''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 ...

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. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

and serves as a sequel to

Johanna Spyri Louise Spyri (; ; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories, and is best known for her book '' Heidi''. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, as a child she spent se ...

's 1881 novel ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Use ...

''. 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 has appeared in films such as ''Platoon'' (1986), ''Wall Street'' (1987), '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' The Rookie'' (1990), ''The Thr ...

Leslie Caron Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (; born 1 July 1931) is a French-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. She is one ...

, Juliette Caton and

Jan Rubeš Jan Ladislav Rubeš CM (6 June 1920 – 29 June 2009) was a Czech-Canadian bass opera singer and actor. Life and career Rubeš was born in Volyně, Czechoslovakia, to Ružena (née Kellnerová) and Jan Rubeš. Not long after World War II, ...

. The film is set during the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

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 in Elephant and Castle, London) 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 Theat ...

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

as Peter *

as Grandfather *

as Jane Hillary *

Yorgo Voyagis Yorgo Voyagis ( el, Γιώργος Βογιατζής, Giorgos Vogiadzis ; 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 ...

as Signor Bonelli *

Laura Betti Laura Betti ( Trombetti; 1 May 1927 – 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 document ...

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, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

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

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

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

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' rated it 1/4 stars and wrote, "Unfortunately, mixed in with the usual array of villains and catastrophes this time is a bit of bizarre, crucial miscasting heenand a sloppy, mediocre script."

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 and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

via it's purchase of the pre-1996 PolyGram library, which contained the Epic 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