User reviews

Jules White was spending some time at MGM when he was put in charge of this short about cold weather sports. Some of the gags are decrepit even for 1932 -- starting out in an orange grove and panning up to the snow-capped mountains above where people are at risk of freezing to death was used by Mack Sennett in 1912, before he founded Keystone, in WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED. The serious sections are well shot, but the way to handle them dates from the 19th century.

Fortunately, there's the snarky-voiced Pete Smith to offer comments on what we are watching. It's not as sarcastic as Pete would later become, but it keeps this short from being utterly boring and commonplace.

OK, I'm being generous in describing this as having special effects - you'll recognize them! However I was struck most by the skill being recorded.

This documentary short starts at an orange orchard in southern California and then heads up into the mountains to enjoy some winter sports outside of L. A. The narrator is Pete Smith.

This is somewhat fun. The filmmaker basically took a few days to go on a ski vacation. The barrel jumps are fun. I like the general joy of a winter vacation. The torchlight skiing could have more time. It has epic visual potential. The ski jumping is old school fun. This spends a majority of its time there. I get the reason. Ski jumping was probably something unknown back in the day. It must have fascinated the audience. This is fine.

Snow Birds (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Jules White directed this MGM short, which shows clips of various winter sports with the added attraction of narration by the one and only Pete Smith. We start off seeing tobogganing, barrel jumping, ice skating and of course falling down before heading over to some mountains where we watch some ski-jumps. Overall this is a fairly entertaining short even if there's nothing too special about it. I think mostly fans of Smith are going to get a kick out of this one and his narration does add a couple funny bits including one scene where a barrel jumper is about to fail but the film pauses, goes back and then starts again. A cheap effect but something that works thanks to Smith. The footage itself is less than impressive but there's a running joke of a photographer showing up after crashes. White, best known for his Three Stooges work, gets to add a few sound effects to the wrecks.