Snowbound is a 1948 British film starring a top British cast, including Dennis Price, Robert Newton, Stanley Holloway, Herbert Lom, Guy Middleton, and Marcel Dalio.
Engeles (Newton), a film director who was with intelligence during the war, sends a war vet, Blair (Price) to a small hotel in Austria with the assignment of gathering information. He doesn't say why; he just wants information of the people and what's going on there.
It takes a while for the truth to emerge about this disparate group: a Greek (Lom), a Countess (Mila Parely), a Brit (Mayne), and several others. At one point, there is an attempt on Blair's life that very nearly succeeds.
We finally learn that all of these people are searching for hidden Nazi gold that was buried in the small hotel. The Lom character intends to start another Reich with it. All the reasons are different.
We don't really find out any of that for a while. In the meantime, the film has magnificent, soaring skiiing scenes with accompanying music (a little much in some parts) and a stunning search and rescue scene with skiiers with torches in a line. It also has a powerful ending.
The story isn't much, and in fact wastes the cast, but the cinematography and acting elevates it.
