Three on a Rope

Three on a Rope is a 1938 American short film produced by MGM, written and directed by Willard Van der Veer and narrated by Pete Smith.

[1] This MGM short explains the equipment and techniques of rock climbing in the 1930s in southern California and dramatizes some of the dangers of the sport.

Following a scene at San Antonio Falls, most of the shooting takes place at Tahquitz Peak in Idyllwild and Stoney Point in Los Angeles.

[3] The director was “very slow in coming across with promised honorariums”[3] for the cast and it is reported that the climbers were never paid.

[6] Present-day climbers will likely be “grateful for modern technology” [7] and advanced climbing techniques when they see the equipment used, including non-skid sneakers and street clothes with buttons and belts, and a butterfly knot on the middle man, used to “prevent sudden and violent strangulation of the diaphragm”.