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The Glass Tomb (AKA: The Glass Cage) is directed by Montgomery Tully and adapted to screenplay by Richard Landau from the story The Outsiders written by A. E. Martin. It stars John Ireland, Honor Blackman, Geoffrey Keen, Eric Pohlmann, Sid James and Sydney Tafler. Music is by Leonard Salzedo and cinematography by Walter Harvey.

Pel Pelham's carnival is in town and the star attraction is Sapolio, a man prepared to be locked in a glass cage and starve himself for 70 days. But when a couple of murders occur at the carnival, the police become involved and suspicion starts to point its ugly finger.

Part of the Hammer Film Noir series released by VCI Entertainment, The Glass Tomb is an odd little picture that's more a collection of noirish traits and ideas than a fully fledged movie. Running at just under an hour in length, film hinges on the flimsiest of stories but just about gets away with it on account of solid performances and some spiky themes in the piece. In the mix are carnival outcasts, blackmail, murder, carnal desires, gluttony, addiction and a macabre party scene with a body upstairs kept company for some time by the murderer?! These are nicely presided over by Tully and Harvey where shadows are often prominent and a neon light and subway train serve the atmosphere very well. You do wonder what world we live in when people pay to watch a man just not eat? While the murderer is known to us from the first killing, thus there's no mystery aspect to hang your coat on. Though clearly the makers want us to observe how the murderer easily moves about this carnival group undetected and above suspicion.

Not comfortably recommended as a whole, but enough parts of the quilt for the noir fans to appreciate. 6/10

The carnival barker Pel Pelham (John Ireland) borrows some money with his friend Tony Lewis (Sidney James). In return, he convinces his friend Rena Maroni (Tonia Bern), who was Tony´s mistress, to stop blackmailing him. Pet wants to promote a side show with her neighbor Henri Sapolio (Eric Pohlmann), who is a starving man. Sapolio and his wife decides to give a party at their apartment and Sapolio glances at a man leaving Rena´s apartment. Later they find that Rena was murdered and the police suspect that one guest is the killer.

"The Glass Tomb", a.k.a. "The Glass Cage", is a mystery film by Hammer that was classified as film-noir in a recently released DVD Box. The storyline and the screenplay are flawed and weak but fortunately the movie is short and watchable. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Gaiola de Vidro" ("The Glass Cage")

John Ireland is a carnival barker starting out with a show on his own. It's a "starving man" act, in which Eric Pohlman is put on exhibition; for seventy days, Ireland tells the crowds gathered in front of the big tent, he will not eat. One shilling for adults to see him, six pence for children. It all seems rather foolish and tawdry, but Ireland has a lot of friends, and they get together to throw a party as he moves up in the world. Everyone is having a great time.... until a girl upstairs is murdered. Inspector Liam Redmond asks Ireland to keep his ears open.... but Ireland thinks he knows who did it.

It's an intriguing venue for a murder mystery, and the set-up reminds me of some of Fredric Brown's murder mysteries from the 1950s. However, there's no sense of a separate society among the carney people and the public; the latter may be suckers, but society is viewed as a continuum; Ireland is married to Honor Blackman, and they have a son. Everyone lives in flats, and Redmond thinks it's all perfectly ordinary. It's what you get when you remove the technique from film noir, and place it in an ordinary world: rather disappointing.

In the 1950s, a lot of second-tier American actors were hired to star in films abroad. The notion was that a well known American could improve box office receipts...particularly if the films were shown here in the States. The two countries that seemed to do this the most were the UK and Italy, but Germans and others hired various Americans for their films during this era. Unfortunately, despite having John Ireland in the lead, Britain's "The Glass Cage" was a disappointment when I watched it.

The glass cage in the title refers to a small glass room where a sideshow act lived. It seems that the guy agreed to be locked inside and eat nothing for 70 days...a feat which seems impossible. Well, during this same time, folks associated with the sideshow begin to die.

There were a couple major problems with the film. The biggest is that there is zero suspense, as the movie lets you know early on who the murderer is! This seemed pretty dopey and made for a less than thrilling story. The other problem was the trap to catch the killer...it's been done so many times that it's really a cliche! To make things worse, the characters aren't really fleshed out well and the story never offered much to recommend it.

Another film watched for the "House of Hammer" podcast, which I am still around six months behind the release dates with. This is a strange film, both in terms of setting but also, it's the rare film that I want to be longer, so something more could happen.

Pel Pelham (John Ireland) is asked by his friend Tony Lewis (Sid James) to talk to a girl that he's been having an affair with and is now who is threatening blackmail. By co-incidence the woman, Rena (Tonia Bern) lives above Pelham's friend Sapolio (Eric Pohlmann) with whom, Pelham is planning to rerun his "starvation act", a carnival turn where Sapolio is locked in a small glass windowed apartment and is unable to have food for a number of days. Rena agrees to withdraw the blackmail, as it wasn't her idea, however, as Pelham and his friends organise an impromptu party, she is murdered. Suspicion falls on both Pelham and Lewis.

Despite the pretty horrific professional reviews the film has, I didn't think what was there was too bad. Pelham is an interesting character, not quite as personable as you might need to be to run a carnival sideshow, but not so awful as other Hammer leading men we've had recently. The film also has a number of stars I've heard of, Honor Blackman, Sid James, Sydney Tafler - Wikipedia even suggests that Bernard Bresslaw was the 'Cossack', though I wasn't able to confirm that in the viewing. There's also a return for Hammer favourite Eric Pohlmann.

The problem isn't so much with what's there, as what's not there. It's unclear whether the film was cutdown to make the B-Movie hour slot, but there are elements of the story that either happen off screen and are subsequently talked about or just don't happen at all. Some of this is particularly strange as the film doesn't keep the identify of the murderer from us, the audience, so it's not like there is a big reveal at the end.

I quite like the carnival set up, the elements as Pelham gets the show off the ground (though why you'd come to the opening night of this is perhaps up for some debate) I liked the performances and the version available of Youtube actually looks and sounds pretty good. It's just missing the central elements to make this into a thriller I actually cared about.

It would be foolish to expect much from a Hammer low-budget, B-programmer and all one one can really say about this one is that it could have been far better.

A previous reviewer has suggested that a certain Joseph Losey may perhaps have contributed to the direction and if that is the case, credited director Montgomery Tully cannot shoulder all of the blame. Cinematographer William Harvey has provided oodles of high contrast lighting to impart the 'Noirish' look whilst Leonard Salzedo's score is suitably carnivalesque.

The customary Hollywood import here is John Ireland, whose glum persona one either takes to or one doesn't whilst quintessentially English Honor Blackman as his highly unlikely wife is obliged to adopt an American accent of sorts. Excellent support from Sid James as a bookie, Sydney Tafler as a blackmailer and Geoffrey Keen for once on the other side of the law whilst an assortment of colourful fairground characters make a lot of noise, notably Eric Pohlmann whose macabre 'starving man' act is one that hordes of gullible irks are prepared to part with money to see. The climax is ludicrous but the film had to end somehow.

Bound to have its devotees, this one is really for Hammer completists.

Strange but fun and short film.

John Ireland does a nice job as a carnival barker, Pel Pelham, who organizes specialty acts. His big one is the Starving Artist, where a man Sapolio (Erich Pohlmann) goes on display in a glass box and doesn't eat for 70 days, trying to break a past record.

As he was with the carnival, Pel has many people in his life from that world.

Sapolio, happy for the work, throws a party. During the festivities, a woman upstairs is murdered. She was blackmailing a friend of Pel's, a promoter who is in fact bankrolling the Starving Artist show. Pel visited her and asked her to stop.

Sapolio tells Pel he saw someone go up the stairs but can't remember details. When the killer learns this, Sapolio becomes a target.

Pretty routine, but it had a certain warmth, odd as that may sound. The carnival people seemed like a big family, and Ireland was fond of them. I kind of liked it.

1954's "The Glass Tomb" was an early Hammer effort called "The Glass Cage" in Britain, directed by Montgomery Tully rather than Terence Fisher and scripted by Richard H. Landau ("Stolen Face," "Spaceways"). It can't be called a whodunit because we see the killer (Geoffrey Keen) enter and exit his victim's apartment, a blackmailer forced to strangle his female accomplice when she threatens to expose him. Top billed Hollywood import John Ireland looks understandably bored as showman Pel Pelham, a lifetime of working in circuses with freaks and entrepreneurs, figuring to now make his fortune by showcasing a 'Fasting Man' (a defiantly overweight Eric Pohlmann) for lucrative public consumption. As if that doesn't sound laughable enough, Pelham finds his act scuppered, wife (Honor Blackman) kidnapped, and best friend (Sidney James) murdered. The actual glass tomb or cage is constructed inside a large tent where patrons pay for admission, but as to why anyone would lose one red cent to watch an overfed glutton NOT eat makes for delirious viewing, and at under one hour it proved a problematic release some 12 months after its completion. To say that the villain gets his just desserts is like saying that Godzilla is bound for Tokyo! Only three months before Hammer fortunes changed for the better with "The Quatermass Xperiment," they at least found a few cast members who would go on to greater glory, Sam Kydd appearing in "The Quatermass Xperiment," "Invisible Creature," "Island of Terror," and "The Projected Man," Ferdy Mayne playing Count Krolock in Roman Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Killers" before being victimized by Ingrid Pitt in Hammer's "The Vampire Lovers."

John Ireland wanders through this B movie like a penniless child in a nightmare candy store! As a freak-show promoter, he is compelled to bankroll a corpulent carny who, billed as The Starving Man, draws crowds to watch him go foodless for 70 days! Instead of turning on the two like hungry lions, mobs of curious Brits pour continuously forth to goggle the decidedly ungaunt attraction while he shaves, sleeps, and so on. Somehow, two murders occur in the midst of the mess, and so the rub. One has to wonder if the whole production (the movie, not the sideshow) is a joke on the audience, since the film is peppered with crude carnality symbolism and (for the fifties) sly sexual innuendo and double entendre. If one has a taste for oh-so-awful flicks and fool-the-rubes humor, this might be worth a peek.

The motive of the murdered was not explained and as they were identified near the beginning of the film it was a bit pointless watching it to the end, but I did.

Honour Blackman was billed high but her total screen time was just a few minutes in a couple of brief scenes, anyone could have played the brief part.

Entertainment for the masses in 1955 was a bit restricted but believing that people would queue up to see a fasting man in a glass box was difficult to believe especially at one bob for entry, a shilling.

Only worth watching if at a bit of a loose end with nothing better to do. Not a classic of 1950s UK cinema.

An odd crime film with an American star and some players using American accents, no doubt a product of the UK-US film making agreement of 1948. Set in London, the story concerns Pel Pelham (John Ireland), a carny barker with a bright idea for show to pack in crowds. Believe it or not, his idea is to have spectators watch a man starve himself for 70 days, while enclosed in a glass cage (The Glass Cage is an alternate title of the movie). Suspending disbelief, we watch people line up to see this overweight man (Eric Pohlmann) deny himself food. But that's just background for the narrative. The interesting part begins when a young woman who lives upstairs from Pohlmann and his wife is murdered. Those of us watching the film know who the killer is, but it's up to police and Pel's ingenuity to uncover the perpetrator, not only of the woman, but of the Starving Man himself who has also been murdered since he was a possible witness. Featuring Sid James, Sidney Tafler, Honor Blackman as Pel's wife and young actor playing their son whose voice sounds like he's been dubbed by a woman. Preposterous? Yes. But it's rather fun to watch it all play out in 59 minutes.

The only Hammer film in which Honor Blackman appeared is one of their more fanciful productions featuring several circus performers. The jaunty score by Leonard Salzedo was an early example of musical director John Hollingsworth's eye for talent.

This picture touchs wisely in the society's underground self called freak show, which the mankind has an irresistible attraction to the bizarre, the unknown, the occult, John Ireland has in his veins this obsession to take ahead this odd entertainment taking a top billing "the Starving Man" a private party was made by the mates to celebrate opening show, but a murder was committed in upper floor has been realize by Starving man, now in danger, strangely besides a low budge production this one hold us like a magnet due so weird happenings, a British noir largely ostracized over the bad press in such field, whatever happens has their enchants, underrated here but has enough elements to enjoy the picture, needs a restoration!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

It isn't a bad story or intrigue, but it hasn't been properly developed. Hitchcock could have made something up to his standard, he liked show intrigues, and this is out of the ordinary as it is entirely about freaks, and the murder intrigue must be regarded as extremely bizarre. There is not just one murder but they keep mounting, as the murderer has to cover up his crime by new crimes, as they always do, but we never learn his motive, if he had any. The real vicious character is the circus detective who is constantly on the alert for victims to blackmail, and the line of them is growing. The one attraction of the film is Tonia Bern as the lovely Rena Maroni, with whom everyone is having a relationship, she is also a freak but we never learn of what kind. Pity that so many had to be sacrificed for nothing but fishy business circumstances about a grotesque freak show, which apparently no one got anything out of. Still John Ireland tries to appear convincing when he insists that the show must go on.

One more example of what B movies can provide us, in terms of twisted schemes, inventive stories. This one is totally surprising, crazy, exciting. And seeing John Ireland and Honor Blackman can't be uninteresting. Plus, the sideshow setting, carnival surroundings are always perfect unexpected plots, such as this very one. Monty Tully was a prolific British film maker who brought us so many movies, not all at the same scale of quality though. But this one remains one of his ever best. Only the ending could have been a bit better; I expected something different, I don't know why. I recommend this film. Totally.

John Ireland, Honor Blackman, and a title like The Glass Tomb, how could I resist checking out this little farce of a film. John Ireland plays a bit somber here but he's still effective and brings a much needed credibility. As for Blackman, her part is so small that makes her billing seem like false advertising. There's a large cast of supporting actors all of which do a nice job with their parts. The issue here is the script/story. So many things happen but with to reason or explanation as to Why? Several killings take place and except for the starving man himself, one is left wondering why anyone else had to die. The concept of folks waiting in line to see a large man not eating, and the colorful cast of carnival folks is kind of fun. Despite some plot holes and all, at 59 minutes, The Glass Tomb is still fairly watchable.

Eric Pohlmann is "Sapolio", quite a large fellow who declares that he is going to have himself locked in a glass room for 70 days without food. Can he survive? Well it turns out, in this short thriller, that he might be a damn sight safer than some of those outside - as murder is afoot. "Pel" (John Ireland) who has promoted this affair - and who hasn't two pennies to rub together - is initially a police suspect but as the investigation narrows, it looks like only the man in the glass box might really know what happened! John Ireland is adequate in this hour-long film as is his on-screen wife Honor Blackman ("Jenny"); Geoffrey Keen ("Stanton") has a bit more than usual for him to get his teeth into and a stalwart cast of British reliables all help keep it rumbling along well enough. I found the ending a bit daft, but I suspect most of whatever budget it had went on Ireland, so that's maybe to be expected. Basic, wordy but still watchable.