Corman was best known for horror and sci fi but he also dabbled in war films such as this one. The most interesting thing about it is the setting – you don’t get many films dealing with ski warfare (I was surprised to see it’s a whole special field – big in the Finland wars, but the Americans did it in Italy) but the plot is uninspired. It's a variation of Naked Paradise – a bunch of desperadoes are in trouble, in this case American soldiers, who squabble amongst themselves. But Naked Paradise (and Creature from the Haunted Sea, another variation of the same story) had a couple of subplots at well. Charles D Griffith wrote it but it's one of his weakest scripts.
Maybe the problem is partly that Corman was never at his best in all male tales – there is a female in this, a German woman who lives in a cabin, but she’s killed off soon after she’s introduced. (They should have kept her alive for longer.) All we have instead is Americans being chased by Germans, and some really dull squabbling amongst two Americans. (a) Doesn’t feel realistic (surely the insubordinate dude would be chucked out (b) Doesn’t feel interesting.
It's also seriously undercast – you’re not likely to recognise anyone in it apart from Roger Corman himself, who plays a German soldier (and he looks like one too); the heroic lead is Michael Forest, who later played Atlas for Corman.
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