The Upturned Glass
| The Upturned Glass | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Lawrence Huntington |
| Written by |
Pamela Kellino John Monaghan |
| Starring |
James Mason Rosamund John Pamela Kellino |
| Music by | Bernard Stevens |
| Cinematography | Reginald H. Wyer |
| Edited by | Alan Osbiston |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £196,000 |
| Box office | £211,300 (by Dec 1949) |
The Upturned Glass is a 1947 British film noir psychological thriller directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring James Mason, Rosamund John and Pamela Kellino, about a leading brain surgeon who murders a woman he believes to be responsible for the death of the woman he loved.
A medical school class attends a lecture on the psychology of crime. The unnamed lecturer (James Mason) announces that while his past lectures have covered criminals with abnormal psychology, today's lecture will focus on "the sane criminal" who may have a "strong sense of justice". He then describes the case of a murderer who is a "perfectly sane, valuable member of society", a surgeon to whom he gives the fictitious name of "Michael Joyce" (also played by Mason). The film depicts Michael's story in flashbacks narrated by the lecturer, indicating to the film viewing audience that unbeknownst to the medical school class, the lecturer is telling his own story and that he and Michael are one and the same.
Michael is a skilled London surgeon and brain specialist with an established Harley Street practice. He is unhappily married and separated from his wife, has no close friends, and spends most of his time working. He meets Emma Wright (Rosamund John) when she brings her young daughter Ann (Ann Stephens), who is going blind, for a consultation. Michael performs a delicate operation to save Ann's sight. During Ann's treatment and recovery, Michael and Emma, whose husband is away on business travel, fall in love and have an affair, although neither is free to marry. Emma finally ends the affair and tells Michael they must never see each other again.
Soon afterwards, Michael learns that Emma has died from a broken neck after falling from her bedroom window at her country home. Michael attends the inquest, at which both Ann and Kate Howard, Emma's sister-in-law (Pamela Kellino), testify. Emma's death is ruled an accident, but Michael is suspicious and conducts his own investigation. In order to gather information, he romances Kate, who proves to be a greedy, shallow woman with debt problems and a grudge against her brother and Emma because her brother had inherited most of her parents' estate. Kate tells Michael that she knew Emma had a lover, but did not know who it was.
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Wikipedia