Copyright 25 March 1936 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. A First National picture. New York opening at the Strand: 29 March 1936. Australian release: 20 May 1936. 7 reels. 63 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Stuck for a Third Act, a playwright (George Brent), retreats to his country lodge. Unfortunately, his attempts at creative writing are undermined by three unexpected visitors: wives one and two, and a romantic but mentally not over-bright young lady who aspires to become wife number three.
COMMENT: I'd hate to give the impression that all comedies from Hollywood's golden era were gems of wit and sophistication. That's the danger of books that are meant to appeal. Only the good films are usually talked about! But here's a picture that boasts a most promising cast, but what a waste of time this tedious programmer actually turns out to be!
Brent plays a playwright who can't come up with a good Third Act. Screenwriters Herbert and Holmes evidently had the same trouble. Mind you, they couldn't think up a decent First or Second either and thus the movie ends abruptly at the end of two rounds.
True, there are two or three very funny lines ("Have you ever heard of steam-heated snow?") and it's always nice to see sinuous Patricia Ellis. Ever-reliable Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell also do their best. But Porter Hall seems determined to put over his unfunny lines by shouting at the top of his voice; while Genevieve Tobin, who was so delightfully svelte and sophisticated in Ernst Lubitsch's One Hour With You (1932) in which she played the "other woman" opposite Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, here mugs away atrociously without a trace of style or even halfway competent panache.
To make matters worse, Enright's flaccid direction is not only thoroughly routine, but allows these noisy hams to run riot.
OTHER VIEWS: Parish and Stanke in The Debonairs write: "Because of its uninspired script, Snowed Under was nothing more than 63 minutes of tedium."
SYNOPSIS: Stuck for a Third Act, a playwright (George Brent), retreats to his country lodge. Unfortunately, his attempts at creative writing are undermined by three unexpected visitors: wives one and two, and a romantic but mentally not over-bright young lady who aspires to become wife number three.
COMMENT: I'd hate to give the impression that all comedies from Hollywood's golden era were gems of wit and sophistication. That's the danger of books that are meant to appeal. Only the good films are usually talked about! But here's a picture that boasts a most promising cast, but what a waste of time this tedious programmer actually turns out to be!
Brent plays a playwright who can't come up with a good Third Act. Screenwriters Herbert and Holmes evidently had the same trouble. Mind you, they couldn't think up a decent First or Second either and thus the movie ends abruptly at the end of two rounds.
True, there are two or three very funny lines ("Have you ever heard of steam-heated snow?") and it's always nice to see sinuous Patricia Ellis. Ever-reliable Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell also do their best. But Porter Hall seems determined to put over his unfunny lines by shouting at the top of his voice; while Genevieve Tobin, who was so delightfully svelte and sophisticated in Ernst Lubitsch's One Hour With You (1932) in which she played the "other woman" opposite Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, here mugs away atrociously without a trace of style or even halfway competent panache.
To make matters worse, Enright's flaccid direction is not only thoroughly routine, but allows these noisy hams to run riot.
OTHER VIEWS: Parish and Stanke in The Debonairs write: "Because of its uninspired script, Snowed Under was nothing more than 63 minutes of tedium."