Winter Wonderland
Winter Wonderland
"Thirty million Soviets participate in winter sports events. Winter Wonderland offers a collage of the best skiing, speed skating, figure-skating, sledding, hockey, and snow surfing to be found in the Soviet Union." This film has no narration or information, but it does have a lot of really nicely shot footage of winter sports. Excellent condition. 01:48:45:- Opening downhill skiing montage... adults and children put their lives on the line as they ask the eternal question: who rules, man or nature? Well, for a while it looks (in color-rich and angle-perfect MS's) that man is the better of two evils, but alas, in the end it is nature (excellent slo-motion MS's of the skiiers falling down, some taking nasty spills); great MS of a boy donning HUGE ski goggles, setting down the slope; good slaloming, downhill racing and ski jumping material (competition heats). 01:51:25:- CU of a large Omega clock, pan R to montage of speed skating competiton (some skaters are in blue bodysuits, others are in yellow ones). Cut to MS's (and one good aerial) of an open skate at the arena. Cut to excellent though lengthy montage of a figure skating competition, singles and pairs (some amazing shots of some out of control spins and axles and runs). MS's of victors being congratulated with flowers and applause. Great shots of men and women running through extravagent routines. 01:56:13:- Bobsledding montage: CU's of sledders donning peculiar and disperate types of helmets; fantastic, though shaky subjective shots of the sledders doing a run; MS's of speeding sledders (check this out for the soundtrack alone). Cut to montage of reindeer racing. Cut to montage of THE dumbest winter event, car racing: MS's and LS's of small Volvos speeding along remote, wintry roads at night and during the day (again, the soundtrack steals the show). 02:01:02:- Hockey: Winnipeg Jets (incl Bobby Hull) vs. Soviet national team, late 1970s. MS of professional hockey players making their way onto the ice - - MS's of hockey game - at 02:01:36 MS panning w/ Hull skating. At 02:01:41 pan w/ Ulf Nilsson moving the puck down the ice pursued by Soviet player. At 02:01:59 a Jet tries to hook a Soviet player w/ his stick. Some good wide angle (almost panoramic) shots of the game, the players coming at the camera, sometimes bumping into it. 02:02:21 CU Hull watching, w/ helmet off. More of game. 02:02:35 shots from another hockey game - -this one between USSR and Czechoslovakia. Cut to MS's of kids recreationally learning hockey on an indoor rink (mostly falling down). Ends with MS of a downed and injured goalie. 02:04:02:- MS's of a line of skiiers walking up a slope. CU's of skiiers donning helmets and goggles. LS's of skiiers doing insane downhill jumps, some of which in slow motion. Low angle LS's of wintertime hang gliders (some subjective shots as well). LS's of a cross country skiing competition (way too many participants).