The Green Glove

The Green Glove

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Rudolph Maté
Produced by Georges Maurer
Screenplay by Charles Bennett
Story by Charles Bennett
Starring Glenn Ford
Geraldine Brooks
Sir Cedric Hardwicke
Narrated by John Dehner
Music by Joseph Kosma
Cinematography Claude Renoir
Edited by Lola Barache
Louis Sackin
Production
company
Benagoss Productions
Union Générale Cinématographique
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates
  • January 31, 1952 (1952-01-31) (premiere-Los Angeles)
  • February 28, 1952 (1952-02-28) (wide release)
Running time
 89 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Green Glove (aka The White Road) is a 1952 French/American international co-production film noir directed by Rudolph Maté and starring Glenn Ford, Geraldine Brooks, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and George Macready.[1]

Plot

Mike Blake (Glenn Ford) is an American paratrooper who travels to France after the end of World War II to try to recover a jewel-encrusted glove that had been stolen from a country church during the war. His quest leads him to a beautiful young tour guide (Geraldine Brooks), and a Nazi collaborator (George Macready) whom he had fought during the war.

Cast

Background

The movie was shot mostly on location in southern France and Monaco.[2] It was based on actions that took place during Operation Dragoon.

Soundtrack

L'Amour est parti
Written by Joseph Kosma
Lyrics by Henri Bassis
Sung by Juliette Gréco

Romance
Written by Joseph Kosma
Lyrics by Henri Bassis
Sung by Juliette Gréco

Reception

Critical response

When the film was first released in 1952, film critic Bosley Crowther expected a first-rate production given that, the screenplay writer, Charles Bennett, had written films "of a high order" such as The 39 Steps. However, he found The Green Glove "is not in that echelon, but is merely a standard chase after a medieval, bejewelled gauntlet filched from a rural French church." He continued, "... but the tale spun is minor-league melodrama. Glenn Ford is largely listless as the paratrooper who clashed with a collaborator-art dealer during the war ..."[3]

Film critic Dennis Schwartz was disappointed in the film, yet praised the work of Glenn Ford. He wrote, "Rudolph Maté (D.O.A./Union Station/Miracle in the Rain) directs this standard thriller, that has a few twists but bogs down over too many hysterical melodramatic moments and the unbelievability of the characters and story line. It's weakly scripted by Charles Bennett and is based on his novel ... There's a good story here, but too bad it wasn't told convincingly and the featured sudden romance came about so quickly that it was not possible for me to believe it; nor was I able to find the suspense story even close to the way a top-notch director like Hitchcock would have built up the suspense and made things more exciting (If not convinced then perhaps check out The 39 Steps, directed by Hitchcock and also written by Bennett!). The former cinematographer Maté can't keep things real and all the plot points seem nothing short of schematic. But Glenn Ford is in it, and he's so good in these type of adventure roles that he at least keeps the flawed pic entertaining."[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Green Glove at the American Film Institute Catalog.
  2. ↑ AFI. Ibid.
  3. ↑ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, April 24, 1952. Accessed: July 25, 2013.
  4. ↑ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, January 23, 2011. Accessed: July 25, 2013.

External links

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