Snowbound

It has to be admitted that Dennis Price, God bless him, was miscast. He gets blown off the screen by, successively, Robert Newton, Stanley Holloway, Marcel Dalio, Mila Parély, Herbert Lom, and even Guy MIddleton, not to mention several of the minor players, all of whom are good. But the 2nd unit work makes up for everything. The skiing scenes are gorgeous, and the rescue sequence starting from the bell tolling and ending up with the skiers' torches circling inward when they find him is really quite beautiful: apart from the overloud music, a completely silent sequence worthy of some of the best silents.

Here is a very enjoyable (and very underrated) little thriller from the golden age of British movie-making. I really don't think you could ask for much more when given an interesting story, an excellent cast and solid production values. It's one of those nice films that it is very difficult not to like.

Special mention must be made of the superb cinematography of Stephen Dade and the beautiful sets. These contributions will linger in your memory long after you see the picture.

I would have liked to see a little more of Robert Newton since he always gives an enjoyable performance, but that is only a minor quibble.

Seek this one out.

In post-war times, Neil Blair (Price) is unexpectedly sent to the Alps by his wartime C.O. Derek Engles (Newton). His mission is to keep an eye, on an Italian ski-lodge, populated with a mixed bunch of folk, most of whom are pretending to be something they are not.

This film is based on a Hammond Innes novel and the plot is -in the broadest terms- quite credible in that folk scoured Europe for loot in the post war years. Obviously there are twists and turns here which I won't go into, but covert activities here are somewhat amateurish for the most part; perhaps audiences in 1947 had a different level of expectation in this regard.

Most of the film was shot in Shepherd's Bush but there was location shooting in the French Alps, mostly using doubles (who could ski properly) in long shots and also for footage that was used in back-projection studio work. The location shooting was beautifully done; marvellous unspoiled snowscapes with skiers (mostly) making fresh tracks in virgin snow. It should be remembered that, at this time, skiing in the Alps was an almost impossibly exotic thing to do. It was the province of the wealthy and not for the unfit or risk-adverse either; proper 'release' bindings and very supportive boots hadn't been invented yet (broken ankles were commonplace) and ski-lifts were a rarity; if you wanted those few minutes of glorious downhill ecstasy, you usually had to work for it, by legging it up the mountain first; for every five minutes of downhill skiing there might be an hour of breathless ascent beforehand.

Fashions change of course but one thing that made me chuckle was Mayne's (Middleton's) headgear; presumably some kind of ear muffs, I did a double take, wondering if he was in fact wearing his underwear on his head for a bet or something.

This film is moderately interesting as a thriller but earns itself an extra star from me for the location shooting, little of it though there is . Seven out of ten.

Snowbound is a 1948 British film starring a top British cast, including Dennis Price, Robert Newton, Stanley Holloway, Herbert Lom, Guy Middleton, and Marcel Dalio.

Engeles (Newton), a film director who was with intelligence during the war, sends a war vet, Blair (Price) to a small hotel in Austria with the assignment of gathering information. He doesn't say why; he just wants information of the people and what's going on there.

It takes a while for the truth to emerge about this disparate group: a Greek (Lom), a Countess (Mila Parely), a Brit (Mayne), and several others. At one point, there is an attempt on Blair's life that very nearly succeeds.

We finally learn that all of these people are searching for hidden Nazi gold that was buried in the small hotel. The Lom character intends to start another Reich with it. All the reasons are different.

We don't really find out any of that for a while. In the meantime, the film has magnificent, soaring skiiing scenes with accompanying music (a little much in some parts) and a stunning search and rescue scene with skiiers with torches in a line. It also has a powerful ending.

The story isn't much, and in fact wastes the cast, but the cinematography and acting elevates it.

I recently picked up a VHS copy of Snowbound at a good price and I wasn't too disappointed, but it wasn't that brilliant.

A man who works as a movie extra gets a job as a spy and is sent to a remote ski cabin in the Alps to investigate strange happenings there. It turns out there is some Nazi gold hidden underneath it and there are others after it too. Who will get their hands on it?

One or two negative things in this movie include people talking Italian which makes you lose the plot a little (these scenes would have been better subtitled) and the plot itself is a little confusing at times anyway. But there is some nice scenery and a good music score though.

An excellent cast too: Robert Newton (Treasure Island, Tom Brown's School Days), Herbert Lom (Mysterious Island, North West Frontier), Dennis Price, Stanley Holloway (The Titfield Thunderbolt, The Lavender Hill Mob), Guy Middleton and Mila Parely.

Although not brilliant, Snowbound is worth checking out.

Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 5.