The Glass House Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Glass House Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 5, 2019

Tom Gries' "The Glass House" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scorpion Releasing. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new video interview with star Clu Gulager and vintage trailers. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

"We've got a flyer in C-block"

In the glory days of the mom-and-pop video stores someone cut a trailer for Tom Gries’ film In the Glass House that boldly declared that it tells “the most powerful prison story ever filmed”. It is a pretty big statement that should immediately be taken with a grain of salt, right? I thought so too, which is why I immediately tried to remember what other good prison films were out there that at the time could have competed for the same description.

Don Siegel’s Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) was shot on location at Folsom State Prison with real inmates, a lot like Gries’ film. Then there is Buzz Kulik’s Riot (1969) which recreates a true story and was also shot in an active prison in Arizona. I remember is a very good early film directed by Sam Bischoff titled The Last Mile (1932) about a wild prison break. There are two more excellent films from Howard Koch, Big House, U.S.A. (1955), and The Last Mile (1959), which introduced the great character actor Michael Constantine. A few decades earlier, Michael Curtiz also received a permission to shoot the classic 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) inside the famous prison and then used a few of the inmates as extras. On the other side of the Atlantic Robert Bresson directed the classic A Man Escaped (1956), and then Jacques Becker did the nail-bitter Le Trou a.k.a. The Hole (1960). So, there isn’t exactly a shortage of really good prison films, which is why a big part of me was incredibly skeptical of the attention-grabbing statement.

Once the character that Alan Alda plays was shown his cell, however, my skepticism began to disappear. And it wasn’t because the acting was already exceptional, it was the genuinely grim atmosphere and the random looks that the camera would occasionally catch -- it all felt very real, and in that distinctly spooky way that I believe defines all prisons. (I once visited a prison where lifers are kept and it felt pretty much the same. I could immediately tell that it was a genuinely rough place).

The original story for the film apparently came from Truman Capote, but when some of the big shots that were supposed to determine its fate read it, they were so shocked by the graphic violence that was in it that they immediately demanded a lot of changes. So, the script that Tracy Keene Wynn prepared was actually full of different fixes that altered quite a bit of what Capote initially had placed in the story. Incredible.

Alda’s character is a professor with a short sentence who is essentially pushed into a giant pit full of vipers. At first he tries to stay out of their way, but when the biggest one, a vicious criminal and dealer named Hugo Slocum (simply terrific Vic Morrow), makes it impossible for him to ignore his presence, he foolishly decides to go against him and soon after all hell breaks loose. Interestingly, the emphasis actually isn’t on the drama between the professor and the various other characters that he encounters, but on the way in which many see the ugly that occurs inside the prison and rationalize its existence. Billy Dee Williams, for instance, plays a radical who does not believe at all in the current system and simply wants to blow it up and start from scratch. Dean Jagger is the incredibly cynical warden who recognizes that the system is rotten, but also argues that it is the most efficient one for outcasts like the ones that his prison welcomes. Clu Gulager plays a rookie guard who quickly discovers that the corruption and death around him are actually protected because they are incredibly beneficial for the various deals that are being made by the prisoners and those that are supposed to monitor them. Siegel’s son, Kristoffer Tabori, also plays a naïve youngster who makes the crucial mistake of believing that he can actually be with the vipers and at the same time preserve his independence.

In the Glass House is a very, very rough film, and if this is what the statement from the old trailer that I mentioned earlier was supposed to convey, then I think that it gets the job done. Consider this: Gulager did an exclusive interview for this release and in it he reveals that while Gries was shooting the film a couple of prisoners came up to him and offered to buy Tabori for a night. They were not joking. Apparently, there were some prominent gang members that liked the boy while the film crew was moving around their territory and they sent a couple of their ‘messengers’ to make the offer. Unreal.

The Glass House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Tom Gries' The Glass House arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scorpion Releasing.

Some people that will view this film will probably complain that there are random specks and flecks that pop up from time to time that could have been eliminated. I think so too, they could have been removed, but the overall strong organic appearance that the film has after it was recently transferred in high-definition is very, very pleasing. To be honest, this type of presentation is vastly superior than the various 'clean' old remasters that routinely emerge from Universal and occasionally even Sony's vaults, and therefore clearly preferable. For example, even though there are some areas with minor but noticeable density fluctuations, for the most part depth and delineation are very good. Also, there are strong ranges of nuances, though I would be the first to say that a proper restoration would undoubtedly expand them even more. There are no traces of problematic digital tinkering and as a result grain is exposed quite well, but this is another area where there is room for some meaningful improvements. The color grading is convincing. The primaries and the supporting nuances are nicely balanced and both appear healthy. However, shadow definition can be improved, and if it is, there are some minor ranges of color nuances that will benefit as well. Image stability is good. All in all, even though ideally the film could look cleaner and better balanced, I quite like the new transfer that Scorpion Releasing did for it. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

The Glass House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

There are no technical issues to report in our review. However, the audio most definitely can use some remastering work because there are a few sections where for some reason it sounds a bit compressed. Indeed, a few of the exchanges sound a bit 'thin' -- this is the best way that I can describe what I heard -- though there are no distortions, or even the type of unevenness that from time to time appears on older audio tracks that were created for DVD releases. I am pretty sure that this is exactly what is on the element that was used to produce the new remaster for the film, so to get a better end product either there has to be extensive remixing work or a new and better element to work with. This being said, the dialog is very easy to follow, clean, and stable. The music produces some typical for '70s films contrasts as well.

The Glass House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Clu Gulager - in this new video interview, star Clu Gulager discusses Truman Capote's original story that inspired The Glass House as well as his friendship with the great writer, the production history of the film, and his interactions with various prisoners and cast members. The actor also shares a number of fascinating stories that occurred inside the prison where the film was shot. The interview was conducted and edited exclusively for Scorpion Releasing by Andrew Sterling, Jim Kunz, and Walter Olsen. In English, not subtitled. (34 min, 480/60i).

• Trailers - a collection of trailers for other releases from Scorpion Releasing's catalog.

The Glass House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I mentioned various other prison films in our review and a few are just as good as Tom Gries' The Glass House, but the truth is that they were all meant for the big screen. This film wasn't, it was made for TV, and the only other similar production that I could think of is John Frankenheimer's Against the Wall, which has a very different vibe. The Glass House looks and feels incredibly authentic, and it is disturbing in a way that actually makes it extremely difficult for the mind to insist that what the eyes see is just footage from a film. Because of this, I think that it is in a category of its own. Scorpion Releasing's release is sourced from a nice new remaster, and features an outstanding exclusive interview with star Clu Gulager. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.