The cloud phenomena of Maloja are so well-known that some of them have names, such as the Maloja snake, a cloud bank that winds its way through the Alpine pass like a river. Clouds pass overhead, Fanck films them, just sufficiently to get the idea, among the crags of the Engadine, and gradually he connotes the wider scene, peopling the solitude and stillness below with a person or two, boating.
IM KAMPF MIT DEM BERGE: IN STURM UND EIS, a mountain-and-snow adventure film directed by his friend Arnold Fanck in 1920.
After a mountaineer is killed attempting to climb a difficult mountain, his son dreams of conquering the peak that has defeated his father. But his mother makes him promise never to attempt it. Events eventually force her to release him from the promise, and he ascends the mountain successfully.
In St. Moritz, the best master runners fight for the victory palm in ski jumping. After the award ceremony, it is decided to go on a fox hunt through the Engadine, and the winner of the ski race, Hannes Schneider, is chosen as the fox. He is not allowed to cross certain limits and must be captured by midnight. 25 of the best runners chase him on skis through the uniquely beautiful landscape in this scavenger hunt. He misleads them again and again with clever traps and gains more and more advantage.
