☆ ☆ ☆ ½
The Upturned Glass (1947) – L. Huntington
James Mason’s
final British feature before moving to Hollywood, following in the noir trend
established by his previous film Odd Man Out (also 1947). Although that
magnificent film was directed by the excellent Carol Reed, The Upturned Glass
was helmed by the less distinguished Lawrence Huntington. But Mason himself
produced this one (along with Gainsborough chief Sydney Box) and it remains a
suspenseful drama (some say Hitchcockian and perhaps there is an echo of the Master’s
perverse sensibility in the scenes where Mason’s neurosurgeon rescues the young
girl while his car is parked outside containing a dark secret). In true noir
fashion, the film is told mostly in flashback (but not entirely it turns out),
as Mason provides a lecture that recounts his encounter with a “sane” murderer,
who may very well be he himself. We learn
how Mason (calling himself Michael Joyce) falls for the married mother of a patient
and the (possibly) chaste affair they have until she mysteriously falls from a
window. This is when his upturned glass
develops a crack. The second half of the film shows us Mason’s determined
effort to discover what happened to his paramour and to effect his revenge. I enjoy this era of British noir and,
although not up there with classics like The Third Man or Odd Man Out, this did
not disappoint.
