The Last Valley (1971) Review

I mention that the beginning of the movie is fairly brutal (surprisingly violent). This continues throughout the entire movie. Not only is there fairly explicit violence, but the movie has some very dark outcomes and grim twists. This is a movie about dark times even if the valley may be fairly idyllic. This movie was filmed using the Todd-AO process, which is an anamorphic format for cinerama. One of the reasons this movie flopped was because it was extremely expensive to make. The cinematography in the movie is pretty good (I really like some of the dinner table ensemble staging), but not out of this world. In addition to being expensive, the format might have set certain expectations for viewers who were used to seeing adventurous travel films at the cinerama. This is a pretty dark movie that might have been incompatible with the roadshow audience.