This is a fatalistic and morbid film and one which no doubt made necessary the X certificate which was brought in in the UK in 1951. There were quite a few others of this kind after WW2 and English films which followed the later certificate were often much more extreme than anything coming out of the US. ' Horrors of the Black Museum ' and ' The Camp on Blood Island ' are an example and the horrors in this scenario preceded the way for them. The fatalism after the war no doubt made these films acceptable, and as for ' The Upturned Glass ' it was one of the nastiest of its kind. I do not recommend it for children, or sensitive people and I disliked it immensely. Of course worst films are made today, but somehow these films were darker and for no other reason than to fulfil the possible need for masochism in people after the war. The response to masochism, or the need for a pain of suffering endured by the Blitz and other deprivations and no way of escaping one's fate can make an audience feel it is ordinary and will continue forever. This is where the sadistic film steps in to fill that void. The US did not have the fear of a bomb obliterating both the house and its occupants and therein lies the difference perhaps between the two countries film output.
I give it a 3 for James Mason and Rosamund John ( a fine actress ) but she is not seen enough in the film. Enough has been said here revealing the plot, but unlike some reviewers the pessimism at the end was not contrived but inevitable.
Review of The Upturned Glass
