Snowed Under (1936)

(On Cable TV, March 2022) I don’t care how many movies they’ve made about writers trying to shake off writer’s block by isolating themselves in a remote cabin and then being deluged by visitors—I will watch them all. While Snowed Under is too short (at 63 minutes!) to make as big of an impression as the numerous Seven Keys to Baldpate remakes, it’s a serviceable take on the premise. Here, the added wrinkle is that the writer’s editor doesn’t think he’ll get a complete play out of his isolated scribe, so he sends the playwright’s first ex-wife to expedite the process. She won’t be the only one there, though, as numerous characters also converge on an isolated (but expansive) cabin in the middle of a Midwestern winter. George Brent is bland in the lead role, but Genevieve Tobin does steal the show as his much smarter first ex-wife. There’s quite a cast of characters for such a short film, and while the duration prevents the film from building itself up, it also means that it’s over so soon that we can only hunger for just a bit more. Snowed Under is pleasant—well worth viewing on a cold winter night even if the film’s snow effects (or overall conception of winter) are laughably fake.