The Glass Mountain (film)
| The Glass Mountain | |
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| Directed by |
Edoardo Anton Henry Cass |
| Produced by | Joseph Janni Frederick Zelnic |
| Written by |
Emery Bonnet Henry Cass John Cousins John Hunter Joseph Janni |
| Starring |
Michael Denison Dulcie Gray |
| Music by | Nino Rota |
| Cinematography | William McLeod |
| Edited by | Lister Laurance |
| Distributed by | Eagle-Lion Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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88 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Glass Mountain is a 1949 black and white British romantic film drama. It starred Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray and Valentina Cortese. The film was a popular success of its day, and was re-released in the UK in 1950 and 1953. It features acclaimed classical vocalist Tito Gobbi as himself, with the orchestra and chorus of the Venice Opera House. The theme music by Nino Rota is memorable, and was also a contemporary hit. It was mainly filmed on location in the Dolomites and at Venice's La Fenice Opera House.
The Guardian wrote, "most reference books now deride the film, but at a time when Britain was emerging from the war into a period of grey austerity, The Glass Mountain and movies like it were a popular tonic. Set in the beautiful Dolomite mountains, with graceful performers and a nostalgically slow pace, it was one of the most successful British films to that date. The part of the composer was taken by Denison, with whom (Dulcie) Gray starred on stage and screen so many times that the Denisons became one of the "royal families" of the British entertainment scene."
A tale from peasant folklore concerns a mountain made of glass and a man's attempts to climb it, to win the love of a princess. For each step he takes, he slides back two steps; so, cleverly, he turns about and climbs it backwards, gaining double elevation with each downward step.
A composer discovers that inspiration for his greatest work may come at the expense of his marriage. Richard Wilder (Michael Dennison) was an RAF pilot in the Second World War whose plane was shot down over the Italian Dolomite mountains. His life is saved by Alida (Valentina Cortese), a beautiful woman working with the anti-fascist resistance, who nurses Wilder back to health and with whom Wilder has an affair. She tells him a local legend about two lovers - one a ghost who leads her faithless partner to his doom over a mountain precipice on the Glass Mountain.
When the war ends, Wilder returns to his English home and wife Ann (Dulcie Gray), and begins composing an opera based on the legend of Dolemite, the Glass Mountain, which has begun to haunt him. His English home however, does not prove conducive to creativity, so he returns to the source of his inspiration, to Italy and to Alida, and is able to successfully complete his work. But he has fallen in love with Alida, and with the triumph of his opera in Venice, must now choose between his muse and his wife, as the mythical and modern levels of the legend of the Glass Mountain coincide.
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Wikipedia