Coupes des Alpes: The Story of the 1958 Alpine Rally 1959

56 production cars from eight countries vie for the 1958 Coupes des Alpes. It's a 2,400 mile course from France that winds it's way through the mountains of Italy before making it's way back through to Marseille again. 73 checkpoints along the way ensure that each car maintains the varying average speeds necessary to compete! Miss by a few seconds and it's cheerio. Paddy Hopkirk sets of first followed by an host of cars like the Zephyr, Porche and Citröen. There is also a woman's race that features Kat Moss - sister of Stirling; Nancy Mitchell and Ann Hall. In-car footage gives us an early indication of the altitude and the perilous nature of these single-lane carriageways and glorified dirt tracks. Spectators precariously watch as the cars come into the first of the validation stations for a card-stamping, before off they go again. The film commences with a shot of a car arriving and a camera crew hastily emerging, setting up and following the speeding race cars goes by! The rest of this continues to illustrate the craft of the photographers as the race continues to thin out the wheat from the chaff - only sixteen cars left after day one and the terrain is getting even more hostile; the dents larger - one no longer has a door! It's end-to-end coverage of a race that, aided by an informative narration and some useful map animation to help us keep our bearings, really does imbue the coverage with a sense of the pace and exhilaration as the race finally heads back to the safety - and champagne - of Marseille. The cars look great, even when trashed, and the pace almost as break-neck as the race itself and keeps this a compelling watch.

— CinemaSerf