The Mountain Eagle
Encyclopedia
The Mountain Eagle is a British silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

, and Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

's second as director following The Pleasure Garden
The Pleasure Garden (film)
The Pleasure Garden is a 1925 British silent film, and the debut feature of Alfred Hitchcock.-Production:Michael Balcon allowed Hitchcock to direct the film when Graham Cutts, a jealous executive at Gainsborough Pictures, would not allow him to work on The Rat. The story concerns two chorus girls...

.

Plot

The film is set in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. J. P. Pettigrew's (Bernhard Goetzke
Bernhard Goetzke
Bernhard Goetzke was a German film actor. He appeared in 130 films between 1917 and 1961.He was born in Danzig and died in Berlin.-Selected filmography:...

) wife died giving birth to his son Edward (John F. Hamilton) who was born a cripple. Pettigrew hates John ("Fear o' God") Fulton (Malcolm Keen
Malcolm Keen
Malcolm Keen was an English film and television actor.Born in Bristol, Keen was an early collaborator with the director Alfred Hitchcock, starring in his silent films The Mountain Eagle, The Lodger and The Manxman.Keen was the father of actor Geoffrey Keen, and the two both played Iachimo in...

) who also loved Pettigrew's wife. Pettigrew sees his now grown son making love to schoolteacher Beatrice (Nita Naldi) and seeks her out. During a discussion of her relationship to his son he attempts to take her in his arms but Beatrice rejects his advances. Pettigrew's son Edward sees this and flees the village.

Pettigrew is incensed at both Beatrice's rejection and the loss of his son. He attempts to have Beatrice arrested as a wanton harlot. John forestalls Pettigrew's plan by marrying Beatrice and taking her to his cabin where they fall in love. Beatrice becomes pregnant. Pettigrew seeks revenge by having John thrown in prison for murdering his (missing) son.

A year later John breaks out of prison and attempts to flee with Beatrice and their child but Beatrice falls ill and John must return to the village for a doctor. There he finds Edward has reappeared. His affairs are now cleared up and he is legally free from the charge of murder. Pettigrew is subsequently accidentally shot and no longer a threat to John and his family.

Cast

  • Nita Naldi - Beatrice
  • Malcolm Keen
    Malcolm Keen
    Malcolm Keen was an English film and television actor.Born in Bristol, Keen was an early collaborator with the director Alfred Hitchcock, starring in his silent films The Mountain Eagle, The Lodger and The Manxman.Keen was the father of actor Geoffrey Keen, and the two both played Iachimo in...

     - John 'Fear o' God' Fulton
  • John F. Hamilton - Edward Pettigrew
  • Bernhard Goetzke
    Bernhard Goetzke
    Bernhard Goetzke was a German film actor. He appeared in 130 films between 1917 and 1961.He was born in Danzig and died in Berlin.-Selected filmography:...

     - Mr. Pettigrew
  • Ferdinand Martini
    Ferdinand Martini
    Ferdinand Martini was a German film actor. He appeared in 38 films between 1920 and 1931.He was born in Munich and died in Germany.-Selected filmography:* The Pleasure Garden...

     - (undetermined role)

Production

This is the only feature film directed by Hitchcock that is considered a lost film
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...

, which means that no prints of the film are known to exist.

Hitchcock himself considered it a mundane melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...

 best forgotten, though fans naturally remain curious. In François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...

's book Hitchcock/Truffaut (ISBN 2-07-073574-5) Alfred Hitchcock himself described the film as "awful" and said he was "not sorry there are no known prints". Film historian J. Lary Kuhns, however, states in the book Hitchcock's Notebooks (ISBN 0-380-79945-6) by Dan Auiler that one contemporary writer called The Mountain Eagle far superior to The Lodger
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926 and released on 14 February 1927 in London and on 10 June 1928 in New York City. The film, based on a story by Marie Belloc Lowndes and a play Who Is He? co-written by Belloc Lowndes, concerns the hunt for a...

.

Exteriors were filmed in Obergurgl, Austria
Obergurgl
Obergurgl is a village in the Ötztal Alps in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Located in the municipality of Sölden, the village has approximately 400 year-round inhabitants, and is mainly a tourist resort....

. The Austrian Tyrol stood in for the mountains and hollows of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. Bad weather during the shooting was a constant source of trouble.

Although it was Hitchcock's second completed film, due to the runaway success of The Lodger, it was released three months after it.

Several surviving stills are reproduced in François Truffaut's book. More stills have recently been found to exist, many of which are reproduced in Dan Auiler's book. A lobby card (illustrated above right) for the film was found at a flea market in Rowley, Massachusetts
Rowley, Massachusetts
Rowley is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,500 at the 2000 census.Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Rowley.-History:...

. It was found in a box of broken frames and was being used as backing for the picture of another dog. The dog's significance in the film remains a mystery. It may have been used to assist Edward in fleeing the village or to help film's hero, John Fulton, during his escape from prison or return to the village seeking a doctor.

Although the film was reportedly released in the United States as Fear o' God, the title on the surviving U.S. lobby card seems to contradict this. Film historian J. Larry Kuhns claims the film was never released under that title.
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