THE GLASS WEB

(director: Jack Arnold; screenwriters: Robert Blees/Leonard Lee/from the novel Spin the Glass Web by Max Simon Ehrlich; cinematographer: Maury Gertsman; editor: Ted J. Kent; music: Milton Rosen; cast: John Forsythe (Don Newell), Edward G. Robinson (Henry Hayes), Kathleen Hughes (Paula Rainer), Hugh Sanders (Lt. Stevens), Marcia Henderson (Louise Newell), Richard Denning (Dave Markson), Clark Howat (Bob Warren); Runtime: 81; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Albert J. Cohen; Universal-International; 1953)

“It’s not that hard from early-one to figure out the guilty party.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Originally released in 3-D. It hoped to offer a movie benefit over its rival free TV. Sci-fi director Jack Arnold(“The Man From Bitter Ridge”/”Tarantula”/”Creature From The Black Lagoon”) turns to a B/W suspense film and does a decent job with keeping the potboiler going even though it’s not that hard from early-on to figure out the guilty party. It’s based on the 1952 novel Spin the Glass Web by Max Simon Ehrlich. The script is written by Robert Blees and Leonard Lee, that features a slow unfolding plot in a drab LA TV studio setting.

Don Newel (John Forsythe) is the married head writer of a popular tabloid mystery TV show that dramatizes sensational crime stories every week. In real life he is being blackmailed by the flashy blonde TV actress Paula Rainer (Kathleen Hughes), a real piece of work, for the one-night stand he had with her over the summer. When Newel goes to her flat for a showdown, he finds her dead. Since the cops can’t solve the crime, her case is featured on his show Crime of the Week. The producer asks the show’s research expert Henry Hayes (Edward G. Robinson) and Newell to hand in competing scripts. Hayes makes sure the evidence points to his rival, someone he doesn’t care for.

Spoiler alert.

We learn that Hayes (Edward G. Robinson), a former police reporter, also had an affair with Paula and was bitter over paying her money but she still rejected his advances. As a result, the insecure frustrated scholar killed her and framed the writer.

REVIEWED ON 1/25/2015 GRADE: B-