In reply to UKC News: I thought it was a good overview of the history of Eiger North Face climbing. Necessarily brief, I suppose.
The odd part was that we saw quite a large section with Kenton Cool and Neil Brodie, who were seemingly preparing for an ascent. As a taste of what was to come, they filmed a quick reconnaissance via the Stollenloch.
Whilst this gave great footage of the contrast between the calm and cosy railway tunnel and what lies on the other side of the magic doorway; unexpectedly, that was all we got. No actual attempt on the route. I was left with the impression that they ran out of time before conditions became suitable. So, rather than throw out what they had, they decided to show a bit of it and then include more history to fill out the gap left by the non-climb.
Nevertheless, good stuff; particularly the authoritative and articulate monologues from Venables, Bonington and Cave. Not too much on the philosophy of why such a climb is justified (or otherwise) either, which tends to become as pointless and tedious as the perennial "are the Turner prize entries really art"?