AllMovie

A strange and uneven psychological thriller clearly inspired by Spellbound, The Upturned Glass has its flaws but is worth watching, especially to fans of the genre. One of Glass's flaws is the fact that it slips out of its grounding in reality on several occasions. For example, the bulk of the film is a flashback narrated by a doctor to a criminology class; it's not especially realistic that this doctor would be qualified to teach such a class, but more crucially, the doctor is revealing details about himself (however much he may claim it's about another) which tip his hand to his future illegal plans. Had this been set up as a way of showing that the doctor was not in his right mind, it might possible have worked, but there is no such set up. Pacing is also a flaw, as the first two-thirds of the film don't propel the story along at the desired pace; however, the final third makes up for this and is quite gripping (if still lacking in credibility). Helping to mask the film's flaws is the flawless performance of James Mason. Intense yet able to lay back with the best of them, Mason's turn is a marvelous mix of "star" performance and carefully calibrated, nuanced dramatic acting. The supporting cast is quite good as well, and while Lawrence Huntington's direction overall is uneven, when he's on, he does very good work here.