Flor de Inverno

Norwegian ice skater Sonia Henie (Nora) arrives in Canada with her wealthy uncle S.Z. Sakall expecting to stay in a luxury hotel. However, promoter Jack Oakie (Skip) has booked them into a failing hotel run by Cornel Wilde (Freddy). Resident entertainers Cesar Romero (Brad) and Carole Landis (Flossie) are there in the mix as well along with Woody Herman's band. Cue singing and skating…

We have the bad – Jack Oakie and S.Z. Sakall – set against the good – the songs and Romero, Landis and Henie. Romero wins the comedy prize – he is very funny and quite athletic with a talent for singing and dancing. The film started poorly with overbearing Jack Oakie blustering away in his unfunny manner to insipid Cornel Wilde. Then the film gets a massive boost with a great song by Romero and Landis before we slip into some nonsense with unfunny S.Z. Sakall. As the film progresses and Romero takes centre stage, things get enjoyable. Henie also gets some funny moments as well as her skating segments.

An eccentric Norwegian millionaire & his ice skating niece attempt to make a WINTERTIME success of Quebec's Chateau Promenade.

Sonja Henie was Norway's ice queen when she won Olympic gold medals for skating in 1928, 1932 & 1936. After going professional, she began a celebrated movie career at 20th Century Fox in 1936 with her American film debut, ONE IN A MILLION. Beautiful & talented, as well as being a natural in front of the cameras, she carved out her own special niche during Hollywood's Golden Age. Although Miss Henie's ice routines may look antiquated by comparison to modern champions, there was nothing antique about her dazzling smile or sparkling personality. In this regard, some of today's snowflake princesses could still learn a great deal from her.

As her career progressed, it became increasingly difficult for 20th Century Fox to find decent stories for Miss Henie and the excuses for the lavish ice dancing numbers were often implausible. No matter. Audiences did not flock to her films to watch Sonja recite Shakespeare. The movies were meant to be pure escapist fantasy, plain & simple.

WINTERTIME is no exception and its story is often quite ludicrous. However, the skating episodes are pleasing and there is a generous amount of band music supplied by the Woody Herman Orchestra.

Cornel Wilde, far down the cast list & still two years away from major stardom, plays Sonja's love interest, but he's not given much to do. As the Chateau's promoter, Jack Oakie comes across as loud & rather annoying; however cuddly S. Z. Sakall is very amusing as Sonja's harried uncle. Cesar Romero, doing quite well as a big band singer, once again gets to showoff his considerable flair for comedy. (Mr. Romero & Miss Henie make a dynamite dancing duo.)

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Dick Elliott as an enraged husband chasing Romero.

Ultimately, though, this is Sonja's show. She glides effortlessly into the viewer's heart, while balancing on a thin edge of silver, suspended over frozen water.

This is such a fun little movie - I'm thrilled Fox is finally putting it on DVD! Sonja Henie is the star so of course there's plenty of amazing ice-skating numbers but the real treat here is the supporting cast. Cesar Romero and Carole Landis are hilarious as a bickering couple and their musical duet of "I Like It Here" is one of the highlights. I'm a huge Carole Landis fan and it's always a treat to see her doing comedy and she has great chemistry with Cesar Romero. The costumes are beautiful too especially the gowns Carole wears and the Sonja's skating costumes. Cornel Wilde and Jack Oakie also give great supporting performances. Although it was made as a b-movie Wintertime is a really good romantic comedy with some fun musical numbers and a wonderful cast!

"Wintertime" from 1943 was, I believe, the last film Sonja Henie made for Darryl F. Zanuck. To me, it was pretty poor with the exception of Sonja's fabulous skating. It's loud, a little slap-sticky, and the funny parts aren't all that funny.

The film also stars Jack Oakie, S.Z. Sakall, Cornell Wilde, Carole Landis, and Cesar Romero.

The story is sketchy and really just an excuse for the musical numbers, of which there are many. Nora (Henie) and her uncle (S.Z. Sakall) are in Canada to be part of a quota so they can immigrate to the U.S. They spend the night in a hotel in Canada which has seen better days.

Nora develops a crush on the owner (Wilde) and talks her uncle into investing into the hotel. However, with his funds being frozen in Norway due to the war, the investment has put Nora's uncle in financial trouble now. Also, Nora starts to think her romance is one-sided when reporter Landis appears.

Sonja was a first in many aspects of figure skating, and even today with more athletic moves, her talent can be appreciated. She was fast and had beautiful spins, as well a big personality. She was the first figure skater to wear the short skirt costume, the first to wear white boots, the first to make use of dance choreography, and she invented many skating techniques -- all things that remain in place today in the sport. She also made ice shows and figure skating popular.

For the above reasons, seeing a Sonja Henie movie is always a treat. In this case, do yourself a favor and fast forward through the rest of it.

Musical movies in the 1930s and 40s were generally a string of musical numbers linked together by enough dialogue to fill out 90 minutes. The major studios usually made at least an effort to provide a plot that was not embarrassing and that more or less made the musical numbers fit.

Twentieth Century Fox didn't bother here. Henie gets some nice skating numbers, but the plot, such as it is, is pretty lame.

It hits a surprising low when it tries to motivate Henie's efforts to enter the U.S. by using the German invasion of Norway. That was very serious business, of course, and a real tragedy. It seems very strange to see it used here, almost completely unmourned, as an excuse for a plot twist.

The secondary roles here are well played, especially by Cesar Romero, who was very talented. But the only real interest here is Henie's skating. The rest is pretty much a waste of time.