The Glass Mountain

This film has two things in common with "Dangerous Moonlight" from a few years earlier. Both are about a composer (here British, in the earlier film Polish) who becomes an officer in the RAF during World War II. And both feature a piece of music which has proved far more memorable than the film itself. Richard Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto" has become a part of the mainstream classical repertory; Nino Rota's theme here, "The Legend of the Glass Mountain", has not quite reached those heights, but it is still the thing for which the film is best remembered.

Richard Wilder, a young composer, finds fame and fortune when he writes a popular song which becomes a smash hit. His great ambition, however, is to compose a great opera, but has not found a subject when his career is interrupted by the outbreak of war. Wilder joins the RAF, and when his plane is shot down over the Italian Dolomite Mountains he is rescued, and his life saved, by a group of anti-fascist partisans. Among them is a young woman named Alida with whom Wilder falls in love, even though he has a wife at home in England. After the war, Wilder returns to England and begins work on his opera; the subject-matter is a legend which Alida told him during his stay in Italy about a local mountain known as the "Glass Mountain" and about two doomed lovers. He finds it difficult to work in England, however, so he returns to the Dolomites hoping for greater inspiration. While there he meets Alida again and the two resume their affair. Real life begins to imitate art, as the Glass Mountain legend also concerns a love-triangle involving two women and one man.

One thing that struck me was how old-fashioned Wilder's music sounds; we are supposed to accept him as a contemporary of Benjamin Britten and William Walton, yet his opera is a piece of lush Victorian Romanticism. I also wondered how many British composers have had their operas premiered at Venice's La Fenice Opera House in an Italian translation. Nevertheless, the opera scenes are well-handled and Rota's music (supposedly Wilder's) is very attractive. The male lead in the opera is taken by the famous singer Tito Gobbi, here playing himself.

The film looks very dated today, yet was a great success when first released in 1949. There is nothing particularly wrong with the story; indeed, I could imagine it serving as the basis for a very good film in other hands, possibly those of Powell and Pressburger who had recently made one of their greatest movies, "The Red Shoes", another romantic drama set in the world of the performing arts. (In that case ballet rather than opera). "The Glass Mountain" might have benefited from being filmed in colour like "The Red Shoes" rather than black and white, but even in monochrome the mountain scenery still looks beautiful.

There are, however, three problems with the film. The first is its slow, pedestrian pace; the running time is only 88 minutes, but it seems much longer. The second problem is that the ending seems horribly contrived. The third fault is one that it shares with a number of other British films from the forties and fifties. Two examples which come to mind are "Brief Encounter" and "The Browning Version", both of which, like "The Glass Mountain", deal with people who have fallen in love with someone other than their spouse. In all three films the style of acting seems far too restrained for a story dealing with such strong passions. I am aware that this was a time when the convention of the "stiff upper lip" meant that people were less willing to show their emotions in public than they would be today. The trouble is this lot seem to find it impossible to show any emotion in private either.

The main offender in this respect is the horribly wooden Michael Denison as Wilder; the script tells us that he is supposed to be in love with Alida but he never makes us believe it. I kept wishing that the director had made him repeat his scenes over and over again until he finally showed some conviction. Perhaps the problem was that Denison was acting opposite his real-life wife, Dulcie Gray, who was playing Wilder's wife Ann. By all accounts their marriage was a long and happy one, so Denison may have found it psychologically difficult to express any passion for Ann's rival. Gray herself seems equally guarded, although Valentina Cortese is rather better. Admittedly, she seems to struggle with the challenge of acting in a language other than her own, but at least she is able to say "I love you" as though she means it.

Despite its popularity in its heyday, "The Glass Mountain" is largely forgotten today, although it occasionally turns up on television and I understand that it is available on DVD. Musically it is a success, but dramatically it must be accounted a failure. 5/10. (4/10 for the film itself, with a bonus point for the music- the same score as I gave to "Dangerous Moonlight).

I saw this film in the 1950s, as has been said previously the music and the singing are supreme and memorable. I have not seen the film since its first showing, mainly I think because it must have been shown on TV whilst I was at work if it ever was on the box

It is definitely a film that should be viewed a second time, so perhaps I will buy the DVD now that I know it is available

Dulcie and Michael are very good acting together, usually playing the typical English couple . I do not think that the music would appeal only to opera lovers. its tuneful melodies should be appreciated by all music lovers.

I too saw this film when I was a youngster and of course didn't understand most of it except that I loved the music and always remembered the main melody even after 50 years! 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. There's also the performance later on of the new opera "The Glass Mountain" and he is splendid in this as well.

Mostly the story revolves around a young married couple, Richard Wilder, as a music composer (Michael Denison) and his wife Anne (Dulcie Gray). In the aftermath of recuperating from a plane crash in war torn Italy Richard also meets Alida, a lovely Italian lady, and from her he learns about the legend of the Glass Mountain and seriously plans to write an opera based on it when he returns home. This opera would of course be written with his newfound friend in mind, Tito Gobbi, the baritone, as the central figure, and thank goodness for once a baritone is the hero! Let the tenors wait their next turn.

Eventually Richard must choose between a wife back home who loves him and the Italian new love who is devoted to him too. It is during the premiere of his new opera that events take a sudden turn when there's news of a plane crash in which his wife Anne was traveling in - this gives him the answer.

A very romantic film and beautiful music as well. An experience not to be missed.

That The Glass Mountain featured Tito Gobbi and was scored by Nino Rota are immediate selling points. And they do not disappoint. Gobbi when he appears is on top form, not the most beautiful or powerful voice(but still a good sturdy one) but his intelligence and musicianship really shines through as does his acting ability. Nino Rota's music is both musical and sweeping, an outstanding score and one of the best of his early ones. The gorgeous Alpine scenery and that The Glass Mountain is beautifully shot are other things to like, as are the songs that Gobbi sings and the amusing, powerful and moving story. The rest of the acting is fine and the singing is top-drawer. The Glass Mountain always engage, the film is nicely scripted and the direction doesn't undermine anyone or anybody at all. If there is anything to criticise The Glass Mountain for, it is that the ending is somewhat of a cop-out though Rota's music does elevate it a little. Other than that, it is a marvellous and charming film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Finally got to see THE GLASS MOUNTAIN and was much impressed with the stars, Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray, Valentina Cortese, the location shooting in Venice and the Italian Dolomites, and the opera score by Nino Rota.

Story centers on sensitive composer (Denison) who marries (Gray) on the eve of WW II. He's shot down in the mountains and is saved by a local girl (Cortese) who nurses him back to health and tells him the myths about the doomed lovers who haunt the Glass Mountain, which looms over the village. His imagination is stirred. The war ends and he returns to England but his heart is in the mountains so he goes back to Italy and Cortese to write his opera, weaving bits of local folk music (a la Grieg) into his themes. At the debut of his opera at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Cortese receives word that the estranged wife's plane has gone off course and crashed in the mountains because she wanted to see the Glass Mountain. Pure soap, but very effective.

There is a lengthy and beautifully staged sequence of the opera's climax with a terrific score by Nino Rota and sung by Tito Gobbi and Elena Rizzieri.

This was an English-Italian production directed by Henry Cass, who I don't think I've ever heard of.