Vittorio Gassman is a displaced person who stows away on a ship to America. Immigration quizzes him. Gassman has no family, has spent most of the war in concentration camps, and is entitled to legal status as a DP because he saved the life of an American paratrooper, Jerry Paris. Alas, he doesn't know Paris's address in New York, or even his last name. All he knows is that Paris is a clarinetist who works somewhere around Times Square.
Determined to find his war-time pal and stay in the USA, Gassman escapes, breaking some ribs in the process, and hies over to Times Square. He's got forty-eight hours before he becomes a federal fugitive and will be denied entry on those grounds.
Neat title, a pun. The "glass wall" is, at the same time, the strict rules that prevent Gassman from entering the country, and the facade of the United Nations building that represents justice and is where the pursuit finds its climax.
In "Odd Man Out," James Mason found himself in a similar situation -- wounded and wandering around the city, bumping into diverse sorts of citizens. But "Odd Man Out" is a far more complex and subtle film than "The Glass Wall".
Here, the structure and dynamics are pretty simple. For the first half of the movie, Gassman is a fugitive wanted by the law. Then his claim to legal status is confirmed by the appearance of his buddy Paris, and for the rest of the film the police, aided by Paris and by a new friend, Gloria Grahame, try to find him before his forty-eight hours are up. Along the way, Gassman meets nice people, bad people, and indifferent people.
Not knowing his salvation is at hand, Gassman runs into the UN building, makes a Big Speech about "freedom" in an empty chamber, takes an elevator to the roof, and is about to jump off before he collapses from pain and exhaustion.
It gets a bit tiresome, seeing Gassman stumbling along the city's streets, holding his ribs, slumping against walls, catching a nap in an empty cab. Gassman himself seems to use only one expression, best described as "wounded". (He was pretty good in a comic role in "Big Deal on Madonna Street.") Gloria Grahame looks right for the part, though she is always Gloria Grahame.
There's a good deal of effort put into making this a message movie. Taken in by a Hungarian family, an argument erupts between the sly boots son who wants to turn Gassman over to the cops and his mother, one of those generous, proud, old peasant women, who slaps her son across the face and reminds him that "your fodder too was an immigrant." As in the rest of the second half, the scene is ironic because, in protecting Gassman, they are also hindering the efforts of his friends to legitimize his status.
There are a couple of weaknesses in the plot. When the exotic dancer finds Gassman asleep in her cab and recognizes him, she whispers to the driver to take her, not home, as usual, but to the police station. With Gassman still corking off, she goes into the station and emerges a few minutes later, now ready for the two of them to be taken to her home. Why did she go to the police station? Nice night club scene involving Jack Teagarden and Shorty Rogers, the latter an icon of 1950s West Coast jazz. Aficionados may recognize, or THINK they recognize, some of the members of the band.
On the whole, though, there's nothing especially gripping about the story. Of course one feels sorry for Gassman, who has been through hell and come out the other side as still a gentleman, but the direction is plodding, there is little sparkle to the dialog, and it looks very much like an earnest message movie. But if you want a wounded fugitive wandering the streets, try "Odd Man Out." If you want a message movie that enthralls, try "On the Waterfront."
Determined to find his war-time pal and stay in the USA, Gassman escapes, breaking some ribs in the process, and hies over to Times Square. He's got forty-eight hours before he becomes a federal fugitive and will be denied entry on those grounds.
Neat title, a pun. The "glass wall" is, at the same time, the strict rules that prevent Gassman from entering the country, and the facade of the United Nations building that represents justice and is where the pursuit finds its climax.
In "Odd Man Out," James Mason found himself in a similar situation -- wounded and wandering around the city, bumping into diverse sorts of citizens. But "Odd Man Out" is a far more complex and subtle film than "The Glass Wall".
Here, the structure and dynamics are pretty simple. For the first half of the movie, Gassman is a fugitive wanted by the law. Then his claim to legal status is confirmed by the appearance of his buddy Paris, and for the rest of the film the police, aided by Paris and by a new friend, Gloria Grahame, try to find him before his forty-eight hours are up. Along the way, Gassman meets nice people, bad people, and indifferent people.
Not knowing his salvation is at hand, Gassman runs into the UN building, makes a Big Speech about "freedom" in an empty chamber, takes an elevator to the roof, and is about to jump off before he collapses from pain and exhaustion.
It gets a bit tiresome, seeing Gassman stumbling along the city's streets, holding his ribs, slumping against walls, catching a nap in an empty cab. Gassman himself seems to use only one expression, best described as "wounded". (He was pretty good in a comic role in "Big Deal on Madonna Street.") Gloria Grahame looks right for the part, though she is always Gloria Grahame.
There's a good deal of effort put into making this a message movie. Taken in by a Hungarian family, an argument erupts between the sly boots son who wants to turn Gassman over to the cops and his mother, one of those generous, proud, old peasant women, who slaps her son across the face and reminds him that "your fodder too was an immigrant." As in the rest of the second half, the scene is ironic because, in protecting Gassman, they are also hindering the efforts of his friends to legitimize his status.
There are a couple of weaknesses in the plot. When the exotic dancer finds Gassman asleep in her cab and recognizes him, she whispers to the driver to take her, not home, as usual, but to the police station. With Gassman still corking off, she goes into the station and emerges a few minutes later, now ready for the two of them to be taken to her home. Why did she go to the police station? Nice night club scene involving Jack Teagarden and Shorty Rogers, the latter an icon of 1950s West Coast jazz. Aficionados may recognize, or THINK they recognize, some of the members of the band.
On the whole, though, there's nothing especially gripping about the story. Of course one feels sorry for Gassman, who has been through hell and come out the other side as still a gentleman, but the direction is plodding, there is little sparkle to the dialog, and it looks very much like an earnest message movie. But if you want a wounded fugitive wandering the streets, try "Odd Man Out." If you want a message movie that enthralls, try "On the Waterfront."