The Man in the Glass Booth

I am amazed that none of the reviews of this movie on IMDb mention that this film … as written by Robert Shaw … is a ro·man à clef (look it up if you do not know) … for the trial of Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann was arrested in 1960 by the Masada and taken to Israel for trial. He was in fact was the "Man in the Glass Booth". Yes Maximillian Schell was off the charts in this performance … but the greatest facet to the film is that it replays Eichmann's trial. Eichmann was amazing in his conviction that all of the Final Solution was logical and justified and pedestrian … and we should all see this for what it is worth. Yes … I was totally annoyed by the Arthur Goldman character in the first half of the film … but I was mesmerized by the way this film played out. Schell should have beat Nicholson for the academy award! He is a massively underrated actor (see him in Judgement in Nuremberg and you will agree).

The Man in The Glass Booth has finally been delivered to the home theater in the form of a DVD released by Kino as part of their series on The American Film Theater. The DVD hits the street on Tuesday, July 22. I have managed to catch a glimpse of this disk and the picture quality is quite good considering it is a non-restored film from 1975. No need to go into how great this flick is as it's been well documented over time.

Maximilian Schell gives a brilliant performance in this movie about a Jewish industrialist brought to trial for Nazi war crimes. Schell was justly nominated for an Academy Award. His ending speech about Hitler is amazing. It's a shame that this movie is not more available. To really appreciate Schell's performance and get the full impact of this story, it helps to have an understanding about Hitler and the theories about what motivated his actions and beliefs. Without this background this movie will come across as hopelessly contrived, but taken as an allegory about the dictator, it is extremely powerful. It is curious why Robert Shaw had his name removed from the credits.

Long unavailable, it is now obtainable in DVD and holds up rivitingly well 30 years later. My wife and I first saw it in the theatre when a few of the American Film Theatre movies were produced and released--and were absolutely blown away. The movie IS Maximilian Schell. The range, nuance, and dramatic mood shifts he brings to this part, which demands polar opposite emotions, are astonishing. How he was not nominated for an Academy Award (to my knowledge) is unbelievable. His performance is what animates this complicated set of twists and turns and brings enrichment of plot turns to a well crafted story with authentic psychological resonance at the climaxe of the film. Well worth your time! It is fascinating, by the way, to pair this movie with a viewing of "Judgment at Nuremburg" in which Schell plays the defense attorney of Nazi war criminals.

Maximilian Schell defines acting in this superlative effort which I have used in my classes when discussing the Holocaust. When you watch it, keep an open mind and don't be put off by sayings such as "What is a Christian but a Jew with an insurance policy? Rent it and watch it...I guarantee you will be impressed and troubled by the implications of the subject matter.

I can only posit my take on the meaning of this movie based on what was on the screen and not by what Shaw's novel put forth. That said, I found that the meaning and subtext of this movie is amazing. While an atheist myself, I could clearly see what would be a recasting of Christ's passion in a modern context. What "sins of the world" to be borne by a Jewish man could be more obvious than the burden of the Shoah brought upon him? I see Arthur Goldman's allusions to Jesus throughout, the references about the Catholic Church's "forgiving the Jews" for deicide, his staging of the super before knowingly putting himself in the crosshairs of the Mossad to capture him, and finally most telling... his crucifixion like pose against the inside of the booth at the end, as the magnitude of the Holocaust finally descends upon him. Did anyone else see this powerful subtext of the movie?

A fairly fascinating film, with a thought-provoking, albeit rather contrived, twist at the end, the material is helped a great deal by Maximilian Schell's Oscar nominated performance as the title person. Schell is startlingly good, considering what he has to do, balancing out two different eccentric personalities that are part of his one character. The character he plays is the most intriguing element throughout, but it does have a tendency to dominate, and therefore overshadow the things that film has to say. It also takes a while to get where its going, however the second half is highly intense stuff, and the film is merited by interesting ideas the whole time through.