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6.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Der Hochtourist remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a soft spot for early sound-era chaos or you really like German actors from the 30s who spend 90% of their screen time shouting. If you want a deep story, you should probably just keep scrolling through the archives and find something like A Woman of Affairs instead.
But if you want to see a man in a ridiculous hat try to explain why he isn't sweating after supposedly climbing a peak, this is exactly your brand of nonsense. 🥨
Let’s be real: this movie is just a vehicle for Otto Wallburg to be loud. He plays Ludwig, and he has this way of moving his face that makes him look like he is constantly about to sneeze or explode.
The whole plot is about him lying to his family so he can go have fun while pretending to be a rugged mountain climber. He is the 'Hochtourist' of the title, which basically means a high-altitude hiker, but he is about as athletic as a bag of flour.
There is this one scene where he is trying to look tough in his climbing gear and the backpack looks like it is wearing him. I actually laughed out loud because he looks so genuinely uncomfortable in the straps. 🏔️
It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Patsy, where the comedy comes more from the sheer desperation of the characters than the actual jokes. It’s that 'early talkie' feel where everyone is still figuring out how loud they need to speak for the microphones.
The mountains in the background are so obviously painted sets. You can almost see the wrinkles in the fabric when the light hits it the wrong way during the 'outdoor' scenes.
I love that about these old movies, though. It feels like a stage play that someone accidentally filmed, and nobody bothered to tell the actors to tone it down for the camera. 🎭
There is a sequence with a lot of beer and singing that goes on for way too long. It’s like the director forgot they were making a movie and just decided to film a party for five minutes straight.
Maria Matray is in this too, and she’s charming enough, but she’s mostly there to react to the men being idiots. She has these wide eyes that say 'Why am I in this movie?' in every single frame.
The sound quality is... well, it’s 1931. There is a constant hiss like someone is frying bacon in the room next door, but you get used to it after ten minutes.
It feels a lot more 'local' than something like Der Kilometerfresser, which had a bit more of a travelogue feel to it. This one is stuck in hotels and fake mountain passes, which makes it feel a bit claustrophobic, but in a cozy way.
I noticed a weird thing with the editing. Sometimes a character will start a sentence, and then there is a hard cut to them standing in a completely different spot, but they are still finishing the same sentence.
It’s clunky as heck. But it’s also kind of endearing because you can tell they were just happy the technology worked at all. 🎥
It’s not a 'must-watch' for the general public, but for us weirdos who dig the Weimar-era-into-early-30s transition, it’s a fun little time capsule. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything. 🍺
The movie gets way better once you stop trying to follow the logic of the 'white mountains' exploits and just watch Wallburg sweat through his suit. He is a legend for a reason.
I’ll probably forget most of the plot by next week, but I’ll remember that fake mountain backdrop forever. It was so bad it was good. ⛰️
IMDb 5.9
1924
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