In this version of "Heidi," a young Swiss girl is sent off to boarding school at the beginning of World War I.
The story idea was inspired by the book "Heidi Grows Up" by Johanna Spyri's translator Tritten, Charles in which Heidi is sent to a boarding school and is shunned for her mountain ways.
TV reviewers Siskel & Ebert picked it as one of their "Worst Films of 1990"! What?!?
Spoiler:
Roger Ebert - Host: Here, for example, is "Courage Mountain", in which a teenaged Heidi is shipped off to a cruel Italian orphanage- Gene, stop laughing- and she has to walk home, all the way to Switzerland, right across the Alps. Fortunately, Charlie Sheen comes to her rescue.
Teenage Heidi is played by 15-year-old Juliette Caton, memorable as the Girl Angel in "The Last Temptation of Christ". To hell with Gene & Roger, I found this entertaining, although it certainly can not compare to any of the REAL versions of the "Heidi" story. There are some loose ends left dangling, but at least one of the villains gets a satisfying sendoff.