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."
Review of The Glass Tomb
