent will take three days. They spent their nights at the Grands...

A group of mountaineers ascend the Grossvenediger in the Austrian Tyrol in winter. The group starts from the Krimmler waterfalls and the Warnsdorfer...

The ascent of the Jungfrau by the Urban Alpine Expedition, headed by Frank Ormiston-Smith, the pioneer mountaineering photograher and filmmaker, on...

A film by Richard 'Dick' Leonard produced by the American Alpine Club about mountaineering in Sierra Nevada (California). Richard Manning Leonard was...

1904, cinematography by Frank Ormiston-Smith.

Die Eiger-Nordwand is a documentary about alpinism that takes place on the Eiger. It was directed by Max Herrmann in 1936. It features Fritz Steuri,...

1904, cinematography by Frank Ormiston-Smith.

Four men walk accross the upper part of the Mer de Glace Glacier. All they walk unroped and using ice axes as a cane. The shot belongs to a...

A thrilling incident showing a climber ascending a cleft or chimney by hanging on with his finger tips and pushing his back and knees into opposite...

Four roped men jump a crevasse and ascend through the seracs of the Mer de Glace using long ice axes. The shot belongs to a collection of scenes that...

Showing lady and gentleman climbers with guides negotiating difficult situations until finally their progress is stopped by a cow in their path which...

1902, cinematography by Frank Ormiston-Smith

At the heart of the eastern Alps, in the Niedere Tauern massif that rises in the Austrian state of Salzburg, soldiers undertake the tortuous ascent...

Travelogue released on August 28th, 1916. Produced by Burton Holmes.