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The Upturned Glass is directed by Lawrence Huntington and written by John Monaghan and Pamela Kellino. It stars James Mason, Rosamund John, Pamela Kellino, Ann Stephens, Morland Graham and Brefni O'Rorke. Music is by Bernard Stevens and cinematography by Reginald H. Wyer. Plot finds Mason as Michael, a brilliant surgeon who falls in love with Emma Wright (John), the mother of a young girl whose eyesight he saves. Trouble is that Emma is married to a man who works overseas a lot and it's a relationship that ultimately has to end. When word comes that Emma has been tragically killed after falling out of a top floor window at her home, Michael decides to investigate further. It's an investigation that leads Michael down very dark roads.....

What a time to go buy a house, you must be demented!

One of the last British films Mason made before leaving for America to work contractually for MGM, The Upturned Glass is a Hitchcockian like thriller that's tinted with a film noir edge. With Mason co-producing and his then wife, Kellino, co-starring and co-writing, it was very much a personal project. The film finds the "Mason's" experimenting with a flashback structure that is in turn covered by a Mason narration. Always easy to follow, the picture does however shy away from offering up easy answers, purposely leaving some things tantalisingly dangling in the air. It also retains a murder mystery interest before diving head first into that of a study of a psychological break down. There's some devilment in the narrative, even a bit of cheeky daring that shows its hand once Mason's lecture that opens the film is seen in the light it was meant to be.

Today I sat in judgement.

With Wyer's photography dealing in shadows and smoky lenses, and Huntington showing a keen eye for atmospheric composition during scenes involving the empty house and the village chapel, there's enough visual treats for the film noir crowd to feast on. Into the equation as well is the vagaries of fate, a theme so prominent in the great noir pictures of the past, the outcome of this picture is defined by a decision Michael makes, the irony of which is as snappy as a crocodile. The finale has been lamented by others due to its suddeness, to that I have to say they missed the point, it's suitably cold and closes the picture perfectly. The title has even been called into question, some even saying it has nothing to do with the film or is unfitting? It all fits during the best period of dialogue between Michael and Dr. Farrell (O'Rorke)! I do believe this is a film worthy of reappraisal by a more genre compliant audience.

It's not overtly film noir, but the blood line is there, and with Mason on simply irresistible form this is highly recommended to fans of noir and Hitchcockian flavoured black and whites. 7.5/10 MPI's Region 1 DVD is a decent print, some snap and pop from time to time on the edges, and the sound mix is always audible if not pristine throughout.

James Mason in one of his last British films before accepting that contract with MGM and leaving for America plays a doctor who may have become too detached from life. A prominent brain surgeon he accepts the case of young Ann Stephens whose eyesight he saves with a delicate operation. In the process he falls in love with Ann's mother Rosamund John.

Both Mason and John are separated from their respective spouses and we never meet either of them in The Upturned Glass. But their relationship contains a mixture of guilt for both of them. Shortly after they end things, Mason hears that John falls to her death in her own home.

Mason had already met Pamela Kellino and formed a bad opinion of her almost immediately. She's Rosamund's sister-in-law and Stephen's aunt and she's a selfish materialistic woman, a regular Cruela DeVille in real life. She's easy too hate and Mason courts her to get close.

The film is told about 2/3 of the way in flashback as Mason lectures to a university class on the atypical murderer, the sane and logical one which he naturally takes himself to be. The rest of the film is a revealing portrayal of how Mason should be seen.

The Upturned Glass is a nice bit of melodramatic noir with Mason really carrying this film. His perfect performance makes The Upturned Glass seem far better than it really is.

This is why I have always loved classic film - the QUALITY OF ACTING.

Story: While not hugely original, it has enough original ideas and themes that kept me interested nearly 100% (which I'm not want to do). The story is largely about three (3) elements: a) A brilliant brain surgeon, b) a man obsessed with justice, and c) the insidious nature of isolating oneself. Combining all three made for a compelling story, though again, not overly intriguing. One complaint is that the opening scene should have been an anchor, that we would have been routed back to in the end, but we're not. For me, that leaves that facet of the story extraneous, or just a big disappointment.

Acting: James Mason's acting skill is on the order of Alec Guinness, and the like - fully committed to character and never flinches on camera. Complete immersion in character keeps the viewer unaware that the actor is "acting." My only (chief) complaint is that the whole story (screen time) is virtually Mason the whole time, which can be monotonous. He's top shelf, but overused here.

Tempo: Excellent tempo as the film and story weave along, though again, Mason ties up the whole screen which drags down the rhythm for me.

Directing: Excellent camera work, scene quality with no major complaints save the near "obsession" with the lead character (Mason).

Summary: Well done film for its era and genre, and excellent acting. Mason overpowers the screen which left me somewhat disappointed by the lack of variety among the characters. Overall a solid 7.5 / 10.

James Mason's final Gainsborough melodrama before packing his bags and leaving for Hollywood is a good-looking psychodrama produced and written by it's stars, sleekly crafted by it's director (with whom Mason had already established a good working relationship a few years earlier) and with a flavourful score by Bernard Stevens.

The inscrutable title is the result of a last minute change from a film about the Brontes to a replacement retaining the title but substituting an entirely different plot.

This is a very unusual and intelligent thriller, like most thrillers involving doctors usually are. It is the first of James Mason's very few own productions and features his own wife, Pamela Mason, here Pamela Kellino, as the second of the two ladies he is involved with, both of them leading to disaster. The intrigue cleverly leads astray at times while at the same time it sharpens as the doctor (James Mason) finds his own case constantly more crucial. He stages a kind of mock trial with himself by giving a lecture at the medical theatre with all rows filled with young attentive students, and one student almost sees through his show and sharpens his case even further. Is he in control or is he not? Has he the right to judge what's right or wrong or has he not? The film poses many questions, and the questioning becomes increasingly more critical, until in the end he is faced with the final trial as a doctor, when an emergency calls on him to perform one more brain surgery. It's the doctor who assists him who puts him to the final test, and these scenes are the most interesting and important in the film. James Mason as the doctor has no other choice than to be consistent with his own argument and conclude his own case after having received an understated sentence by his elderly colleague. It's a remarkable film, not for its direction, which could have been better, but for its very thought-provoking story with the presentation of a case which not even doctors could in any possible way be called upon to give a fair judgement of. The tragedy of this case is that James Mason, one of the best actors ever, a constantly brooding romantic hero, more Hamletian than Byronic, has no other choice, which probably no one could reasonably disagree with.

In addition, you can't help recognizing some details here from other, later films, that boast its influence, especially Hitchcock's "Vertigo", displaying the identical problem of a man's involvement in two women related with each other, Hitchcock much developing the theme to an equally crucial crisis but in another direction, while the very vertigo scenes Hitchcock must have got the idea of from here.

It should also be noted, that John Monaghan, the script writer, appears as an extra (the truck driver), He made some similar appearances in some films, but this is the only film he wrote, with Mrs Mason as co-script writer. The intrigue with its complications and arguments is so psychologically interesting, that you find more in it each time you see it. For that reason, in spite of its flaws, I will give it a full 10.