The Green Glove 1952

The film opens with a taut teaser that circles back to the end of the tale: the Gauntlet of St. Elzear, known as the green glove, has vanished again from its shrine. The [Father Goron] hears the church bells tolling, a sound that was not meant to accompany this moment. He hurries to the church, finds a dead man, and climbs to the bell tower where the bells ring without a bell-ringer. Returning to the nave, he discovers the gauntlet back in its rightful place. A jacket bearing a designer label from Los Angeles is found on the dead man, and the clue suggests the deceased is an American—[Mike Blake].

From the opening seconds the story shifts to a war-torn setting where Blake, an American paratrooper, is trapped behind enemy lines. He moves through ruined streets and rubble-strewn squares until he encounters [Count Paul Rona], a man who carries a valise and initially presents himself as a reporter. Blake quickly learns that Rona knows about the coming German attack, and the two players pivot around a single guarded object—the green glove. Rona tries to bargain for his freedom by offering to part with the bejeweled glove in exchange for permission to walk away. The moment a bomb from a plane explodes nearby, the valise slips from Rona’s grip, and he bolts in haste, leaving Blake to recover.

Blake is found by the Countess, a young man named Armond, and Pierre, her loyal butler. The Countess wants him brought to her home, and Blake agrees only after Armond promises to alert the Americans about the impending German attack. The next morning, the Countess celebrates what she thinks is a retreat by the Germans, but Armond arrives having died trying to get word out—the attack had been a sham orchestrated by Rona. The Countess is shaken to the core and loses her ability to speak. As Blake prepares to depart, Pierre shows him the valise that Blake believes is his own. Blake decides to leave it be for the moment, and Pierre volunteers to guard it until Blake can return for it.

A few years later, Blake travels to Paris, intent on reclaiming the glove, since things in the States have not gone well for him. He is trailed by a follower and enlists [Chris Kenneth] to help him shake off his tail on a guided tour of the city, including a stop on the Eiffel Tower. That evening, the two cross paths again in a nightclub, where they quickly click. They return to Blake’s hotel, where Inspector Faubert arrives to question him about a man found dead in Blake’s room, a corruption of identity that includes a drawing of Blake in the dead man’s pocket. The dead man is the same follower who had tailed Blake on the tower, and the two admit they had seen him. The Inspector reveals he intends to talk again, but Blake departs, leaving a note for Faubert indicating he’ll be gone for a while.

Blake’s escape leads to pursuit as a man trailing him is shot—by Pepe, a henchman working for Rona. Blake and Chris press on to the Countess’s château, only to find it damaged and empty. Rona is waiting, insisting that he had Blake watched in the States and that the police suspect Blake of killing both the man found in the hotel and the officer on the train. He confirms he wants the glove, a priceless prize that could turn the tide of the investigation.

Faubert arrives later with a squad of officers, but his arrival comes too late to capture anyone in the château. Chris slips away, and she and Blake are later found by the Countess and Pierre at a nearby house where the couple has taken shelter. The Countess, still distressed, suddenly recognizes the glove as the Gauntlet of St. Elzear. Her faculties return as she realizes Armond is dead, and she sinks to her knees, clutching the glove to her cheek before fainting. When she regains her senses, she can speak again, and the truth about Armond’s fate becomes clear.

Blake and Chris depart, and they share a moment of tenderness at an inn. Blake hesitates over whether to sell the glove, choosing instead to value Chris above the fortune. They decide to head to Monte Carlo separately to avoid capture, but plan to reunite later. Blake instructs Chris to seek out Rona in the casino that evening and to contact Faubert to bring his men to the church so that Rona can be caught with the glove.

On the road toward the church, Blake hides as Rona’s men pass by in a car. The trail leads him along the goat track toward the village; he races to stay ahead of the armed pursuers and barely reaches the church. Up in the bell tower, he slips out of his jacket and tosses it toward Rona, provoking a standoff as one of Rona’s men fires. A second shot hits Rona, and Blake begins to ring the bells, forcing the attackers to flee and drawing the priest and villagers back to the church. The opening scene returns as the glove is restored to its proper place, and Blake slips away through a back door.

The police arrive to a scene that confirms Blake’s innocence: Chris has been found with Pepe, and Faubert notes that Rona’s men have been captured with one confession. Blake and Chris walk away hand in hand, with the church bells once again ringing, signaling a quiet victory and the end of the danger that had loomed over the city.