''Snowed In'' is a 1926 American silent

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

in 10 episodes/chapters. Directed by

Spencer Gordon Bennet Spencer Gordon Bennet (January 5, 1893 – October 8, 1987) was an American film producer and director. Known as the "King of Serial Directors", he directed more film serials than any other director. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, Benne ...

, the film stars

Allene Ray Allene Ray (born Allene Ray Burch; January 2, 1901 – May 5, 1979) was an American film actress. Early years Born in Devine, Texas, Ray grew up on her father's ranch with her four sisters and two brothers. She was learning to ride by age 3, and ...

and Walter Miller. Aviation film historian James H. Farmer considered ''Snowed In'' as an "above average serial of the period."

Plot

David Sheridan ( Walter Miller), a forest ranger who teams up with Shirley Kane (

), an adventuress to go up against a gang of bandits. The gang is controlled by the mysterious Charles Redfield, whom none of the bandits have ever actually seen. A number of

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

robberies has taken place, and J.B. Swinnerton ( Frank Austin), an airmail pilot is being blamed. Forest ranger Sheridan is out to prove who is really behind the series of spectacular armed robberies. When all the protagonists are cut off from the outside world by a blizzard, the immense forces of nature force everyone to find a way to survive.

Chapter titles

#Storm Warnings #The Storm Starts #The Coming of Redfield #Redfield Strikes #Buried #The Enemy's Stronghold #The Trap #Thieves' Honor #Daybreak #The End of Redfield

Cast

as Shirley Kane * Walter Miller as David Sheridan * Frank Austin as J.B. Swinnerton *

Tom London Tom London (born Leonard T. Clapman; August 24, 1889 – December 5, 1963) was an American actor who played frequently in B-Westerns. According to ''The Guinness Book of Movie Records'', London is credited with appearing in the most films in ...

as U.S. Marshal Thayer (credited as Leonard Clapham) * Harry Martell as Dr. Byrd (credited as Harrison Martell) * Charles West as Harron * J.F. McCullough as Howard Kane * Wally Oettel *

John Webb Dillion John Webb Dillion (6 February 1877 – 20 December 1949) was an English actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1911 and 1947. He was born in London and died in Hollywood, California, USA. He was married to Catherine Urlau. Selected fi ...

* Natalie Warfield * Ben Walker * Bert Appling *

George Magrill George Magrill (January 5, 1900 – May 31, 1952) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 320 films between 1923 and 1952. Magrill performed on stage before he began to work in films. Besides his acting, Magrill worked as a s ...

* Albert Kingsley

Production

Filming for ''Snowed In'' took place in and around

McCall, Idaho McCall is a resort town on the western edge of Valley County, Idaho, United States. Named after its founder, Tom McCall, it is situated on the southern shore of Payette Lake, near the center of the Payette National Forest. The population was 2,991 ...

, in the

Payette National Forest The Payette National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in central western Idaho, in parts of Valley, Idaho, Adams, and Washington counties. The land area consists of approximately 2.3 million acres (9,300 km2) of federally managed ...

. Aircraft were staged out of McCall Municipal Airport in

Valley County, Idaho Valley County is a rural County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 11,746. The county seat is Cascade, Idaho, Cascade, and the largest city is McCall, ...

.Farmer 1984, p. 328.

Reception

Aviation film historian Michael Paris in ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema'' compared ''Snowed In'' to other films that dealt with the airmail pilots who operated in Western United States. He listed ''

The Air Mail ''The Air Mail'' is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Irvin Willat and starring Warner Baxter, Billie Dove, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. Filmed in Dea ...

'' (1925) and '' Flying High'' (1926),''

The Flying Mail ''The Flying Mail'' is a 1926 American silent action film directed by Noel M. Smith. The film stars Al Wilson, Joseph W. Girard and Kathleen Myers. ''The Flying Mail'' was one of a series of films that showcased the exploits of the air mail ser ...

'' (1926), ''Wolves of the Air'' (1927), and ''

Pirates of the Sky ''Pirates of the Sky'' is a 1926 American silent film, silent adventure film, adventure melodrama film directed by Charles Andrews. The film stars Charles Hutchison, Wanda Hawley and Crauford Kent. In different sources, ''Pirates of the Sky'' dis ...

'' (1927) that were also examples of the sub-genre of the "modern western adventure" that often had heroes mounted on aircraft, not horses.Paris 1995, p. 64.

Preservation status

''Snowed In'' is now considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

.'Progressive Silent Film List: 'Snowed In'."
''silentera.com'', December 9, 2017. Retrieved: July 28, 2019.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema''. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Rowan, Terry. ''The American Western: A Complete Film Guide''. Morrisville, North Carolina: LuLu.com, 2015. .

External links

* * {{Pathé serials 1926 films American aviation films American silent serial films American black-and-white films 1926 drama films Lost American films Pathé Exchange film serials Films directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet Silent American drama films 1926 lost films Lost drama films 1920s American films