" In a very loose sense, Luis Trenker - writer, director, star - was Germany's John Ford and John Wayne rolled into one, specializing in the Mountain Film as a National genre much as they specialized in the Western. Trenker is very much due for rediscovery, and hopefully later this year or next, PFA audiences will get a chance to see some of his finest German films, including the classic Kaiser of California, the story of Johann Sutter. In the meantime, as a tentative introduction to his work, here are two of his mountain films from the '30s.” --W.K. Everson

High adventure set in the Austrian Tyrol during World War I, when Italian and Austrian soldiers fought on the snowy mountains. Luis Trenker, a native of the Austrian Tyrol, wrote the script, directed the Alpine scenes and plays the protagonist, Florian Di Maj. The original New York Times review noted, “The genuine artistry of the work in this picture is striking... There is a thrilling sequence devoted to the Austrians swooping down the dizzy heights on skis, and in another episode the hero undertakes to go to Corvere, his home village... The flashes of Florian's adventures on this hazardous trip, together with those of a visit to his wife...are most effective.”
William K. Everson comments: “The Doomed Battalion is a war story in which the dominant theme is one of Trenker's favorites: wars come and go, but the mountains--and man's friendship--are there forever. Done, like several others, as a joint production between Universal in Hollywood and Germany, this film is almost identical with the German original. Its story runs somewhat parallel to Howard Hawks' later The Road to Glory in its basics, but is far more optimistic in its climax--and the exhilaration of ski warfare is a far cry from the mud and grime of Hawks' trenches. Far more of an adventure film than a war film, it holds up beautifully.”
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