Ski Crazy! (1955)

"Ski Crazy" has established a number of firsts in the ski movie field. It is the first to be produced as a true theatrical motion picture, with all the modem techniques and organization that the term "motion picture" implies. The picture was planned, written, cast and produced with all of the skill and equipment now available in the motion picture industry. Uniquely, the feature was produced in Filmorama-wide-screen technique similar to Cinemascope-by means of anamorphic lenses and a variety of Bell and Howell cameras. It is the first major picture produced with synchronous (sound-on-film) dialogue, from a script written especially for skiing audiences. Instead of putting actors on skis, MacLean rounded up three photogenic former Olympians for the lead parts-Darrell Robison, Sally Neidlinger and Pierre Jalbert- signed them up for a year, and made actors out of them. During the ski season he took his cast of eleven and a large technical crew to Alta, Utah, where all the ski sequences were shot in deep powder. The end result is a happy blend of comedy, fine skiing and magnificent scenery. The plot concerns a ski-crazy boy, Darrell Robison, whose fiancee, Barbara Rhodes, deplores his propensity for schussing the mountain and his insistence on being the first skier on the lift every morning. Through a friend, Sally Neidlinger, Barbara induces the eminent French psychiatrist, Pierre Jalbert, to investigate Darrell's madness, whereupon Jalbert decides that ski resorts offer a far more fertile field for psychoanalysis than the hills of Hollywood. Dr. Jalbert turns out to be quite an eccentric character himself. He is convinced that, merely by reading all the books and buying all the equipment, he can readily become an outstanding skier and thus gain the confidence of other skiers. A subplot concerns the dogged pursuit of another hapless young skier, Jim McConkey, by Big John Ferraro, a rough, tough bill collector. It seems that Jim has purchased a ski vacation on the installment plan and has missed his last four payments. The hilarious pursuit, the annual up-and-down mountain race, an overwhelming avalanche, a dramatic rescue and a happy solution to each character's predicament bring the story to an exciting and rollicking finish.