Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

HotToastyRag 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.

writers_reign 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.

Spikeopath 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

Single-Black-Male 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.