Snowbound (1948 film)

Plot

British film director Derek Engles recognises Neil Blair, one of the extras in his production. To investigate some intelligence he picked up in Italy, Engles offers Blair a different job because he trusts him (he used to be Blair's commanding officer). He wants Blair to keep him posted on the activities of everyone staying at a ski hut, posing as a scriptwriter. Blair accepts. Engles also warns him to look out for Carla Rometta and sends along a cameraman, Joe Wesson.

Aldo, the indifferent innkeeper, tells the pair there are no rooms available, but guest Stefano Valdini helps them get settled in. Englishman Gilbert Mayne also takes a room. Blair soon encounters Rometta, who calls herself the Comtessa Forelli. That night, a Greek named Keramikos arrives.

When Blair makes his first report, Engles is particularly interested in the fact that the hut is to be auctioned off the next day. The proprietor of the hotel below confides to Blair that the auction is rigged and that there will only be one bid, his, but instead there is a heated bidding war involving Valdini (on the Comtessa's behalf) and a lawyer for an unknown party, which the latter wins.

Keramikos tells Blair that he is not there to write a script; he also claims that Mayne was a deserter from the British Army who ended up working for him in Greece, though he declines to divulge any more. Blair begins falling for the comtessa, who admits she is Carla. Very late at night, by chance, Blair spots Keramikos speaking German with another man. However, when Blair confronts Keramikos, the Greek warns him to mind his own business.

The next day, Mayne invites him to go skiing. After refusing to answer any of Blair's questions, Mayne leaves him behind when he crashes and is knocked out. Mayne later calls Wesson to inform him that Blair is missing. Carla overhears and telephones Mancini, who organises a search party. Blair is found unconscious, but recovers quickly.

Engles shows up, just before a snowstorm that leaves all the parties stranded in the hut for the night. At dinner, Engles identifies Keramikos as Von Kellerman. Kellerman reveals he was a Gestapo special agent in charge of Venice, and that Engles was a colonel in British Intelligence. When Italy switched sides and joined the Allies, Kellerman was ordered to transport the gold reserves of the Bank of Italy to Germany. He assigned the task to Captain Heinrich Stelben, unaware Stelben was enamoured with Carla Rometta. In turn, Stelben did not know that Carla had transferred her affections to Mayne. At Carla's urging, Stelben left the gold at the hut and, after shooting his own men, reported he had been ambushed. The badly wounded Corporal Holtz survived and was later "persuaded" to relate his story to Kellerman. Kellerman wants the gold to finance the rebuilding of a fascist Germany.

When Carla attacks Mayne after learning that he had agreed to kill her and Valdini, he knocks her unconscious. Valdini throws a knife at him. Mayne shoots him dead, but is knifed in the back by Aldo on Kellerman's order. Kellerman produces a pistol, has Carla locked up, and orders the Englishmen to dig for the gold. Mayne comes to and tries to free Carla, but knocks over a lamp that sets the building on fire, then succumbs. When no gold is found, Kellerman does not believe that Engles does not know where it is and shoots him. In the ensuing fight, Wesson drags the unconscious Blair out of the basement. The burning hut collapses on the others. Carla reveals that she knows where the gold is, but cradling Blair, declares she will never reveal its location, as it has caused too many deaths.

Cast

Production

Hammond Innes' novel The Lonely Skier was published in 1947. Film rights were bought by Sydney Box at Gainsborough Studios. The film involved location shooting in the French Alps. A unit was sent to shoot exteriors in the Alps while directed David MacDonald finished Good Time Girl for Gainsborough.

Studio filming at Shepherd's Bush took place in July 1947.

Critical

The March 1948 Variety review was not especially favourable, complaining that the "Main failing of the yarn is that situations do not thrill sufficiently," and "For the romantic interest Mila Parely was imported from Paris, an experiment difficult to justify by results."

The Los Angeles Times said "the British flair for making gripping spine chillers explodes excitingly" in the film.

Box Office

By July 1953, the film earned a net revenue of £120,000.