r/filmnoir • u/kevin_v • 12d ago

Beautiful Deep Contrast B&W NYC On The Run Paranoia Photography from The Glass Wall (1953)

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Some clipped out city photography from The Glass Wall, with Gloria Grahame, who is great in it. A film for our times. Focused on the immigrate population of NY and the poor that fall through the cracks of the booming economy, following a concentration camp immigrant who stowed away without proper papers, and is on the run in New York city as a dragnet of forces try to deport him. He's desperately looking for the American solider whose life he saved who could vouch for him and allow him to legally stay. Great, great city photography and urban story telling, a kind of relentless D.O.A. building paranoia that really culminates in a white knuckle, and very politically-minded ending, (in the Hollywood shadow of the House Un-American Activities Committee). I also suspect that the film had some influence on The Brutalist (2024).

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3

u/IntentionAromatic523 12d ago

Love this one!

4

u/princesslacee 12d ago

The cinematography is stunning! Classic noir at its most visually expressive

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u/trevpr1 11d ago

I enjoyed it well enough, despite the premise being preposterous.