Customer Reviews

The Man in the Glass Booth

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While watching the 2001 release THE BELIEVER, it recalled to mind THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH. Though I haven't viewed the latter movie in over a decade, the power of Maximilian Schell's performance puts it on my list of "Most Memorable Films", though perhaps my memory of the details is fuzzy.

Schell is Arthur Goldman, a wealthy Jewish industrialist living in a Manhattan highrise apartment. Goldman is apparently a recluse, who deals with the world through his personal assistant, Charlie (Lawrence Pressman). At first, Arthur seems like a regular guy, albeit expressing outrageous views on Jews and Judaism, but it becomes apparent to the audience that the man has serious issues when he's seen burning the skin under his upper arm with a candle flame. Then, the audience and Charlie are dumbfounded when an Israeli hit team breaks in, kidnaps Goldman, and carries him off to trial in Israel as a war criminal - a former Nazi concentration camp commandant, Adolph Dorf. Goldman insists pretrial that he be allowed to wear a full SS uniform. For his own protection, then, he faces his accusers as THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH. Bullet-proof glass, that is, considering the emotional volatility of the charges to camp survivors that are present.

Schell received Oscar and Golden Globe Best Actor nominations for his depiction of a man so tortured by guilt that he would go to extremes to exorcise it. Personal guilt for having survived the Holocaust; collective Jewish guilt for not having fought back. Taking on the persona of Dorf, Goldman gleefully mocks the Jews for their meekness as they went to slaughter. The sad end to the trial is one of the most emotionally compelling scenes I've ever watched.

THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH was one of the first VHS tapes I purchased back in 1979 when I bought my first video recorder. (Both the tape and the recorder were MUCH more expensive back then!) Do yourself a favor and rent this film (along with THE BELIEVER) for a thought-provoking double feature on the psyche-twisting nature of guilt.

Thirty years ago, under the aegis of the "American Film Theatre," Arthur Hiller directed a movie based on a novel by writer, director and actor Robert Shaw (famous for his performance in "Jaws" as the fisherman who came to a bad end in the mouth of a great white shark). Whatever doubts one has about the plausibility of an enormously wealthy entrepreneur, whose schizophrenia tears him between the morally opposite identities of a sadistic concentration camp commandant, and a Jewish holocaust survivor, Maximilian Schell as "The Man In the Glass Booth," gives a riviting and explosive performance. The story is divided into two acts; the first half taking place in Arthur Goldman's luxurious Manhattan penthouse apartment, and the second half in an Israeli courtroom. The final courtroom scene, when Goldman's true identity is revealed, is astonishing.

Yes, yes I know all the fulminations comparing this film to the play. I haven't seen the play nor read the novel, so I'm judging purely by the film, which I rate at the very highest. OF COURSE the movie is "contrived" as Leonard Maltin's movie guide has it, that's what fables do (talking wolves, trees that sing, clouds that weep and preach a moral), they present contrived situations in order to elucidate. This psycho-fable unearths the ghoulish byplay of fire and ice in all of us, Jew or Bosch, whichever side of the barbed wire of things you stand. Schell's acting is superlative, and the LANGUAGE is English at its nightmare-wittiest. To summarize: you can't like "Doctor Strangelove" and scorn this film: they're two sides of the same rifle butt.

Dr. Theodore Voelkel
Winchester Mass.

That Maximilian Schell's outstanding acting performance in "The Man in the Glass Booth" did not garner a deserved Oscar is only made understandable by the fact that Jack Nicholson was honored for his portrayal of McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Schell was mesmerizing in his portrayal of bombastically eccentic and fabulously wealthy Jewish architect Arthur Goldman. Ensconsed in a palatial and luxuriously appointed penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park, Schell is served by his dutiful adminstrative assistant Charlie Cohn played by Lawrence Pressman.

An astute businessman, Schell is plagued by images from his past which included internment in a concentration camp. With Schell's flaky personality firmly established, the plot takes an unforseen twist. Schell is abducted by Israeli agents who spirit him back to Israel to stand trial as a notorious Nazi war criminal. Alleged to be Colonel Dorff, a monster responsible for murderous, heinous crimes against humanity, Schell plead his case acting in his own defense.

Based on a successful play written by talented and tempestuous actor Robert Shaw, "The Man in the Glass Booth" forces us to confront the reality of the lives permanently altered by the horrors of the Holocaust.

I had no idea that this film is finally available, and I'm delighted. I'll buy it at once. I saw it in its debut showing -- where i was living at that time (1975) while I was in college, and found it extraordinarily moving. I'm an appreciator of Maxillian Schell and found him at the top of his form in this film. In fact, I've searched for this film (call me crazy) every 3 or 4 years for the last 32 years in video rental stores, stores selling videos, and then where DVDs are sold. So I'm stunned it is finally out. That year (1975) the other standout film in the American Film Theatre production series (to which I had a subscription) was an avant guarde film that became a bit of a cult classic, and couldn't be more different, "The Maids."

The American Film Theater created many magnificent plays on film, for a select audience. It was a low-budget effort, for most of them, but "The Man in the Glass Booth" had appeared often enough in the right places to make it eligible for Oscar recognition. Indeed, this remarkable, talky play had slightly higher values, as well as the spot-on, reliable direction of Arthur Hiller (The Miracle Worker), and an unflinching, magnificent performance from Maximillian Schell. Certainly, it's hard to get a grasp on this character, and after a while you just think he's an eccentric nut-case. I don't want to give away too much (I never saw it before I rented it), but suffice it to say that there has rarely been a display of power and crazy; and, later, grief, despair and vulnerability and personal redemption. It all relies on Mr. Schell, a centered performance of total conviction. Play author Robert Shaw, best known for "Jaws", but a well-seasoned actor in his own right, was against the filming of his play. After seeing the result, he put his name back in the credits.I was pleased to see such creative ability captured on film. Max's surprise Oscar win in 1961 (Judgment at Nuremberg) was not a fluke (later nommed for "Julia" in 1977). His loss in '75 to Nicholson in "Cuckoo's Nest" could be debated (it was his turn to win), but the Oscar nom was enough to make me want to see it, and maybe others will feel the same. Maximillian Schell's performance here is what may be considered a "tour de force", and, in this case, I think it truly applies. Bravo to all! Let's not forget the thoughtful presence of Lawrence Pressman, another reason to cherish this piece.

I saw this movie when it first appeared in Australia around 1975 and it has lost nothing of its excitement and magic. Maximilian Schell's performance is outstanding - I cannot understand why he didn't win an Oscar for it. All of the American Film Theatre productions are of a standard to which other movie-makers should aspire. This is highly recommended. I shall be purchasing others in the series.

An absolutely riveting performance by Maximillian Schell. By the time this movie ended I was emotionally spent. A movie not to be missed!

OK, Jack Nicholson did a nice little job in Cuckoo's Nest---his usual scenery munching, overdone performance. However, if fairness truly prevailed in 1975 and Max Schell was a cozy denizen of mainstream Hollywood, he would have taken the Oscar hands down for this remarkable and powerful tour de force of acting brilliance. Arthur Hiller crafts a minimalist piece of cinematography that features acting---not moviemaking gimmickry. This film is a true sleeper which seems to finally and deservedly be waking up 28 years after its creation.

Maximillian Schell stars in an Oscar nominated role about a Jewish Industrialist being whisked away to Israel to be tried as a Nazi War Criminal.It's a captivating and stunning performance!!