The Man in the Glass Booth
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| The Man in the Glass Booth | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Arthur Hiller |
| Produced by | Ely A. Landau |
| Written by | Edward Anhalt |
| Starring | Maximilian Schell Lois Nettleton Lawrence Pressman |
| Cinematography | Sam Leavitt |
| Release date(s) | 1975 |
| Running time | 117 mins |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Man in the Glass Booth is a 1975 film adaptation of the novel and stage play by Robert Shaw (uncredited) about a Jewish man who is accused of being a Nazi war criminal.
Arthur Goldman is Jewish and a Nazi death camp survivor -- now a rich industrialist, he lives in luxury in a Manhattan high-rise. He banters with his assistant Charlie, often shocking Charlie with his outrageousness and irreverence about aspects of Jewish life. One day, Israeli secret agents burst in and kidnap Goldman and take him to Israel for trial on charges of being not a Holocaust survivor, but a Nazi war criminal. Goldman's trial forces his accusers to face not only his presumed guilt -- but their own.[citations needed]
At the end it appears that Goldman falsified the dental records which the Israelis used to identify him, in order to bring about the trial. He is not a Nazi, and possibly not Jewish. His motives seem to have been to confront Israel with his own ideas. When the deception is revealed by the Israeli prosecutor, Goldman is left standing in the trial court's bulletproof glass box, a broken man.
The film starred Maximilian Schell, Lois Nettleton, Lawrence Pressman and Lloyd Bochner, and was directed by Arthur Hiller. It was adapted by Edward Anhalt from the novel and play by Robert Shaw (who requested that his name not appear in the film's credits - but later changed his mind too late to be added) and released as part of the American Film Theatre series. The plot was derived from the actual events surrounding the kidnapping and trial of Adolf Eichmann.
Schell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.
[edit] See also
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