Overrated and overhyped

Disturbing yet enthralling

The first must-see film of the year.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

White Peril (1956) ** (out of 4) RKO-Pathe Screenliner short takes a look at the snow patrol working in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. The film starts off telling us how important water is and how many ways we use it. We then go to the mountain where we see the snow patrol doing their work to make sure that we never run out of water. These Screenliner shorts are always hit and miss and sadly this here is one that doesn't work. This really does seem like a rather interesting job but this short really kills any excitement and in the end we really don't learn too much. It's a real shame that more details weren't given about the actual work they're doing and the reasons they are doing them. It would have been nice to learn why certain tests were done and what they were trying to learn but we never get that. There are some nice shots of the snowy mountains but that's about the only reason to watch this.

Another of RKO's Sport Scope documentaries showing the "Snow Patrol" at work in Washington State's Cascade Mountains measuring the snow in a landscape full of nature's white beauties, perilous as it may be with avalanches.The men mark certain trees with their measuring equipment to get a scientific idea of how deep the snow in certain areas is. Overnight stays in specially made cabins along the route are necessary before handing over their reports to a passing snow vehicle and moving on to the next measurement site.Moderately interesting with narration by Peter Roberts, but not especially enlightening--but some nice, crisp B&W photography showing the beauty of the Cascade Mountain area covered with snow.