This Month

Walt Disney was a master of synergy, cross-promoting his work through films, music, the weekly Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and his famous theme parks Disneyland and Disney World. His TV series not only used material from his older films, but focused on new films in production, as was the case with this 1959 episode. Ostensibly a look at the lengths to which his production team would go to film live action dramas, which had become a Disney staple since the late '40s, the short film served primarily as an extended trailer for his upcoming mountain-climbing adventure Third Man on the Mountain (1959)

The feature fulfilled a longtime dream of Disney's to make a film highlighting the beauties of Switzerland, where he usually vacationed in the summer. To fulfill that goal, he bought the rights to mountaineer James Ramsey Ullman's novel Banner in the Sky and cast the young James MacArthur, who had signed with the studio in 1958 to star in The Light in the Forest, as a young man who wants to complete his late father's climb to the top of the fictional Citadel in the Alps. Joining MacArthur were a crew of top-notch British actors -- Michael Rennie as an English climber who encourages his ambitions, Janet Munro as his love interest, James Donald as the uncle who doesn't want him to die as his father had and Herbert Lom as a rival guide. The film also featured a cameo by MacArthur's mother, stage legend Helen Hayes, in the only film the two ever made together (she would also guest on his popular television series Hawaii Five-O).

Perilous Assignment was an apt title for a documentary about the film's production. Although interiors were shot comfortably in London, the company also went on location to Disney's favorite Swiss vacation spot, Zermatt. There, MacArthur, Rennie, Donald and Lom trained for weeks before filming began. Even with their training, however, there were injuries. At one point Donald fell 18 feet, the assistant cameraman broke three ribs, and two of the climbing experts working on the film suffered various leg and back injuries. Director Ken Annakin got off easy by comparison, only coming down with sunstroke from the extensive outdoor shooting. Frequent summer storms posed another problem, with some so severe the company had to travel 50 miles to get to safety. Little wonder the production ended up costing Disney $2 million.

Featured prominently in the documentary is legendary mountain climber Gaston Rebuffat, who directed the second-unit shots of mountain climbing. Rebuffat was one of the team of four who set a new altitude record climbing in the Himalayas in 1950. He also was the first man to scale all six of the Alps' north faces. During his career he not only added 40 new routes to the top of the Alps, but also changed the way people viewed climbing. Where previous mountain guides had viewed the sport as a contest against the mountain, he attempted to achieve harmony with the environment, an approach that has now become the standard. Film work was nothing new to Rebuffat, who had participated in the 1953 documentary Flammes de Pierres and the 1955 Etoiles et Tempetes. The latter inspired his popular book of the same name. He was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1984 and even had a climbing technique, the "gaston," named for him.

Perilous Assignment publicized more than just Third Man on the Mountain. It also helped sell another product connected to the film, the Matterhorn Bobsled ride at Disneyland. And just to get a little more synergy out of the project, Disney recycled the film -- under the novel's original title, Banner in the Sky -- as a two part adventure on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1963.

By Frank Miller

Producer: Bill Anderson
Director: Hamilton Luske
Screenplay: Dwight Hauser
Cinematography: August Julen, Pierre Tairraz, George Tairrez
Score: Franklyln Marks
Cast: Walt Disney (Host), Gaston Rebuffat (Himself), Michael Rennie, James MacArthur, Janet Munro, James Donald (Archival Footage)