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"The Glass Mountain (1949) ... Henry Cass ... VCI Home Video

J. Lovins | Missouri-USA | 06/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"VCI Entertainment and Victoria Film present "THE GLASS MOUNTAIN" (1949) (94 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Starring Dulcie Gray, Michael Denison, Valentina Cortese, Tito Gobba and Sebastian Shaw --- Directed by Henry Cass and released in May 1950, our story line and nicely shot, scenically attractive, and often moving, powerful and dramatic film. Well worth seeing for its looks alone, but fine score by Nino Rota and the voice of the great baritone Tito Gobbi make it a must for opera lovers --- An aspiring composer, in the British Air Force for WWII, is downed in Italy and rescued by an Italian girl. He returns home to his wife, inspired to write an opera and aware that he's fallen in love with his rescuer --- The main attraction is the wonderful singing of Tito Gobbi, baritone, heard near the beginning when he sings the familiar theme song, with an accordion to accompany him --- A very romantic film and beautiful music as well. A wonderful gem not to be missed.

Under Henry Cass (Director / Screenwriter), Joseph Janni (Producer / Screenwriter), John Sutro (Producer), Fred Zelnick (Producer), Emery Bonnet (Screenwriter), John Cousins (Screenwriter, John Hunter (Screenwriter), Arthur Grant (Cinematographer), W. McLeod (Cinematographer), Elizabeth Anthony (Composer (Music Score), Vivian Lambelet (Composer (Music Score), Nino Rota (Composer (Music Score), Lister Laurence (Editor),Terence Verity (Art Director) ---- the cast includes Dulcie Gray (Ann Wilder), Michael Denison (Richard Wilder),Valentina Cortese (Alida),Tito Gobbi (Tito), Sebastian Shaw (Bruce McLeod),Antonio Centa (Gino), Sydney King (Charles), Arnold Marle (Manager of Teatro La Fenice) - - - - featuring top performances from the '40s and '50s with outstanding drama and screenplays, along with a wonderful cast and supporting actors to bring it all together ... another winner from the vaults of almost forgotten gems

SPECIAL FEATURES BIOS:
1. Henry Cass (Director)
Date of Birth: 24 June 1902 - London, England, UK
Date of Death: 1989

2. Michael Denison
Date of Birth: 1 November 1915 - Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, UK
Date of Death: 22 July 1998 - Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.

Special footnote, actor Michael Denison enjoyed a highly successful career both on stage and screen. He and his wife actress Dulcie Gray appeared in over 100 West End shows and their marriage, which lasted nearly sixty years, was regarded as one of the happiest in British show business.

3. Dulcie Gray
Date of Birth: 20 November 1919 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. [now Malaysia]
Date of Death: Still Living

4. Valentina Cortese
Date of Birth: 1 January 1925 - Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Date of Death: Still Living

BONUS:
1. "Clair De Lune" (Moonlight) crca 1939 - the third movement from "Suite Bergamasque" by Claude Debussy, 1905

TRAILERS:
1. Pearl of the South Pacific (1955) - featuring Virginia Mayo, Dennis Morgan and David Farrar
2. Beyond Tomorrow (1940) - featuring Richard Carlson, Jean Parker, Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger and Maria Ouspenskaya,
3. The Glass Mountain (1949) - See above review for cast and director.

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 94 min on DVD ~ VCI Home Video #8485 ~ (6/26/2007)"

Beautifully-scored romantic drama

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 02/19/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"THE GLASS MOUNTAIN (directed in 1949 by Edoardo Anton and Henry Cass) is a memorable drama starring real-life husband and wife acting team Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray; plus the lovely Valentina Cortese in her English-speaking movie debut.

The story revolves around struggling composer Richard Wilder (Denison) whose quest to write an opera about a Viennese mountain legend tests his marriage, and leads him into a passionate affair with a beautiful Italian woman.

Michael Denison offers a strongly-sympathetic performance in the lead role, playing a man torn between his loyal English wife (Dulcie Gray) and the young girl (Valentina Cortese) who re-awakens his creative spirit. The film is also notable for a beautifully-shot opera sequence (scored by Nino Rota) featuring Tito Gobbi, Elena Rizzieri and other members of the Le Fenice Opera Company from Venice.

The DVD's image transfer suffers from various stability issues, and the soundtrack is very worn in certain areas. Nevertheless, VCI has done classic movie lovers a great service by rescuing THE GLASS MOUNTAIN from the vaults and making it available for everyone to enjoy.

The DVD also includes cast biography pages, the original trailer, plus trailers of two other VCI releases ("Beyond Tomorrow" and "Pearl of the South Pacific"). (Single-sided, single-layer disc)."