The Glass Web

"The Glass Web" was originally filmed in 3-D in 1953. To director Jack Arnold's credit, he doesn't litter the movie with 3-D effects but limits them to scenes that do little to interfere with the plot.

Edward G. Robinson, John Forsythe and Richard Denning are involved in the weekly production of realism crime TV show called "Crime of the Week". Kathleen Hughes plays an actress who "uses" men to achieve her goals. Both Forsythe and Robinson, unbeknownst to each other are involved with her. When she turns up murdered it is decided to make her demise the subject of the season ending show in order to encourage the sponser to pick up the show for the following season. But who really killed her?

"The Glass Web" is interesting not only for its intricate plot and 3-D effects, but for a look inside 1950s TV production. It was a time in television when shows were produced live on a weekly basis. So you can appreciate the pressure upon the production team to come up with a new and interesting show every week. This is the basis behind the plot of this picture.

Robinson is cool and sinister in his role and Forsythe is very good as the harried writer. Kathleen Hughes is also quite good as the femme fatale. Trivia buffs may remember that she was known as "the 3-D girl" during the 3-D craze, due to her many appearances in 3-D films.

"The Glass Web" is a dated but effective thriller representative of the period.

Essentially known as the master of science fiction Jack Arnold astonishes us in this 3-D Noir offering Glass Web where the arts mimic the life, in a contrived plot about a weirdo TV show weekly aired exposes several murders intitled as Crime of the Week sponsored by a famous tobacco company, turns out that such company wasn't so happy concerning the low audience and seemingly won't renovate the sponsorship.

Oddly enough falls from sky a great opportunity due a mediatic crime carried out in that night involved a beauty woman Paula (Kathleen Hughes), all evidences point out as passionate crime supposedly committed by a jealous husband arrested at jail, thus the wiser technical adviser Henry Hayes (Edward G. Robinson) proposes emulate this case on the upcoming Crime of the Week, even against the will of the head writer Don Newell (John Forsythe).

However the police suspects that such girl Paula had something linked with TV show's crew members and expect some hints to lead to real killer, in fact both Hayes and Newell had a torrid affairs with the femme fatale, the story is told by many flashbacks that implies both as true lovers, nonetheless whoever killed the B-girl remains unknown...yet!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

In The Glass Web, Kathleen Hughes stars as an ambitious actress willing to sleep her way to the top. She's very attractive and is clad to the nines in gowns by Bill Thomas, and she has that "Marilyn Monroe" cunning aspect which serves her purpose very well. Robert Blees and Leonard Lee's screenplay is quite good, with fun quips and interesting twists around every corner. It's no wonder the characters are all very smart, since the story revolves around a true-crime television program that pays attention to the slightest detail. Richard Denning is the producer, Edward G. Robinson is the casting and technical director, and Richard Forsythe is the writer. Each week, their program reenacts a murder and explains how it was done, the motivation, and how the killer got caught.

At first glance, The Glass Web might seem like just a typical thriller, but there are so many surprises throughout the plot - starting with the opening scene! I'd definitely recommend this movie, especially if you like your movies soapy and dramatic. I could make my review longer with more compliments, but I don't want to give a single thing away. It's so exciting when you watch it with absolutely no idea of what's going to happen next! I found myself talking to the television and trying to advise the characters - and since I've seen so many movies, it's a real tribute to The Glass Web that I was so engrossed.

Though much less stylish to look and (and listen to), The Glass Web owes a debt to Michael Curtiz' The Unsuspected of six years earlier. Both movies take as their principal setting a live true-crime show – the earlier in the waning days of radio, the latter in the dawning of the television era. And both make use of the technology of their respective mediums to help unravel their plots.

Head writer of the crime show John Forsythe and researcher Edward G. Robinson are at loggerheads; Robinson finds Forsythe callow and slapdash while Forsythe dismisses Robinson, a former police reporter, as an old fussbudget. Both men, however, are carrying on with the same woman, a Los Angeles television actress ( Kathleen Hughes) whose interest in them is entirely mercenary – apart from the professional advancement she schemes for, she's always got a hand out for `loans,' which then escalate into blackmail.

When she turns up strangled in her apartment, there's little weeping or gnashing of teeth. Robinson proposes turning the solving of her murder into their season-ending cliffhanger, sure to cinch a skittish sponsor. Both he and Forsythe turn in competing scripts; one of them, however, contains details which could have been known only to the killer....

Set in the world of early television, The Glass Web looks and feels like early television. But upon its release it was part of the early-1950s Hollywood panic over the upstart rival medium, and featured one of the desperate gimmicks calculated to lure viewers back into theaters: 3-D. Fortunately, the projectiles that got early spectators ducking in their seats are confined to a few intense spates and today look rather quaint (even in 3-D, they'd look quaint). Director Jack Arnold went on to make at least two movies that have been enshrined as camp classics: The Incredible Shrinking Man and High School Confidential. The Glass Web is nowhere near so memorable, but it's diverting enough in a don't-expect-much kind of way.

This crime thriller is the best proof that Jack Arnold was not only a terrific science fiction film or western maker - remember TARANTULA, INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON for sci-ci; and NO NAME ON THE BULLET, MAN FROM BITTER RIDGE, concerning westerns. This plot looks so like a Richard Levinson and William Link's story - COLUMBO screenwriters. The perfect crime improvised by a well known TV man. Only a Columbo like detective is missing. I definitely love this fifties thriller, bringing a typical atmosphere of this period. But the 3 D special effects are not that adequate in this kind of story.