A pioneering rock-climbing film is being rereleased – 75 years after it was produced.

High Hazard, filmed by former chief of the British Mountain Guides Stanley Watson pushed the boundaries of climbing films, previously the preserve of professional cinematographers and unsatisfactorily shot from the safety of tracks below the major routes.

Watson, a Tynesider who lived in the Lake District, pushed the boundaries to produce the High Hazard, capturing for the first time a cast of friends and employees climbing on the Lakeland crags.

He bought five movie cameras and set to producing the film in May 1934. He said at the time, somewhat immodestly: “I have nothing derogatory to say against the somewhat meagre attempts which have been made so far to film rock climbing.

“The best effort to date was in the silent picture The Romance of Wasdale and the success of the climbing shots was due entirely to the vast photographic experience of the brothers Abraham of Keswick. However, High Hazard is one long thrill. We have taken movie cameras where no camera has ever been taken before.”

Highlights of the film are nine-year-old Vivian Verity tackling Napes Needle on Great Gable; Jerry Wright and colleagues making the second ascent of nearby Trophet Arête and Stanley Watson’s rapid blindfolded ascent of Kern Knotts.

The 16-minute film has been reissued by Mountainmere Research, a Blackburn-based independent publisher. The DVD will be available from Mountainmere from 27 June.