The Glass Mountain (1949)

Wounded in WWII, a British soldier (Michael Denison) is nursed back to health by a beautiful Italian girl (Valentina Cortese). He can't forget her which causes a problem when he returns home after the war and tries to reestablish relations with his loving wife (Dulcie Gray). A composer, he writes an opera based on a legend told to him by the Italian beauty and when he returns to Italy for the opera's premiere, he renews his relationship with her. Directed by Henry Cass (LAST HOLIDAY) and Edoardo Anton. A huge hit in Great Britain, I found this piece of hokey schmaltz grating. First off, I couldn't see what the two women saw in the block of blandness named Michael Denison (though apparently Gray did, they were married in 1939). It's 94 minutes of Gray and Cortese pining for Denison to make up his mind which of them he loves. Filmed in the majestic Italian Alps, the movie would have benefited by being shot in color rather than B&W. On the plus side, there's a nice score by Nino Rota, who wrote both the underscore and the opera (sung by Tito Gobbi and Elena Rizzieri). With Sebastian Shaw (overacting) and Antonio Centa.