The Man in the Glass Booth

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.

This is my all-time favorite film. Maximilian Schell's Oscar-nominated performance completely dominates everything else on the screen. His long courtroom speeches are both disturbing and riveting. This is based on a book and play by Robert Shaw, who'll you'll probably remember as an actor from "The Sting", "Jaws" and "A Man for All Seasons". He disowned the movie version because of changes made. It has been too many years since I've seen the film, but I have re-read both book and play this month. I think a significant change to Col. Dorff's heritage was probably his objection. While I see his point, I think he overreacted. The film itself is a bit slow moving and everyone else is overpowered by Mr. Schell's breathtaking performance. But those flaws didn't kick in for me until I had seen the film a dozen or more times. It is a must see for Maximilian Schell's work- one of the greatest performances ever filmed.

The late Austrian actor Maximilian Schell first came to prominence in Hollywood in a supporting role as Nazi Marlon Brando's superior officer in the WWII epic THE YOUNG LIONS (1958); eventually, he became an international film star upon winning the Best Actor Oscar for Stanley Kramer's star-studded indictment of Nazi war crimes, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961) which, despite the sheer brilliance of his performance, was a somewhat surprising accolade given that he was competing against Paul Newman's iconic characterization of Fast Eddie Felson in THE HUSTLER! Interestingly enough, two of Schell's future Oscar nominations also dealt with Nazism, namely THE PEDESTRIAN (1973; which Schell also directed) and the film under review which garnered him his second Best Actor nod. Once again, he came against an iconic performance – Jack Nicholson's Randle P. McMurphy in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST – but lost out to it this time around; for the record, I have just came across the obscure GIVE'EM HELL HARRY which was the only Best Actor (James Whitmore) nominee from that same year which was still eluding me...

THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH is the fourth of 14 productions from The American Film Theater that I have watched – following Lindsay Anderson's IN CELEBRATION (1975), Guy Green's LUTHER (1974) and Joseph Losey's GALILEO (1975) which more than anything sought to record and preserve renowned pieces of theatre that often featured notable actors. In this case, Arthur Hiller transposes Robert Shaw's play about a Jewish industrialist afflicted by the delusion of being a notorious Nazi officer; this controversial ruse undeniably elicits comparisons with THE RULING CLASS (1971) where Peter O'Toole's mad aristocrat first thinks he is Jesus Christ but then morphs into Jack The Ripper by the end of the film! Curiously enough, Shaw initially objected to Edward Anhalt's s adaptation of his material and asked to have his name removed from the film's opening credits; after watching it, however, he relented and agreed to put it back on but by then it was too late and, indeed, his name does not appear anywhere in the film's opening credits, In any case, there seems to have been no animosity between the two multi-talented actors as Schell eventually directed Shaw in END OF THE GAME (1975) and they co-starred in Shaw's untimely swan song AVALANCHE EXPRESS (1979).

Given the film's title, source of origin and subject matter, I was under the impression that the film would be entirely taken up by the trial which, when it actually comes on in the second half Is indeed riveting – with concentration camp survivors brought face to face with their tormentor; members of the aggrieved public rising from their seats to beat him up following his latest animated diatribe; Schell's own doctors 'confirming' his identity until one of them (Leonard Cimino) breaks down and admits that the evidence was planted by Schell himself! In this part of the film, the presence of passionate prosecutor Lois Nettleton and sensible Magistrate Luther Adler also makes itself felt. While the film's central conceit – a wealthy Jew exposed publicly as a notorious Nazi but ultimately emerging as a delusional Jew - is a fascinating one, it is quite contrived; in fact, the surprisingly fanciful first half, set atop paranoid Schell's NYC apartment, is somewhat heavy-going and even hard-to-take at times. That the film ends up being a worthy one regardless is mostly due to bald-headed, bearded and bespectacled Schell's tour-de-force performance; interestingly, despite the actor's Germanic heritage, he would again impersonate Jews in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (1980; TV) and THE CHOSEN (1981). For the record, the copy I acquired suffers from lip-sync issues that can prove distracting at first but one grows accustomed to that fault before long.

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.

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.