THE GLASS MOUNTAIN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 22, Issue 557, 24 February 1950, Page 20

THE GLASS MOUNTAIN

(Renown Pictures)" — MONG the few ptinciples to which Hollywood rigidly adheres is the one that’ if, for some reason not quite clear to the producers, a- film scores an unexpectec success, it sliduld be followed up immediately by another production using the same actors and repeating, with, slight variations, the same magic formula. Occasionally, as happened with Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, the suctessor to Sitting Pretty, the result i8 a picture’ quite* worth’ seeing in its own Tight; but ‘more ‘often than: not we are ‘tréated to a watered-down version of the original. Nevertheless, such a practice is bound to have its profitable side, and it is not surprising 0 see some English studios adopting it, too. ; All three of at films reviewed this week fall mote or less ‘into this cate+ gory, and°two 6f thém are British. The best is‘‘The Glass Mountain, which is’ claimed tobe "the mighty successor to Dangerous Moonlight,’ but which, although it has a _ different castMichael Denison, Dulcie Gray, and Valentina Cortese-and although much of it is filmed in the -Austrian Tyrol, is not as good as the

earlier film. The acting of the principals and of a supporting cast predominantly Italian is hampered somewhat by the unevenness both of the script-writing (by Emery Bonett and others) and the direction (Henry Cass). The best scenes are those shot on location in the Dolomites. The first part-a long explanatory sequence describing the early life of the composer and his wife before he is shot down during the war-could have been whipped into proportion with the rest of the plot only by extensive cutting. Once Denison’s half-frozen body is rescued from the snow by the beautiful Miss Cortese, however, we are treated to some sensitively photographed scenes of village life among the mountains, in which Henry Cass shows a real feeling for the character of the peasants and the atmosphere of peasant life. Yet ‘ here, where the camera should have lingered, we are hastened rapidly on. Denison returns home to his wife after the war, but cannot complete his opera, "The Glass Mountain," until he goes back to his mountain lover. The last sequence, in which he finishes the work and goes with her to conduct the first performance at Venice, is again appreciably better, and the story ends with a good old melodramatic climax. The much-advertised music didn’t seem as attractive as the Warsaw Concerto, although Tito Gobbi’s singing was well worth listening to. On the whole this is Valentina Cortese’s picture. She gave a sincere and straightforward performance in a tricky part, and made the most of the film’s half-hearted attempt to come to grips with the problem of an infatuated girl who knows her heroic airman must one day, when the war is over, return to his lawful, patiently waiting wife.