Original subtitles

A Luis Trenker Film

Produced by

MOUNTAlNS lN FLAMES

Starring

Manuscript

Screenplay

Directed by Karl Hartl & Luis Trenker

Music by

Cinematography- Sepp Allgeier Albert Benitz, Giovanni Vitrotti

Sound - Hermann Birkhofer Hans Grimm, Dr. Hans Bittmann

Production Design Production Manager

Production Leader

Recording Process

Watch out! Secure the rope well, Dimai.

Yes, l've got it. l've got it.

- Hold on tight! - l've got it!

Thank you.

Hey, come on, Count. lt's not very far.

With my guide and friend Dimai climbed Fanesturm...

over the southeastern rim.

August 1, 1914

Artur Franchini, Rome

Here, a piece of bread, a piece of sausage, Count.

Thank you, Dimai.

Come on, let's go.

- What's going on? - l don't know. Let's go.

- Let's go look! - What's going on?

To my peoples.

lt was my most ardent wish...

to devote the remaining years granted me by the grace of God...

to working for peace...

and to save my people from the steep sacrifices and the burdens of war.

But the council of providence determined otherwise.

FRANZ JOSEPH TO MY PEOPLES! The activities of a hate-filled enemy

after many years of peace to preserve the honor of my monarchy...

to safeguard its reputation and its power, and to protect its domain.

Florian Dimai - 4th Tirolean lmperial lnfantry Regiment, 2nd Company

- Resi. - Yes?

Be quiet. Watch the baby. l'll be right back.

Everything will be fine. l will pray for you.

l'll write to you.

Our beautiful house, l won't see it for a long time.

Take care!

And say hello to your mother, won't you?

ln God's name, do come back safe and sound.

Take care, Wastl. l'll pray for you.

Come back in one piece.

Florian, l'm so afraid for you.

Stay here with me.

- We're ready. - Let's go!

Come on, Xaver!

Look at all the people who are here today.

The Gr�dners are here, Rixner is here and Machelt too.

The Gr�dners are here, Rixner is here and Machelt too.

- Florian! - l'll be back soon.

l won't let you go. Stay here.

Don't lose hope. God be with you.

Florian!

Florian!

Let's go, men!

God be with you!

- God be with you! - God be with you, Franzl!

- l'll be back soon, Pia. - Florian!

GALlClA 1915

''...and we are doing well.

But we miss you and the others.''

Ha, that's us.

''And we had no parish fair...

because there are no men.

Father said that at Christmas we could-

...that at Christmas we could get married.''

No, no, no.

Go on, go on.

''...we could get married.

So do you best, dear Albert, so that you can come home...

and make the war end soon.''

Men.

Have you heard the latest news?

ltaly has entered the war.

Hooray! Now we'll win.

ldiot!

They declared war on us. On us!

Do you know what that means?

What will happen to our village?

Mayor, ltalian troops have seized Col Verde.

Everybody must follow my orders.

Tell your people to maintain calm and order and no one will get hurt.

Look, over there. Behind that mountain range.

You see?

That's where our home is.

We would be able to see it from up there.

Yes, that's true.

lt's been over a year since we had to leave our home.

No, soon it's going to be almost two years.

Do you think our people know we're up here?

They think we're still in Galicia.

Damn.

l wonder how they're doing with the ltalians down there.

Yeah, l wonder.

To hell with it! l'm going down there.

You're crazy.

- Connect me with section command. - Yes, sir.

Damn it. l almost sprained my ankle.

Damn.

Hello!

This is the summit of Col Alto.

This is section command Travalante.

What?

Just a minute.

Captain, a telephone call for you, sir.

- Captain Lehner. - Lieutenant Kall.

The enemy is shooting at us with heavy artillery fire.

We had to interrupt our emplacement work and the men retreated into the cavern.

No! No significant losses.

Everything is all right?

Yes, sir. The emplacement against the south slope is as good as completed.

The enemy can't possibly ascend the north and east face.

Even under the heaviest fire, the rock cavern is shellproof.

You don't need to worry, sir.

Well, you know how important your position is for the entire section.

Under no circumstances may your position be lost.

Our position will be held at all costs, sir.

The emplacement at Col Alto must be taken at all costs-

You know its importance to us.

Because it could undermine all of the enemy's emplacements.

Who will carry out the mission?

Captain Franchini. He knows every rock and every path in the Col Alto.

Two boys once loved the same girl

Two boys once loved the same girl

And each one begged her Let me into your chamber

Only a soldier, the girl said Can be my beloved

Because only he has the courage in all things

Only a soldier will do

So the two boys ran to the barracks

So the two boys ran to the barracks

And when the two came home

And when the two came home

Alarm!

Go, go!

Alarm!

- Alarm! - Alarm! Hurry up!

Fall back!

- Hold your fire! - Hold your fire!

- Hold your fire! - Hold your fire!

Hello.

Hello.

This is Kall.

We repulsed a surprise attack by the ltalians.

Just now, a moment ago.

Our losses are not heavy.

Very heavy on the ltalian side, it seems.

What?

Yes, it's quiet again now.

The men are retrieving the wounded.

What is it?

Well, l hope that we'll have a few quiet days up here now.

Good-bye.

- What lousy weather. - Yes.

Lieutenant, l'm the mail orderly, sir.

Let's see it.

Where is the carrier convoy? They should be here by now.

l passed them on my way here.

They will need a few hours...

because they are making very little progress in the deep snow.

All right.

Horn!

Ober-

Ober-

- What's his name? - Oberbauer.

Oberbauer, yes. Here you go.

Berger! You have a package.

- You can't be serious! - Yes.

Kall, Kall.

That's it.

Nobody knows about us. Nothing for us.

This stupid, goddamn war.

- Shut up! - What? Am l not right?

We've been sitting here for over a year without news from home.

Everybody gets letters, except for us.

Funny it's us, who can almost see our homes from here.

lt's hard to take for such a long time.

lt's hard to take for such a long time.

But that's it. Our village is occupied by the ltalians.

But she could still write, my wife.

The letter would make it here somehow...

whether from the Netherlands or the United States, it doesn't matter.

No, you will never get a letter from your wife.

- Why not? - Because she can't write.

That's a stupid joke.

What do you think, Dimai?

lt should be possible, somehow.

You're forgetting censorship.

lf our people write that they are not doing well...

the ltalians will burn the mail.

lf they write that they are doing well, then our censors will burn the mail.

We won't get any mail from home as long as this rotten war lasts.

The smartest thing would be if one of us-

''lf one of us'' what?

Oh, nothing.

l don't know what you mean.

Hey, you.

Hey, come on.

Time to go.

Damn cursed weather.

Philip!

Philip!

Come here. He has frozen to death.

- Phone the evening report in. - Yes, sir.

- lt is snowing. - Yes, sir.

- At dusk a heavy snow storm sets in... - Yes, sir.

- that still continues. - Yes, sir.

- Again, no combat activity. - Yes, sir.

- Carriers have not arrived. - Yes, sir.

- Provisions are running very low. - Yes, sir.

Well...

- that's it. - Yes, sir.

Lieutenant, Behner froze to death.

What?

What? He's dead?

Yes, sir.

- Nothing that could be done? - No, sir.

Thank you.

Report that a man froze to death on guard duty.

Yes, sir.

Poor devil.

Why did it have to be Behner?

You just wait.

lt won't take long and we'll all go.

lf we drill with two machines day and night...

we will be below the Austrian cavern within one month...

and in another week we will be ready to blast.

- Lieutenant! - What is it?

Come up here. l must show you something.

The ltalians are undermining us.

You must go to the Great Tower to see where the tunnel opening is.

Quick, let's go!

Ladura, Staudacher, the three of you will join us on patrol to the Great Tower.

Attention!

Come back in one piece. Go!

My God.

What's in those boxes that they're hauling?

Looks like explosives.

Give me the binoculars.

God! lt's just down a slope.

Look, you can even see the various houses.

See?

And the people, you can see the people walking around.

Look!

Oh, my God! lnnerkofler!

Listen, one went down up there.

Where is lnnerkofler?

Killed.

A shot to the head.

We waited at the foot of the Tower for darkness to fall...

and then returned without further losses, thank God.

Do the others know about the tunnel?

No, Lieutenant. Only lnnerkofler and l have seen it.

Then don't tell the men about it.

They will know soon enough.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Dimai.

Hello? Captain Lehner?

That's impossible.

l need a drill as soon as possible...

so we can drill in the opposite direction...

if it's not too late already.

A drill?

My dear Kall, we don't have one.

The only one we have in our section doesn't work.

l can send you sappers.

l don't need sappers. By all means, l need drills. Lehner!

My dear Kall, we don't have any. How many times do l have to tell you?

Then they'll blow us up sooner or later.

l'll try my best to get you one. That's all l can do for you now.

l'll call you later. Good-bye.

- Moron. - Move over.

What is that?

Men!

As long as they're drilling, we don't have to worry.

Go to sleep.

Coffee...

tea...

powder...

salt...

farina.

- Flour, Mario. - Flour, flour, good. Flour.

Sugar.

Sugar.

Spaghetti...

from Naples, yes.

Fantastic. l make it with tomato sauce-

l tell you.

You have nothing against ltalians, do you, Mrs. Pia?

No, not against you, Mario.

But she must cook something for you...

so that you get something delicious.

Mommy is coming. Look. Mommy is coming.

Mario, come here.

Make yourself useful.

There, take the pits out.

- Pits, all right? - Yes, yes, yes.

Mario, the pits!

- Pia, come. - What is it?

- Wounded Austrian soldiers have arrived. - l'm coming.

Come on, hurry.

Sir.

Sir.

Please tell me, are any lmperial lnfantrymen positioned nearby?

Yes, at Col di Lana and Col Alto.

Yes, infantrymen are there.

Do you by any chance know a Dimai, Florian Dimai?

Florian Dimai?

4th lnfantrymen Regiment, 2nd Company.

No, l don't know him.

Dimai?

Dimai?

Hey, we know him.

He fell in Galicia.

Yes, he was among the first.

Come, miss.

- But l must ask him something. - Not allowed, miss.

- But l must ask him something... - Leave them.

- About my Flori. - Not allowed. Come along.

A nice little horse.

Mom, mom.

My mommy.

My mommy.

What's going on, Mrs. Pia?

Mrs. Pia, what happened?

What happened?

My husband fell in battle.

This awful war.

This damn war.

Who told you that?

But it's not necessarily true.

Many have been reported dead, but they came back.

Damn it. Can't we do anything?

We sit around and wait till we blow up.

He's right.

Out of so many mountains, we must be perched on top of this one.

Let's go to sleep, men.

Good night.

Xaverl, they stopped drilling!

What is it?

Say, what's going on?

We must let the lieutenant know. Quick, Xaverl.

- What is it? - Attention.

Who will volunteer to go on patrol to Fanesturm?

We must find out whether the ltalians...

have already begun to arm the chamber with explosives.

Once we know that...

we can estimate when approximately they will detonate them...

and escape to safety, all of us.

Well, who volunteers?

l do, Lieutenant.

Well?

- Who else? - l do.

- l do. - Me too.

All right, enough.

Dimai, who do you want to take along?

Lieutenant, l'd prefer to go by myself, sir.

One man can slip through more easily.

All right.

EXPLOSlVES

- Dimai still hasn't returned? - No, Lieutenant.

Excuse me, Captain.

- l have orders for you. - One moment.

All right.

Pia!

Pia!

How are you?

l asked you how you are.

Florian. Florian!

- l was told- - What?

l was told that you fell.

Calm down, Pia.

You know that nothing will happen to me.

Bring my cloak.

How did you get through enemy lines?

Where are you stationed?

Up on top of Col Alto.

Every day we can look down at our village.

All our friends are up there, Ladura, Staudacher, St�rztaler...

lnnerkofler-

Yes, lnnerkofler too.

Now you'll stay here, right?

Yes, of course, a few days at least.

l must go back up to my emplacement, Mrs. Pia...

but l hope to be back soon.

l already instructed the quartermaster and the provisions will come...

even while l am gone.

Good-bye, Mrs. Pia.

Tomorrow night, Col Alto, boom!

Everything will blow up.

l must go back immediately.

What?

You've just arrived.

You can't leave again.

No, you must stay here, Florian.

You promised.

Yes.

But l can't leave my comrades in the lurch.

Stay at least for a day, until tomorrow night. Please.

lf l don't make it back in time...

l will be responsible for the lives of a hundred comrades.

But l won't let you go!

l don't want to lose you.

You won't come back.

Daddy is here! Come!

Florian.

Florian.

Florian!

l think the ltalians have completed setting up their charges.

A company will be at your disposal as reinforcement.

Yes.

Good-bye, Kall. l am relying on you and your men.

Now they want to drive us totally crazy...

above us, beneath us, next to us, everywhere.

May they go to hell!

Why us?

Why us 60 men?

lf only the whole thing had blown up already!

Sit down.

Something must have happened to Dimai.

He should have been back by now.

That guy will always come back.

Yes, everything is ready.

At 9:00, we detonate the mine.

All right.

- Oberbauer! - Yes, Lieutenant.

Go call to report that nothing has happened yet.

Yes, sir.

Men!

After the detonation, the following will need to be done.

lf l fall, Platoon Leader Bauer will take command.

Yes, sir.

lf Bauer falls, rifleman Wei� will take over.

Yes, sir.

lf Wei� falls, Staudacher.

Yes, sir.

- Understood? - Yes, sir.

Boys.

To those of you who survive the detonation, l'd like to say...

hold the emplacement until the final moment.

You know what's at stake:

Tirol, your homeland.

The telephone line must have been destroyed.

A connection with the command is no longer possible.

Don't shoot!

Hold your fire! One of your own!

Lieutenant! Kall!

Dimai!

VlENNA, SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1917 WAR PRESS REPORT

During the night of March 15 and morning of March 16...

strong enemy forces tried to capture our emplacement on Col Alto.

Despite heavy losses on both sides, the position was defended successfully.

Chairman of the General Staff von Hofer

August 10, 1931

With my friend, the guide Florian Dimai...

climbed Col Alto.

Artur Franchini, Rome

THE END