Mountain films began in 1901 by recording the ascent of the Matterhorn on the wake of the legendary story of alpinism, with an anonymous pioneer film that is one of the first examples of the history of Helvetican cinematography. The presence of the Matterhorn (icon to exalt, reinterpret, demythicize) in mountain films is constantly repeated and rich in memorable pages. The two most famous films concern the re-enactment of the first conquest in July 1865, with the dramatic competition between the two climbing parties, led respectively by the Valdostan Antonio Carrel and the Englishman Edward Whymper: the first in 1928 is “Der Kamf ums Matterhorn” by Mario Bonnard and Nunzio Malasomma; the second in 1938 “Der Berg ruft” by Luis Trenker (in both films, distributed in Italy under the same title “La grande conquista”, the figure of Carrel is emphatically interpreted). The documentary of the television series “Passe-moi le jumelles” is an essay that reconstructs the long and often renewed ‘love story’ between the Matterhorn and films.