The Wildest Dream
Encyclopedia
The Wildest Dream is a 2010 theatrical-release feature documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 about the British climber George Mallory
George Mallory
George Herbert Leigh Mallory was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s....

 who disappeared on Mount Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...

 in 1924 with his climbing partner Andrew Irvine
Andrew Irvine (mountaineer)
Andrew "Sandy" Comyn Irvine was an English mountaineer who took part in 1924 British Everest Expedition, the third British expedition to the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest....

. The film interweaves two stories, one about climber Conrad Anker
Conrad Anker
Conrad Anker is an American rock climber, mountaineer, and author famous for his challenging ascents in the high Himalaya and Antarctica. He is a member of The North Face climbing team and also works closely with Timex Expedition as brand ambassador...

 (who discovered Mallory's body lying on Everest in 1999) returning to Everest to investigate Mallory's disappearance and the other a biography of Mallory told through letters (read by Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

 and the late Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...

), original film footage from the 1920s and archival photos. The film was released in the US and on giant screen cinemas around the world by National Geographic Entertainment in August 2010 as 'The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest'. The film was released in the UK by Serengeti Entertainment in September 2010 as 'The Wildest Dream'.

This was Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...

's last film before her death on March 18, 2009.

Cast

  • Conrad Anker
    Conrad Anker
    Conrad Anker is an American rock climber, mountaineer, and author famous for his challenging ascents in the high Himalaya and Antarctica. He is a member of The North Face climbing team and also works closely with Timex Expedition as brand ambassador...

  • Hugh Dancy
    Hugh Dancy
    - Early life and career :Dancy was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of British philosopher Jonathan Dancy, a professor at the University of Reading and at the University of Texas at Austin. His mother, Sarah, is a publisher. His brother, Jack, is a co-director of the travel company, Trufflepig...

     as Andrew Irvine
    Andrew Irvine (mountaineer)
    Andrew "Sandy" Comyn Irvine was an English mountaineer who took part in 1924 British Everest Expedition, the third British expedition to the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest....

     (voice)
  • Ralph Fiennes
    Ralph Fiennes
    Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

     as George Mallory (voice)
  • Leo Houlding
    Leo Houlding
    Leo Houlding is a British rock climber who has climbed the Angel of the North along with more traditional ascents such as some of El Capitan's toughest lines....

  • Liam Neeson
    Liam Neeson
    Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...

     as Narrator (voice)
  • Natasha Richardson
    Natasha Richardson
    Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...

     as Ruth Mallory (voice)
  • Alan Rickman
    Alan Rickman
    Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...

     as Noel Odell
    Noel Odell
    Noel Ewart Odell was an English geologist and mountaineer. Educated at Brighton College and the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, in 1924 he was an oxygen officer on the Everest expedition in which George Mallory and Andrew Irvine famously perished during their summit attempt...

     (voice)

Synopsis

In 1924 mountaineer George Mallory was torn between love for his wife Ruth, and his obsession with the last great adventure left to man: becoming the first person to reach the summit of the untouched Mount Everest.

Dressed in gabardine and wearing hobnailed boots, Mallory risked everything in pursuit of his dream, but was last seen alive 800 feet below the summit. Then the clouds rolled in and he disappeared into legend. His death stunned the world.

After discovering Mallory’s body on Everest in 1999, modern climber Conrad Anker’s life became intertwined with Mallory’s story. Remarkably, Mallory’s frozen body was found with all his belongings intact. The only thing missing was a photograph of Ruth, which Mallory had promised to place on the summit. Haunted by Mallory's story, Conrad returns to Everest with British climbing prodigy Leo Houlding
Leo Houlding
Leo Houlding is a British rock climber who has climbed the Angel of the North along with more traditional ascents such as some of El Capitan's toughest lines....

 to discover the truth about this compelling and gilded man from a bygone era and to unravel the mysteries surrounding his disappearance.

The highlight is seeing Conrad Anker and his climbing partner take on the Second Step without the use of the ladder and other modern safety precautions to evaluate if indeed Mallory was capable of climbing the Second Step himself in 1924.

Critical reception

The film won the award for Best Adventure Film at the Boulder International Film Festival
Boulder International Film Festival
Boulder International Film Festival sponsored by the Colorado Film Society, is held annually on Presidents Day Weekend in Boulder, Colorado USA, and has developed a reputation as one of the most influential young film festivals in the U.S., with an extraordinary number of new-but-unknown feature...

. It has received a score of 84% on the critics' Tomatometer on the Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 website.

The film received numerous positive reviews from critics when it was released in the US. Andrew Barker in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

described the film as "gorgeous looking", writing that "the film contains a number of awe-inspiring shots and a wonderful, computer-generated guided illustration of the entire path the explorers took up the mountain". Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

that the film "adroitly mixes a variety of material" while "narrator Liam Neeson and reading voices Natasha Richardson, Hugh Dancy and Alan Rickman do exceptionally strong work". Pam Grady of Boxoffice
Boxoffice (magazine)
Boxoffice is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by Boxoffice Media LP. It started in 1920 as The Reel Journal, taking its current name in 1931 and still publishes today, with an intended audience of theatre owners and film professionals.Boxoffice is the...

raved about the film and wrote "It is a moving tale and a breathtaking sight."

The film also got a strong critical reaction in the UK. Anna Smith in Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...

commented that "the tale of Mallory’s fatal ascent is well told, the mountain photography is spectacular and rare archive film recalls a time when the world still had peaks to conquer". Carmen Gray described it as "captivating and seductive" in Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...

although she felt that "the equivalence of the journeys often seems forced".

External links

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