Snowbound (1948)

I'll tell you why so serious

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Blistering performances.

Snowbound is about a bunch of people in the Alps pretending to ski but really looking for secret hidden Nazi treasure. And yes, it's as unexciting as it sounds.Robert Newton is a film director-a completely random profession; there's no useful reason why he's written to be in the film industry-and he asks Dennis Price to go to the Alps. Dennis is an idiot and completely trusts Bobbie, so off he goes. He continues to be an idiot by falling in love with Mila Parely, even when she's obviously giving a Marlene Dietrich impersonation. Then, he doesn't suspect Herbert Lom might be the bad guy, even though he tries really hard to look as creepy as possible at all times!Since the lead isn't too bright, there's no real reason to root for him. The bad guys aren't particularly interesting either, and how many secret Nazi movies can you sit through before you get really sick of them? I liked The Devil Makes Three better, but even that one had its weak points.

Robert Newton was the selling point here but is woefully underused and after recruiting Dennis Price as a spy at the start he disappears for the major part of the running time leaving the lion's share of the screen to journeyman actors like Price and Guy Middleton. Best of the rest is Herbert Lom, the closest in talent to Newton. It's something of a Boy's Own Paper yarn albeit one with a factual premise; with the end of the war clearly inevitable the Nazis began frantically shipping plunder, in the form of priceless art, gold and even cash, either out of Europe altogether or at least well hidden within Europe and, inevitably there are those who know of it and would like to find it. This is your plot and all you need now is a motley crew to do the searching. Apart from the criminal under use of Newton it's not too hard to take.

This is a very strange film.Robert Newton is top billed.However after his appearance in the first scene he does not appear for another hour.During that period very little of interest happens.Then with his reappearance the film comes to life and we get a reason for the happenings,revelations as to the true identities of the main characters and the action that had been missing in the previous hour.It is difficult to understand the way the plot is developed,notwithstanding a view on the way a British film studio operated in the forties.However you do get the feeling that many of the cast were wasted not least Dennis Price.

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.