Snowbound

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.

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.

The actor from the Czech Republic who reinvented himself as Herbert Lom looked quite menacing in this film. In black and white, he has the same sinister demeanour as James Mason. He's likeable though. Swarve, conservative with volatile undertones. I'm surprised he went quite unnoticed during the 40's.

Funding the New World Order of the Fourth Reich. Snowbound is directed by David MacDonald and adapted to screenplay by David Evans and Keith Campbell from the novel "The Lonely Skier" written by Hammond Innes. It stars Dennis Price, Mila Parely, Stanley Holloway, Herbert Lom, Robert Newton and Guy Middleton. Music is by Cedric Thorpe Davie and cinematography by Stephen Dade.

In short order form the plot basically finds a group of disparate people up in the Italian Alps involved in the search for Nazi treasure hidden somewhere abouts a ski resort. it's a league of nations up in them thar snowy hills, some with deadly motives, others just caught in the crossfire of nefarious plans.

The screenplay is a little too tricksy for its own good, with the multiple shifts of the key players identities becoming tiresome in the last quarter of film. That it never gets going fully until late in the play is also an irritant, as is the fact there is a dynamite cast list assembled here that are sadly given one note characters to portray. In fact Newton is so criminally under used the writers and director should have been banished to the Alps as punishment. That said, the set designs, cinematography and a strong turn from Lom, make sure it stays above average as viewing entertainment. While the finale is gripping and features a resolution that's deliciously sly.

Marked out by some as an entry in the British Noir pantheon, I'm not willing to suggest it as such myself. Certainly some of Stephen Dade's photography has the requisite noirish tints to it, and it could be argued there's an inevitable feeling of bleakness pervading the narrative that brings it into the film noir realm. As always, film noir is in the eye of the beholder, and to me this is just a better than average drama. Even if it does waste a great cast. 6/10

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.