''Courage Mountain'' (also known as ''Courage Mountain: Heidi's New Adventure'') is a 1990

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

and serves as a sequel to

Johanna Spyri Spyri (; ; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories. She wrote the popular book ''Heidi''. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zürich, as a child she spent several summers near Chur i ...

's 1881 novel ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

''. It was directed by Christopher Leitch and stars

Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He is known as a leading man in film and television. Sheen has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award as well as ...

Leslie Caron Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (; born 1 July 1931) is a French and American actress and dancer. She is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. Caron b ...

, Juliette Caton and

Jan Rubeš Jan Ladislav Rubeš Order of Canada, CM (6 June 1920 – 29 June 2009) was a Czechs, Czech-Canadians, Canadian bass (voice type), bass opera singer and actor. Life and career Rubeš was born in Volyně, Czechoslovakia, to Ružena (née Kel ...

. The film is set during the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

with Heidi as a teenager, despite the fact that the original novel (in which Heidi is 5) was first published in 1881.

Plot

In 1915, during World War I, Heidi, now fifteen years old, still lives on the Swiss Alps with her grandfather. She receives an invitation from Madame Jane Hillary, the headmistress of Brookings School for Girls in Italy, to join her school. Heidi has the means to go, as she has just received an inheritance from her friend Klara's grandmother. Grandfather wants Heidi to make the most of the opportunity so she will be able to take care of herself when he is gone. Though initially reluctant, when she learns that her sweetheart Peter has joined the army, she accepts the invitation. Heidi is at first unable to adapt to modern life at the school, often clashing with her more sophisticated classmate Ursula. Heidi's only friend is Ilsa who often stands up for Heidi whenever she is bullied by Ursula and her snobby cohorts, though she has the kind support of Madame Hillary who like her originally came from a more modest background. Italian troops arrive at the school with a letter from the Governor and commandeer the building for use as a military post. All the girls are fetched by their families except for four: Heidi, Ursula, Ilsa and her sister Gudrun. Hillary is happy to care for the four girls, but the unscrupulous owner of the town orphanage, Signor Bonelli, claims the girls. Hillary is forced to give them up as Bonelli has the support of the Governor. The four girls find that the orphanage is a run-down and cruel place that uses forced labor. Heidi wants to escape, but Ursula insists that Madame Hillary will come for them. Hillary's attempt is blocked by Bonelli. Heidi eventually learns through another orphan, Clarissa that they can escape through the drain. The four Brookings girls, Clarissa, and another orphan named Giovanni escape and hitch a ride on a cart for the countryside. Signor Bonelli chases after them and catches Giovanni. The five girls escape through the forest and head for the mountains to cross over into Switzerland, briefly crossing paths with soldiers who are traveling on horseback. Hillary learns of the girls' sighting through the soldiers and, knowing that Heidi would lead the girls to her grandfather, decides to go to the Alps herself. Grandfather learns of the girls' crossing through Peter, and asks him to find them and bring them safely across. The girls go through the mountains and are found by Peter, who has brought them food. He leaves them the next morning to get a sled and, while he is gone, Signor Bonelli catches up with them. To protect his secrets, he intends to fake an accident in which all the girls fall off the mountain. Heidi calls Peter, who arrives in time to save them; Signor Bonelli struggles with Peter and falls off the mountain to his death. The group cross the mountains, Heidi is reunited with Grandfather, and the Brookings girls are reunited with Hillary. Grandfather, Hillary, Peter and all the girls share a Christmas dinner. Clarissa is to be adopted by Grandfather, Signor Bonelli's orphanage is closed, but the war is still on. Peter declares he has to leave, but he promises to return to Heidi.

Cast

* Juliette Caton as Heidi * Joanna Clarke as Ursula *

Nicola Stapleton Nicola Kathleen Stapleton (born 9 August 1974) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in ''EastEnders'' as Mandy Salter and ''Emmerdale'' as Danielle Hutch. A graduate of the Sylvia Young Theatre School, Stapleton began her care ...

as Ilsa * Jade Magri as Clarissa * Kathryn Ludlow as Gudrun *

as Peter *

as Grandfather *

as Jane Hillary *

Yorgo Voyagis Yorgo Voyagis ( ; born 6 December 1945) is a Greek actor. Career as an actor Voyagis' film debut was in Michael Cacoyannis's ''Zorba the Greek'' (1964). He reappeared three years later in the Italian Western ''Killer Kid''. Voyagis then starre ...

as Signor Bonelli *

Laura Betti Laura Betti ( Trombetti; May 1 1934 – 31 July 2004) was an Italian actress known particularly for her work with directors Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Bernardo Bertolucci. She had a long friendship with Pasolini and made a docume ...

as Signora Bonelli

Release

Box office

''Courage Mountain'' was released on February 16, 1990, and grossed $1.4 million in the US.

Critical reception

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it "a scenic, decorous, studiedly innocent throwback". Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote that the film is uneven but has stunning cinematography. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' rated it 1/4 stars and criticized the film for its "sloppy", "mediocre" script and the casting of Sheen. On ''Siskel & Ebert'', film critics

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

and

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

named it one of the worst films of 1990.

Home video

RCA/Columbia released it on VHS in July 1990. The rights have since passed on to

Metro Goldwyn Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American film and television production and distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro ...

via its purchase of the pre-1996 PolyGram library, which contained the

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

film catalog.

References

External links

* * {{Heidi 1990 films 1990s adventure drama films 1990s coming-of-age films 1990s war drama films 1990 independent films American adventure drama films American independent films American war drama films French adventure drama films French war drama films French independent films English-language French films Films scored by Sylvester Levay Films about bullying Films about child abuse Films about friendship Films about orphans Films set in Italy Films set in Switzerland Films set in 1915 Heidi films Teen adventure films American World War I films 1990 drama films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Christopher Leitch 1990s American films 1990s French films English-language independent films English-language war drama films English-language adventure drama films