The Glass Wall

Femme fatale Gloria Grahame is cast against type as a good Samaritan helping an Auschwitz survivor (Vittorio Gassman, in his U.S. debut) as he wanders Manhattan evading a manhunt. He’s stowed away from his native Hungary in hopes of being granted refugee status thanks to a new UN decree that gives sanctuary to foreign nationals who aided Allied forces during the war. But in order to find the American parachutist that can vouch for him, Gassman must go on the lam. With police and immigration officers on his tail, Gassman wanders through New York after hours—from Times Square jazz joints to all-night cafeterias, from Central Park to burlesque parlors, all  seen through the lens of cinematographer Joseph F. Biroc (Forty Guns, Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte, China Gate). Gassman’s manic nocturnal odyssey even lands him in the apartment of a Hungarian family in which the man-of-the-house is a slick hothead played by future Kubrick regular Joe Turkel (The Killing, Paths of Glory, The Shining). Boldly expressing the still-raw trauma of war and the camps, Maxwell Shane’s picture is a striking blend of neorealist soulfulness and noir doom.

Bing Theater | Included with admission to Killer's Kiss. | $5 for this film only | Tickets: 323 857-6010 or purchase online