The upturned glass

Year of release : 1947

 

Run time : 1h23min

 

Genre : Psychological Thriller / Noir

 

 

Michael Joyce,a great brain surgeon, is unhappily married and separated from his wife.

Through work, he meets Emma,when she comes with her daughter for consultation. The little girl needs brain surgery,which he performs,and they get close spending time together leading up to the surgery,and after,as the girl heals.

 

They start an affair after, although Emma is married too, and soon,Michael hears Emma fell out the window,being labeled a suicide.

 

Michael suspects Kate,Emma's sister in law,to have pushed her out the window, and starts wooing Kate. He despises Kate,thinking her self-centered and full of herself. He finds out Kate knew Emma had a lover,not knowing it was him, and wanted to blackmail her.

 

Realizing maybe it was just blackmail, he still goes on with his plan,of k!lling Kate.

 

The movie opens with him giving a lecture, telling the class about his intentions, as if it already happened,and the person was unknown. He talks about the sane and the mad, describing this case as being done by someone sane.

Later, after he k!lls Kate, he encounters a doctor, who, when he helps him save the life of a 12 year old girl, tells him he,Michael, is paranoid and obsessed, leading him to what he does in the end, as he considers himself crazy,and not a valuable member of the society.

 

I didn't understand where this movie wanted to go, as to me,ending the way it did, without finding out if Kate really pushed Emma,( it seemed Emma didn't want to be blackmailed forever and saw death as a way out), and Michael k!lling her anyway, just disappointing, especially due to the fact everything is unresolved at the end, and he also takes his own life!

It felt like a waste of time, as I hate these kind of movies,which to me go nowhere,or go from worse to worst.

 

The movie was co-written by Pamela Mason, who plays Kate,and at the time was married to James Mason,who plays the lead.

I always find it interesting,to say the least, when I hear the actors fell in love with the actor playing the character they're supposed to despise or k!ll.In this case, the two leads, James Mason and Pamela Mason,who play Michael and Kate,were married for quite a few years at the time,and stayed married after (they were married for 23 years!).

 

The acting was fine.

 

I didn't like the soundtrack.

 

You can watch the full movie here,for free : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEjncZHW5_g&ab_channel=Retrospective-ClassicMovies

 

Rating : Could have been a contender !