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This film is a tribute by the amazing cinematographer, Joseph Biroc, to New York of the 50s. It's a movie that is stunning to watch as it serves to document the fun that New York was in that period after WWII. The splendid night photography of the Times Square area before the arrival of the seediness of the ensuing years, and today's theme park feeling, makes us forget that that it served as the mecca of entertainment and night life in Manhattan. We get to watch the crowds and some of the films that were playing at the time.

The director, Maxwell Shane, presents a story that might have been dramatic at the time, but in the global village, where illegal aliens are all over the city and the country, this movie shows a dated take on things since everything is different now. This is the era that Arthur Miller presented in "A View from the Bridge" about the illegal immigrants. America wasn't a tolerant nation at the time!

Vittorio Glassman, one of Italy's best actors, plays the stowaway that comes to America only to be refused entrance. No one can believe his story of survival in the European concentration camps. When he escapes into the streets of Manhattan we get the feel of what the town was like. Mr. Glassman whose body of work in the Italian cinema was unique, shows an interesting portrait as the man who is not wanted in America.

Gloria Grahame, as the girl out of luck in the naked city, plays the woman who befriends Kaban and believes him. Jerry Paris is Tom, the former G.I. who was helped by Kaban in Europe. Robin Raymond is Tanya the stripper with a heart of gold who takes Kaban home out the kindness of her heart.

The scenes at the United Nations are magnificently staged. The chase to a recently inaugurated building is one of the best things of the movie. Finally, everything that went wrong is put to order and Kaban is redeemed as a hero and a man who has told the truth from the beginning.

I'm no authority on the film noir genre, but Glass Wall had enough of the elements as I understand them -- gritty, urban streets; smoky, downstairs jazz rooms; beaten-down characters with nothing to lose; an urban milieu that suggests a struggle for existence; and the overbearing presence of authority -- to be a very satisfying film for me. The plot is simple, has elements of suspense, and is a bit contrived at times, particularly near the end, but I found it easily sustained my interest throughout the film. In a nutshell, a Hungarian refugee, Peter Kaban, who has stowed away on a ship docked in New York's port, is denied entry, and thus escapes into the streets of NYC where he must find the man (now a club musician) whose life as a soldier he saved in Europe during the war, and he must find him before the immigration authorities, supplemented by the police, find him, and before 7:00 AM the next day when the ship leaves port and his legal status becomes such that he would then never receive legal permission for entry into the U.S. New York's gritty survivors either aid him or exploit him, and nobody's life looks easy.

Much of the film, particularly the street scenes, were said to be filmed with hidden cameras, and that touch gives an active, life-like realism to Glass Wall. The city looks so vibrant and active at night with the various types of humanity jostling each other for a good time, companionship, or just simple survival, economic or otherwise. Vittorio Gassman plays the Kaban role, and perhaps he looks too delicately good-looking to suggest the utter determination of his character as he roams the streets of New York, while severely injured and harassed by almost everyone, to prevent deportation back to Hungary; but for sure,a handsome face on a character hardened by concentration camp experiences can mask an iron will. You have to root for Peter Kaban because despite the horrendous experiences of his brief life, his personality retains a decency and kindness that eventually wins over his initial, also desperate, female accomplice and also helps with his other female helper. Eight points for making Times Square look again to be a social magnet on what has to be a bustling Saturday night!

Aboard a Liberty ship, Vittorio Gassman passes the Statue of Liberty, prior to docking in New York, only to be informed that as a stowaway, the authorities are not at liberty to grant his liberty and accuse him of attempting to take liberties. What a liberty!

Desperate to avoid deportation and sustaining broken ribs in the process (just to add to the missing finger nails and bayonet wound he has already received courtesy of Hitler), Gassman succeeds in jumping ship and escaping into the city. His objective is to locate Tom, (Jerry Paris), a jazz clarinetist and former soldier, whose life he saved during the war. Proof that he contributed to the allied cause will allow him permanent residency in the U. S., but it is a manic race against time and in a city of eight million people, the odds are not in his favour.

Enthralled by the razzle dazzle, the affluence, opulence and optimism of Times Square by night, including the shot of a cinema showing Alan Ladd and Lizabeth Scott's Red Mountain, he remains, nonetheless immersed in the trauma of his own past and uncomfortably isolated. His search leads him to several jazz joints, where we are treated to cameos by Jack Teagarden, Shorty Rogers and the all too fleetingly glimpsed vanguard of the quiet avante-garde, groundbreaking saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre.

Along the way, he befriends misfit and kindred spirit Gloria Grahame, on the run from unwisely stealing burly Kathleen Freeman's coat, which would have looked like something from Rent a Tent draped over her comparatively sleek frame. Ignoring Petula Clark's advice they decide that the subway is the safest place to spend the night, before the anguished immigrant makes his last-ditch attempt to reach the U. N. building.

Gassman ticks all the boxes as the troubled, insecure loner, haunted by a tortured, mysterious past, injured, on the lam and embroiled in a race against the clock. The rest of the cast consists of officialdom, Gassman sympathizers and jazz musicians. Not even a whiff of a femme fatale, a corrupt syndicate or a hoodlum in this unusual noir. The closest we come to a gangster is an acne ridden teenage street punk, who hopes that Grahame gets hit by a garbage truck.

There is much to applaud in The Glass Wall, but it's not all good news....and on that subject, would one illegal immigrant REALLY be the hottest story in New York, dominating all the front pages? Whilst Joe Turkel's swaggering, over the top tirade smacks of an 'I'm way too cool for THIS movie' bravura. Gassman himself falls victim to the over acting bug, delivering a tsunami of idealistic platitudes concluding with an impassioned 'Nobody listens!' before promptly scarpering from the people who ARE prepared to listen and taking the world's fastest elevator to the roof.

However, the compassionate nature of the subject matter, the performances of Grahame and Gassman, with their 'You and me against the world' mantra, sharply tapping into our empathy with the underdog, the sights and sounds of Times Square under darkness and the jazz vignettes, all synergize to carry this movie over the line. Confronted by The Glass Wall, can those who love and support Gassman provide him with... The Glass Key?

A pungent period flavor of post-war New York elevates Maxwell Shane's The Glass Wall. If it's not quite noir (its idealism disqualifies it), it sure looks and feels like noir. As well it should, coming from the writer/director of those unambiguous noirs Fear in the Night (1947) and its remake Nightmare (1956).

In his first American film, Vittorio Gassman plays a stateless stowaway who's caught before his ship sails into New York harbor. Detained by immigration authorities, who won't believe his story that he qualifies for special consideration for aiding the Allies during the war, he's due to be returned to Trieste and certain death. But he jumps from the deck onto the docks, smashing his ribs, and starts stumbling around the city looking for the G.I. who can vouch for him (Jerry Paris). All Gassman knows is Paris' first name, and that he plays clarinet somewhere near Times Square (when we catch up with Paris, he's auditioning for Jack Teagarden's band).

During his nocturnal search, he runs into Gloria Grahame, who's very down on her luck. A sharp little minx who used to affix the tips to shoelaces for a living, now she steals coats from Automats (it's one of her more captivating performances). Grahame's at first wary of Gassman but quickly won over – his tale of woe makes her troubles look paltry, and he's the first guy to treat her decently. So she lets him hide out in her garret room (his escape makes the front pages) and helps him search for his old pal.

There's a beat-the-clock element that keeps the story moving: Gassman doesn't know that Paris has seen the tabloids and will vouch for him – or that his options will expire at dawn. And Shane stews the path with obstacles as well as with good Samaritans (Robin Raymond as a stripper with a heart of gold – another `Hunkie' – touchingly among them).

As the sky lightens, the desperate Gassman reaches the place he thinks will be his salvation: The forbidding `glass wall' of Wallace K. Harrison's just-completed United Nations Headquarters. But the building's empty of all but janitors, and Gassman still doesn't know that he's still safe....

The Glass Wall's a modest movie that overcomes the handicaps of its dated and idealistic `message' to succeed as a well told and acted human interest story. But it triumphs in its presentation of mid-20th-century Manhattan, as vividly raffish as in any movie of its period.

The movie came as a rather pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting much, not having heard of it among Grahame's usual list of noirs. Nonetheless, it's imaginatively directed and generally suspenseful, despite a one-note plot. Refugee Kaban (Gassman) arrives in New York as a stowaway, but will be deported if he doesn't track down a musician friend. So he searches the dives along Times Square looking for the guy he last saw in Europe. While he's tracking his friend, however, the cops are tracking him. There's also a number of sub-plots concerning people he meets on the way, who sort of drift in and out.

There's atmosphere a-plenty as director Shane takes the camera crew along Times Square's night beat, which amounts to a dazzling b&w light show. At the same time, Gassman's gaunt frame and few words add to the carnival of characters. Grahame has a sympathetic role, for a change, which may be why the film remains obscure. Here, she's mostly a tag- along with Gassman and then with the cops. But I really like the unknown Robin Raymond as the personality-plus stripper who lights up the screen in a brief role.

At first, I thought "the glass wall" referred to Kaban's inability to enter the country as a stowaway. But then, the many imposing shots of the glass slab of the UN building changed my reference. Nonetheless, it looks like a number of scenes were actually filmed in the UN, lending the story even more visual appeal. All in all, the movie's a pretty good dramatic travelogue of downtown NYC, slim on plot and dialog but fat on inventive visuals. It's also reminiscent of a time when Europe's post-war DP's (displaced persons) were much in the news.

The plot of this movie is as fresh as today's news about refugees, asylum seekers, detentions and deportations, sensationalized images of immigrants, and the question of who gets to come to the US. Peter Kaban, a displaced person seeking to enter the US (Vittorio Gassman in a touching performance), escapes from detention and begins a desperate search through nighttime New York for the jazz musician who can corroborate his claims to having saved the life of an American soldier. The story has potential as a remake (sub Syria or Honduras for Hungary, etc)!

The America the writer-director (Maxwell Shane) portrays is not the wholesome suburbia many folks associate with the 1950s, but a tough tawdry urban jungle of sexual harassment, single moms surviving as strippers (Robin Raymond in a sympathetic turn), shabby single-room occupancy buildings,exploited factory workers, kids who have to dance in the street for coins, homeless people sleeping in subways, and desperate people eating food left behind in restaurants...brilliant imagery with a Noir atmosphere.

I did not fully understand Peter's story as a displaced person. He says clearly enough that the Nazis murdered his family and that he had been in Auschwitz, but he does not fill in much between WW II and 1953 --and so in 2018, it is difficult for us to understand exactly who he is and what happened to him in that period. 7-11 million people were wandering through Europe at the end of the war as "displaced persons": Jewish survivors of the Holocaust; Poles, Germans who had lived in Eastern Europe, and Ukrainians; refugees from the Baltic countries that were incorporated into the Soviet Union; and some Nazi collaborators fleeing the Soviets. The US passed strict and rather controversial legislation as to who could come to the US (e.g., only people who were already in displaced person camps by 1945 as well as many other rules), and Peter evidently did not match the approved profile. Maybe viewers in 1953 understood the context more clearly than the average viewer does now.

Peter ( Vittorio Gassman) and Maggie (Gloria Grahame) show what can happen to immigrants that arrive here without proper papers. He has a loophole that he thinks he can use to be admitted to the country, but without enough information, this plan isn't going to work... Grahame had JUST made "the Bad and the Beautiful, which won her an Oscar; she often played the rough, gritty, sexy type that seemed to find trouble of some sort. Keep an eye out for Jerry Paris (we all know him as Dick Van Dyke's next door neighbor/dentist), directed a whole lot of TV shows in the 1960s and 1970s. Here he plays "Tom", someone from Peter's past who can help him if he can be located. Also some great photography (real or stock footage...?) of the crowded, rough and tumble, glizty well-lit Times Square from the 1950s, before Disney bought the whole block. A good, well told story, even if there are a couple of unbelievable moments here and there, like in the taxi cab.... Written and directed by Maxwell Shane, who mostly stuck to writing, but also produced and directed a few things from 1930 - 1960.

An excellent piece of American neo-realism by the Shane brothers. (The Cohens could learn a thing or three from these boys from Patterson, NJ.) New York City becomes an "open city" worthy of Rosellini, et al -- with a wonderful mix of documentary and theatrical footage, quite an innovation for 1953. And, just so you'll get the connection, they imported an Italian to play the lead, the wonderful Vittorio Gassman, (although the Anna Magnani roll is filled by that B-Babe fave Gloria Grahame). The vintage Times Square sequences alone are worth a look. A must see for film buffs and movie lovers alike. I'm sure it's on Martin Scorcese's list.

The Glass Wall (1953)

A great idea, and two great leads--Gloria Grahame as a down and out single girl and Vittoria Gassman as a Eastern European illegal immigrant. And one mediocre directing job--by Maxwell Shane. I had just seen another Shane film that was pretty good, with some great performances ("The Naked Street" with a terrific Anthony Quinn) so I was looking forward to this. It has a great theme (facing the immigration system) and it turns our attention to the new world presence for justice, the United Nations. It also features some real musicians--Jack Teagarden and Shorty Rogers--and one straight small combo big band jazz number. (I put it that way because by 1953 the real scene in New York was bebop, this this style predates it.)

So, the best parts of this movie are terrific, mainly the middle section where the two leads help each other and start to fall in love, with hints of an urban "They Live by Night" in mood. But there are parts where you can't help but laugh, because they are either so improbable or the editing and acting is ridiculously off key. Director Shane also co-wrote this adventure, and here there are hiccups, too, even down to the central premise of a man facing deportation even though he has nowhere to go and has been on the run for a decade. For one, it's hard to believe the immigration laws were so blindly inflexible, but let's say they were. They have the reputation. But certainly New York City wouldn't get turned upside down for one man, not considered dangerous, who has slipped from custody. There are APBs and front page photos and a general panic on the order of Son of Sam.

But we understand the dilemma anyway. It's one man against the system, and that's always an easy one for choosing sides. Grahame plays a woman on the outs with great sympathy and conviction, and she's just the kind of hardened, soft-hearted girl you'd want to fall in with if you were on the lam. And the ending, as badly directed and edited as it is (you'll see), is pure Hitchcock for its setting and high drama. We are taken inside the new United Nations building called the Secretariat in Manhattan (the International Style Le Corbusier skyscraper was finished in 1952), in what must be the first Hollywood movie to do so (and perhaps the last in this manner until "The Interpreter" in 2005, the site being secret and guarded enough that Hitchcock himself in 1958 had to use a model instead of the real location).

This is one case where someone could re-edit it and have something of a minor gem, with high points making it worth the effort. As it is, the speed bumps are nearly fatal.

If you think that shrill anti-immigrant rhetoric is a recent part of American politics, this is the film to change your mind. Gassman plays a Hungarian displaced person attempting to enter the United States without documentation. Despite being a Shoa survivor and bearing the marks of "Enhanced Interrogation" for his Resistance activities, the Eisenhower administration not only refuses him a review of his case, but summarily decides to send him back to the Iron Curtain on the next boat. He has one chance--a G.I. he hid from the Nazis at great peril. His name is Tom and he plays the clarinet somewhere near Times Square. So he jumps ship to do the government's work for himself. Now he's a fugitive in a nightmarish journey through Manhattan in which the skills he learned in dealing with the Totalitarian regimes will be applied to Eisenhower's goons. This all leads to a fantastic climax atop the United Nations building, which is the meaning of the film's title.

(1953) The Glass Wall SUSPENSE

The set up takes place after WWII that has displaced Hungarian immigrant, Peter Kaban (Vittorio Gassman) wanting to become an American citizen. And as a lack of identification and because of protocol, he was then told he was neither permitted nor granted citizenship, that he would have to be sent back. So as a result, and out of desperation, he escapes from the ship he was boarded on to NYC just so he can find this American soldier he had personally had saved, who is said supposed to be a professional clarinet player. Gloria Grahame also stars as the down on her luck girl, Maggie who he seeks help from. "The Glass Wall" as the movie is referring to is the slang for the UN building located in New York.

It is because of shows like, "The Glass Wall" that I have learned to appreciate the so called "B" films. This is another enjoyable picture that draws you in and sustains your interest until its conclusion. The story ticks along without any unnecessary diversions - there is never a dull moment.

At its deepest level, the film is an indictment against the inflexible and hard-line bureaucrats who systematically construct a concrete wall (irony?) of insensitivity around themselves, deaf to the individual's plea for compassion, even under the most extenuating circumstances ("Somebody, please listen!"). This is also a tale that is counterbalanced by empathy, love, gratitude, friendship, and pathos. Although filmed in the 50s, the horrific echoes of World War II ring in the background. Contrary the general belief that the 50s were a boom period in the USA, there are many indications that it was not.

The beautiful cinematography is one of the highpoints of this film. Screenwriters, Ivan Tors and Maxwell Shane have "written the big city at night" embracing all its nuances of poverty, degradation and suffering amidst the glitz and the glamour while master cameraman, Joseph F. Biroc, has immortalized haunting and enduring images through his creative and artistic brilliance. There is simply nothing to surpass black and white photography! Vittorio Gassman and Gloria Grahame, both accomplished stars, deliver excellent performances as do the rest of the supporting cast.

With a more liberal budget the plot could have, perhaps, been more fleshed out. But that, in the final analysis, is a minor concern compared to the film's overall entertainment value. Sit back and brace yourself for 80 minutes of excitement.

Vittorio Gassman stars as a stowaway on a boat to New York. It seems he's spent years in concentration camps and is desperate to come to America. However, once caught, the authorities decide to deport him--as he WAS a stowaway and he has no resources in the country. However, this poor guy DOES know someone in America--a guy named Tom who could sponsor him and who plays a trumpet on Times Square! With such a vague description, they have no choice but to deport him. However, just before the ship departs, he jumps off and roams the streets of Manhattan looking for Tom. With so many people in the city, what are the odds?! On the way, Vittorio meets up with a pretty young thief, Gloria Graham. It seems she's out of work and desperate. The two eventually team up and try to help each other. Later, after they separate, the man meets some others who aren't that particularly interested in turning him in--almost like Richard Kimble from "The Fugitive".

Overall, it is a good film in that it's so different. However, it's far from a great film--more of an interesting time-passer and not a lot more. The worst part about it is near the end--it just seemed very heavy-handed. The main problem overall is that nothing much particularly happens in the film--as if the plot is only enough for a short film, not a full-length one like this.

"Playhouse 90"-style drama of Vittorio Gassman trying to enter our country after World War II. He meets Gloria Grahame as she is stealing a coat (!) and finds her shabby room gloriously comfortable. I found it all quite entertaining: great music (jazz), cinematography, grubby characters who are nice to look at. The immigration theme is well-done but with a few annoyingly goofy plot turns.

If you were to parlay just six of the two dozen or so events in this film, you would be able to win the Pick Six at the race track. The odds of ALL of these things happening to one person in a few days in New York would easily be a million to one or more. Despite that, we watch Victorrio Gassman run from one unlikely situation to another with the utter suspension of disbelief that only the movies can provide. Gloria Grahame is good as the romantic interest, and Maxwell Shane does a very good job of directing, while Joseph Broc does an outstanding job of cinematography.

Some of the dialogue is corny and dated, but the essence of the film still shines through. Interesting to note that Shelly Winters was supposed to play the Grahame part in the film, but she unexpectedly dropped out at the last minute. She is even featured in one version of the coming attractions! Although annoying at times, well worth viewing. (By the way, there are not large crowds of people in the subways in New York City at three o'clock in the morning, as portrayed in the film).

The only film that could waste the talents of Gloria Grahame AND Vittorio Gassman! And of the great trombonist Jack Teagarden. But gave a splendid New York-at-night opening to cinematographer Biroc (yes, he later of ON THE WATERFRONT

A Hungarian holocaust survivor smuggles himself into the US where "there is work everywhere"only to find a social system as cold as the Stalinist state he left. Magnificent, expressionistic on-location cinematography bring 1950s New York alive as a kind of Noir feme-fatale in city form. The last scenes, in an abandoned UN building that seems an incarnation of empty promises, are spectacular. There's lots of strikingly progressive depictions here for an American film from the early 1950s, even what might be a sympathetically depicted inter-racial couple.The marginalization of women under patriarchy and work place sexual harassment are tackled in this film many years before Hollywood broadly began to address issues of sexism. Even with the film's implicit anti-communism, it wouldn't surprise me if several of the filmmakers went on to get blacklisted. The only criticism I'd make is that there is some rather ham fisted speech making by the two main characters. But their desperation makes the sudden out pores of rage and exhaustion seem almost believable.

...Because there ARE no animals in this fine early '50's noir film! I'm referring to Ivan Tors, who wrote the screenplay. He's probably best remembered for his work with Lions, Tigers and maybe even Bears in his productions. In any case, I caught this ittle noir gem in the wee small hours and really enjoyed it. Who can deny Gloria Grahame's beauty- and talent? Vittoria Gassman turns in a powerful performance as well. Good supporting cast including Jerry Paris. Some silly bits (Like Gassman's photo FILLING THE FRONT PAGE of the newspaper!) don't diminish the suspense. Add it to your 'must-see' noir list.

Good script, for sure. Good acting. Good direction, production, and especially editing. Good cinematography.

Great story about emigration, even if it is stereotypical Hollywoodland.

Until the last third of the film, when screenwriter Ivan Tors and director Maxwell Shane decide to drink the Stanley Kramer kool aid, it's a damn good ride with some of the best night time NYC stuff the other side of "Sweet Smell Of Success" courtesy of cinematographer Joseph Biroc and sensitive low key performances from Gloria Grahame and Vittorio Gassman (at least, in Gassman's case, until that soapbox stuff at the empty UN). I also liked the character of Tanya, the Hungarian stripper with a heart of goulasch/gold, and the actress who plays her, Robin Raymond. She's introduced in the middle of act two, just when the movie's pace needs an interesting twist, and Raymond certainly provides it. And speaking of good supporting characters I also liked Douglas Spencer as the professorial looking, cigar smoking, by the book, but not overly so, immigration official. Give it a B minus.