The Man in the Glass Booth (1975)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Arthur Hiller

Writer:

Edward Anhalt (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The kidnapping . . . . The masquerade . . . The murder trial . . . . Perhaps the most suspenseful shocker of our time.

Plot:

Arthur Goldman is a rich Jewish industrialist, living in luxury in a Manhattan high-rise. He banters with his assistant Charlie...

Plot Keywords:

Jewish | Nazi | Trial | Mossad | X Rayed Skeleton

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Maximilian Schell	...	Arthur Goldman
Lois Nettleton	...	Miriam Rosen
Lawrence Pressman	...	Charlie Cohn
Luther Adler	...	Presiding Judge
Lloyd Bochner	...	Churchill
Robert H. Harris	...	Dr. Weisberg
Henry Brown	...	Jack Arnold
Norbert Schiller	...	Dr. Schmidt
Berry Kroeger	...	Joachim Berger
Leonardo Cimino	...	Dr. Alvarez
Connie Sawyer	...	Mrs. Levi
Leonidas Ossetynski	...	Samuel
David Nash	...	Rami
Martin Berman	...	Uri
Richard Rasof	...	Moshe

Also Known As:

Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth (Australia) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinévision Ltée

Trivia:

In a 2005 interview, Arthur Hiller confirmed that Robert Shaw asked that his name be put back on the film after he saw the finished movie. However, by that time, all prints had been made and it was too late to include his name in the titles.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The X-ray that the attorney holds up is supposedly the defendant's shoulder. In fact it shows a woman's pelvis, with an IUD in place.

Movie Connections:

References Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Outstanding film

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.