The Man in the Glass Booth

As has been said in some of my reviews for the other twelve films making up the American Film Theatre series, the American Film Theatre series was an interesting and ambitious project but was also uneven. None of the thirteen films are terrible, one was close to though, but only three are great. 'The Man in the Glass Booth' was also seen as it was written by actor Robert Shaw and to see whether the Oscar nomination (the only performance in the American Film Theatre that was nominated for an Oscar) for Maximillian Schell was deserved.

My conclusions were that Schell's nomination was worthy, but it was a case of the performance being much better than the film itself (same with the subject matter being better than the film). Which left me intrigued but also a little cold. 'The Man in the Glass Booth' is not one of the worst of the American Film Theatre films, it's a lot better than 'Rhinoceros' and particularly 'Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'. It is also not one of the best, it's no 'The Iceman Cometh', 'The Homecoming' or 'Butley'. Would put it somewhere bang in the middle.

Schell, the heart and soul of 'The Man in the Glass Booth', is extraordinary in the lead role. All the acting in fact is very good, though the rest of the cast are never on the same level as Schell. The second half is a lot better than the first half, with most of the second half being riveting and tension filled.

'The Man in the Glass Booth' is nicely filmed and the setting is simple and intimate without being too stifling. There is some thought-provoking and sincere writing.

However, 'The Man in the Glass Booth' had potential to be a lot better, especially considering the subject and the lead performance. The first half as indicated isn't as involving as the second. Parts are on the sluggish side while the writing is not as natural and can be mannered. While liking the second half a lot, the twist is somewhat contrived.

Furthermore the action was too confined and static. Arthur Hiller's direction has moments, but tended to be undistinguished and in need of more subtlety.

Concluding, definitely worth a one time watch but didn't blow me away. 6/10.

Although I have not seen this film for years it sticks in my mind as one of the best, particularly for its type, ie a courtroom dram, with few different scenes, (the other similar movie I liked was Twelve Angry Men.

The acting is superb, particularly Max Schell as the Nazi and the twists keep the viewer alert.

It is the type of movie that should be shown on TV much more often. It does have a message as well.

The first half of "The Man in the Glass Booth" makes the viewer unsure of what to expect, as Maximilian Schell's protagonist - identified as a survivor of the concentration camps - orates about his experiences and desires. That's when everything changes. But even after this change, the protagonist maintains his attitude. So what's going to become of him, you ask.

The original source was Robert Shaw's 1967 novel, but it got adapted as a play in 1968, and the movie does feel more like a play. Quite a few things in the movie catch you off guard. In the end, it's a fine piece of work. A number of the scenes have a Hitchcock level of suspense. Definitely worth seeing.

I have viewed this movie many times in a poor quality VHS and now finally on DVD. It's difficult to explain the impact this movie can have and one viewing will not do it. It takes several viewings to really get the plot line. Millionaire Jewish entrepreneur Arthur Goldman rules his financial empire from a penthouse apartment overlooking Manhattan. Seemingly at the edge of sanity, Goldman holds forth on everyting from Papal edicts to ex-wives, from baseball to his family's massacre in a Nazi concentration camp. When Goldman remarks on a blue Mercedes continuously parked outside his building, Goldman's captive audience of assistant and chauffeur dismiss their boss' anxiety as encroaching paranoia. But each of Goldman's passionate, seemingly capricious ravings are transformed into a shocking, inadvertent deposition when Israeli agents capture Goldman and put him on trial as Adolph Dorf, the commandant of the concentration camp where Goldman's family was supposedly exterminated. In a trial scene of unrelenting intensity, crafts what the Detroit Free Press called "a white-hot lead performance," mutating from eccentric Goldman to sociopath Dorf and beyond. The riddle of Dorf's true identity becomes wrapped in an enigma of cunning self-treachery and single-minded obsession.

Nice film with magnificent performances about a successful Jew who is kidnapped by Mosad to respond his crimes .It deals with a wealthy Jewish businessman is suspected of being a Nazi war criminal.

This is a retelling of a novel written by actor Robert Shaw, from whose credits he requested his name be removed, and it was adapted as a play by prestigious playwright Harold Pinter who also carried it to stage at a Broadway theater. It works up a certain weight in its exploration of interesting issues as wrong accusation, guilt, responsability and forgiveness .This one belongs to American Film Theater in which it tries to embalm theatrical interpretations. Being freely based on the life of Otto Adolf Eichmann, the picture depicts the arrest and subsequent trial of the former Nazi by the Israelies accused of being a former Nazi concentration commandant. The film's title is derived from the fact that Eichmann sat in glass booth during his trial. And his character has been also adapted in The trial of Adolf Eichman 1997, Eichmann 2007 by Robert Young with Thomas Kretschmann, Franca Potente, Stephen Fry and Hanna Arendt 2012 by Margarette Van Trotta with Barbara Sukowa, Julia Jentsch, Jane McTeer. Cast and support cast provide terrific acting, but it still emerges as stagily verbose. Starring Maximiliam Schell gives a fabulous performance, he delivers a self-indulgent playing, though overacting, at times. He is welll accompanied by a pretty support cast as Louis Nettleton as a prosecutor, Luther Adler as a Judge, Leonard Cimino as a witness, Henry Brown, Lawrence Pressman, among others.

The motion picture with adequate cinematography by Sam Leavitt, being professionally directed by Arthur Hiller. He was a good professional with long career and life, as he died at 93. Hiller directed all kinds of genres with penchant for dramas and comedies. Including important films with the greatest actors, such as : The Americanization of Emily, The miracle of the white stallions, Promise her anything, Plaza suite, Man of La Mancha, The in-laws, Making Love, Tobruk, Silver streak, Nightwing, Author author, Teachers, Outrageous fortune, The lonely guy, See no evil hear no evil, Taking care of business, The babe, among others .Rating 7/10 .Well worth watching. Better than average