Ski Films

Skiing in movies, like the sport itself, grew more prevalent beginning in the 1930s, when it was a pastime of the elite, with depictions reflecting changes in technique, fashion and social climate. World War II saw skiing featured in a dozen films dealing with that conflict. Fueled by postwar prosperity, the sport exploded in the 1950s—filmmakers followed suit, using scenes on snow-covered slopes for panoramic beauty and the thrill of the chase. Through the free-spirited 1960s and 1970s, the downhill lifestyle shussed into everything from spy thrillers to beach party romps. The extreme sports era of the 1980s and 1990s brought snowboarding to the big screen. This first ever critical history of skiing in film chronicles a century of alpine cinema, with production information and stories and quotes from directors, actors and stuntmen.

Bryan Senn’s work has appeared in Filmfax, Cult Movies, Shivers, Midnight Marquee Press and Monsters from the Vault. The author of numerous books on the history of cinema, he lives in Montana.

Bryan Senn
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 426
Bibliographic Info: 145 photos, glossary, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7219-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4503-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments  vi
Preface  1
Introduction  4
Ski Films  21
­Semi-Ski Films  240
Appendix A: Chronology  379
Appendix B: Series, Themes and Subgenres (A Chronological Listing)  384
Appendix C: Location, Location, (Shooting) Location  388
Appendix D: Best to Worst  393
Glossary of Ski Terms  395
Bibliography  399
Index  405

• “Looks at more than 200 titles in depth…Another solid illustrated and well-researched effort by the ever-reliable author—one of cult film’s best critics. He clearly knows his crud.”—Flick Attack

• “Whether you read cover-to-cover or browse, this is a fun book, one that amply displays Senn’s gifts for both research and readability.”—David C. Tucker Blogspot

• “Get the darn book.”—Reviews on the Edge