Mount Hood dominates the background – often in a central position, in Anthony Mann’s incredible ability to construct the frame – at the beginning of the movie. In the dialogue compares him to a tall man with white hair (in Mann the landscape lives and breathes). It is not looming,but distant and serene: a reminder of the difficulty of reaching the Earthly Paradise. In the triumphant and festive finale we will see it again on the other side of the path.