The Last Valley (film)
1970 historical drama film
The Last Valley is a 1971 film written and directed by James Clavell, an historical drama set during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). While war ravages in the southern principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, a mercenary leader (Michael Caine) and a teacher (Omar Sharif) stumble upon a valley untouched by the war. Based upon the novel The Last Valley (1959), by J.B. Pick, the cinematic version of The Last Valley was the final feature film photographed with the Todd-AO 70 mm widescreen process, until it was revived to make the film Baraka in 1991.
Plot
It's the year 1643 AD. A German mercenary and leader, named "The Captain", leads his company who fight for whoever will pay them, regardless of religion. His soldiers pillage the countryside, raping and looting when not fighting. During their campaigns, they encounter Vogel, a former teacher trying to survive the fighting and resulting chaos in south-central Germany. Vogel runs from the Captain's force, and eventually stumbles upon an idyllic mountain valley, untouched by war. Vogel convinces the Captain to preserve the village so it can shelter the band through the coming winter, as the outside world faces famine, plague and the devastation of war. The Captain agrees, but kills Korski, one of his own men, without warning when the latter objects to the idea of desertion. The local headman, Gruber, submits, after obtaining the best terms he can.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Last Valley (film)” is 1970 historical drama film. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Last, Valley and film, not as a finished interpretation.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1171679. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971, 1618, 1648 and 1959.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Last Valley (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.