Switzerland, Land of Contrasts (1950s)

[Music] foreign part of napoleon's greatness lay in his genius for finding the right men to serve him napoleon's engineer seya was master of the art of getting artillery over mountains his road over the simplon pass was as daring as any project of today as in these old prints for centuries pilgrims and merchants trudged fearfully across the narrow tracks that led dangerously past the peaks and gorges of the pass that linked the valley of the rhone to italy and the north of europe to the south sea tunneled the mountain rock cut shelves into it to get the cannon of napoleon across the sun bernard and the simplon both have links with wars for the simplon was built for the passing of an army anderson bernard was twice fought over but in peace the simplon has served man well for since 1805 millions of horses carriages and cars have crossed these great bridges and threaded the tunnels less than a hundred years after the road was finished a railway tunnel was started under the mountain for eight years until its completion in 1906 the sounds of drills and picks of blasting and the roar of underground torrents resounded in the barrels of the earth the tunnel used by the orient express and the swiss federal railways brought the countries of north and south more close but did not leave the pass route to its ancient silence road traffic increased across this mighty passage carved by man across the mountain [Music] bree village at the northern end of the simplon pass and tunnel with its castle built by the rich merchant stockhelper symbolic of the simplon with its towers recalling those of italian tuscany when winter closes the road to motor traffic this old diligence the last in europe starts out from brig on the long journey with males for the upland villages and the hospice on the bus higher males and passengers will be transferred to a sledge [Music] the black and yellow coach sways behind the horses a contrast as the diligence passes the monument to chavez the peruvian aviator who first flew the simplon in 1910 no hurry for the diligence bringing the male to the mountain folk breaking the monotony of their hard winter lives and then leaving them once again to the silence of the hills in the off season the old comes into its own the traditional costumes are in their proper place the horses like passengers and driver take a breather and a village goat licks salt from a friendly rider's hand too high for trees now and the snow begins the sledge takes over patches of uncovered road make the going hard for the horses but they're used to it behind the horses in early spring the snowplow opening the winter road for the 20th century [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] close behind the cars run smoothly to the pass and its hospice built on napoleon's order in 1801 and run by the monks of saint bernard a fortress of human service on a road for war the diligence hardly stops on the pass the road is long to is ill at the southern end of the pass route and the horses know it but they know too that the climate is milder down there in the lowlands the horses work and men play skiers seek the last snows of springtime in the clear air and among the crocuses but the diligence stops for neither crocus nor snows the timetable master of the mailman rules all this town roofed with grey stone on the southern slopes of the pass route is simplon village birthplace of a swiss cabinet minister joseph escher summer means rest from the road for the wiry horses of the simplon route and the swiss postal buses take over from the diligence through the warm and snow-free months the three notes of the post horn will echo in the mountain valleys along the road which from now on belong to the motor [Music] and the cars use it little and big quiet and noisy all of them come but few drivers stop to drink at the sparkling cascades it's not done stopping on the way up and besides who wants to drink at a mountain stream with a restaurant hard by [Music] do [Music] even a restaurant where legend has it napoleon drank a glass of milk although in fact he never crossed the pass over which he had built one of the boldest roads in the world the mountain people live by the rhythm of a country that never hurries indifferent to tourist and traffic tractors would be lost on these steep slopes better the sure foot of the mountaineer and the tools of a time before the building of the simplon road [Music] [Applause] [Music] summertime under folk from the cities come up to the heights for the quiet they need for the clear air of the mountains for the grandeur of the peaks from may to october cars buses motorbikes speed along the simplon route hardly stopping but the hotels on the pass itself show that the simplon is a resort off the road is the silence of the high mountain country for the skier the climber the botanist in the lovely other world of the simplon pass itself [Music] technique and time have changed nothing of the importance of the simplon route since napoleon chose it as the shortest road from north to south from paris to milan a glance at the map of europe shows it take a straight line from london to brindisi in southern italy it leads across the ranges of the alps via the simplon through the little town of brig at the entrance to the tunnel and the start of the cintron road the great stone eagle symbol of switzerland's defense of her mountain barriers during the last war seems somehow a symbol tool of the emperor who opened this road to men