View source for The Man in the Glass Booth

{{Short description|1975 film by Arthur Hiller}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Man in the Glass Booth
| image          = Manintheglassbooth.jpg
| caption        = Original film poster.
| director       = [[Arthur Hiller]]
| producer       = [[Ely Landau]]
| based_on       = {{ubl|
* {{based on|''The Man in the Glass Booth''<br>(1968 play)|[[Robert Shaw (actor)|Robert Shaw]]}}
* {{based on|(1967 novel)|Robert Shaw}}
}}
| screenplay     = [[Edward Anhalt]]
| starring       = {{ubl|[[Maximilian Schell]]|[[Lois Nettleton]]|[[Lawrence Pressman]]}}
| music          = 
| cinematography = [[Sam Leavitt (cinematographer)|Sam Leavitt]]
| editing        = [[David Bretherton]]
| studio         = American Express Film<ref name="afi" /><br>Ely Landau Organization<ref name="afi" /><br>Cinevision<ref name="afi" />
| distributor    = [[American Film Theatre]]
| released       = {{Film date|1975|01|27}}
| runtime        = 117 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}

'''''The Man in the Glass Booth''''' is a 1975 American [[drama film]] directed by [[Arthur Hiller]] and starring [[Maximilian Schell]], [[Lois Nettleton]] and [[Lawrence Pressman]]. The screenplay was adapted from [[Robert Shaw (actor)|Robert Shaw]]'s 1967 novel and 1968 stage play, both of the same name. The film was produced and released as part of the [[American Film Theatre]], which adapted theatrical works for a subscription cinema series.

The plot was inspired by the kidnapping and trial of the German [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]-''[[Obersturmbannführer]]'' [[Adolf Eichmann]], who was one of the major organizers of the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]].<ref>[http://movies.tvguide.com/the-man-in-the-glass-booth/review/105502 ''The Man In The Glass Booth''], in: TV Guide</ref> It centers on Arthur Goldman (Schell), a wealthy Jewish American businessman who is accused of being a fugitive Nazi war criminal, seemingly in a case of [[mistaken identity]], and taken to Jerusalem to face trial for genocide.

The film was released on January 27, 1975. Schell was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Academy Award]] and a [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy|Golden Globe Award]] for Best Actor for his performance. [[Edward Anhalt]]'s screenplay was nominated for a [[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]].

== Plot ==
Arthur Goldman is [[Jewish]] and a [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] [[Extermination camps in the Holocaust|death camp]] survivor. Now a rich industrialist, he lives in luxury in a [[Manhattan]] high-rise. He banters with his assistant Charlie, often shocking him with his outrageousness and irreverence about aspects of Jewish life. One day, Israeli [[Mossad]] agents kidnap Goldman and take him to Israel for trial on charges of being a Nazi war criminal. Goldman's trial forces his accusers to face not only his presumed guilt, but theirs as well.

At the end, it appears that Goldman is neither a Nazi nor a war criminal after all; he falsified the dental records which the Israelis used to identify him to bring about the trial. 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 stress shatters his mental health and he becomes [[catatonic]]. He then relives in his mind a Nazi [[firing squad]] execution and dies as those in the courtroom whisper the Jewish prayer, {{lang|he-Latn|[[Shema Yisrael|"Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad"]]}} ("Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD is one"). He is posed inside the glass box unmistakably as Christ was on the cross. 

==Cast==
Credits from the ''[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]'':<ref name="afi">{{Cite web |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55476-THE-MAN-IN-THE-GLASS-BOOTH?cxt=filmography |access-date=2025-10-02 |website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref>
{{Castlist|
* [[Maximilian Schell]] as Arthur Goldman
* [[Lois Nettleton]] as Miriam Rosen
* [[Lawrence Pressman]] as Charlie Cohn
* [[Luther Adler]] as Presiding Judge
* [[Lloyd Bochner]] as Dr. Churchill
* [[Robert H. Harris]] as Dr. Weisburger
* [[Henry Brown (actor)|Henry Brown]] as Jack
* Norbert Schiller as Dr. Schmidt
* [[Berry Kroeger]] as Joachim Berger
* [[Leonardo Cimino]] as Dr. Alvarez
* [[Connie Sawyer]] as Mrs. Levi
* Leonidas Ossettynski as Samuel Weinberg
* David Nash as Rami
* Martin Berman as Uri
* Richard Rasof as Moshe
* Sy Kramer as Rudin
* Allyson Ames as Alita Poe
* Laura Campbell as Gwen Purfield
* Jennifer Lee as Lauren Shavelson
* Jackie Stolof as Lady Bea Jutland
* Diana Walker as Doretta O'Reilly}}

== Original play ==
{{Infobox play
| name       = The Man in the Glass Booth
| writer     = [[Robert Shaw]]
| genre      = [[Drama (film and television)|Drama]]
| subject    = The trial of an alleged Nazi war criminal
| premiere   = July 27, 1968
| place      = [[St Martin's Theatre]],<br>London
| orig_lang  = English
|ibdb_id=3412}}

''The Man in the Glass Booth'' was originally a novel and then stage play by Shaw. The novel was the second in a trilogy of novels, preceded by ''[[The Flag (novel)|The Flag]]'' (1965), and followed by ''[[A Card from Morocco]]'' (1969). 

The original production was directed by [[Harold Pinter]] and starred [[Donald Pleasence]] and [[Lawrence Pressman]]. It opened on the [[West End theatre|West End]] in [[London]] at the [[St Martin's Theatre|St. Martin's Theatre]] in July 1967,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Production of The Man in the Glass Booth {{!}} Theatricalia |url=https://theatricalia.com/play/fe3/the-man-in-the-glass-booth/production/101f |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=theatricalia.com}}</ref> before opening on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] at the [[Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre|Royal Theatre]] in September 1968.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=League |first=The Broadway |title=The Man in the Glass Booth – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-man-in-the-glass-booth-3412 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241202185742/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-man-in-the-glass-booth-3412 |archive-date=2024-12-02 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=www.ibdb.com |language=en}}</ref> Pleasence and Pressman both reprised their West End roles on Broadway and Pressman eventually became the only actor to reprise his role on film.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=www.haroldpinter.org - The Man in the Glass Booth |url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/directing/directing_glass.shtml |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=www.haroldpinter.org}}</ref> 

The Broadway production was nominated for three [[Tony Awards]] - [[Tony Award for Best Play|Best Play]], [[Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play|Best Direction of a Play]], and [[Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play|Best Actor in a Play]] (for Pleasence).<ref name=":0" /> Pleasence won a [[Drama Desk Awards|Drama Desk Award]] for his performance.<ref name=":0" /> 

== Production ==

=== Writing ===
While ''The Man in the Glass Booth'' was being developed for the screen, Shaw disapproved of the screenplay and had his name removed from the credits.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/55476|title=AFI{{!}}Catalog|website=catalog.afi.com|language=en|access-date=2018-05-17}}</ref> Shaw viewed the completed film before its release and asked to have his name reinstated. In 2002, director [[Arthur Hiller]] related Shaw's objection to the screenplay and his change of heart,

<blockquote>When we decided that we needed more emotions in the film and leaned it towards that, we tried, obviously, to be honest to Robert Shaw, to keep that intellectual game-playing, but to create more of an emotional environment. And Robert Shaw became very disturbed. He did not like the idea and indeed, if you will watch the film, you will see that his name does not appear in the credits, nor does it even say, "based on the play, ''The Man in the Glass Booth''" because he wouldn't let us do it. He just didn't like the idea until he saw the film. Then he phoned [[Edward Anhalt|Eddie Anhalt]], the screenwriter, and congratulated him because he thought it was—just kept the tone he wanted and did it so well. And he phoned [[Mort Abrahams]] the Executive Producer to see if he could get his name put on the final credits. But it was too late to restore his name, all the prints were all made.<ref>''The Man In The Glass Booth''; Transcription of interview with Arthur Hiller; 2003 DVD release; KINO VIDEO.</ref></blockquote>

=== Filming ===
The film was shot for $1 million, with 10 days of rehearsals and 23 days of filming in the summer of 1974. The exteriors of Goldman's penthouse were filmed atop the [[Crown Building (Manhattan)|Crown Building]] in New York City, where the roof of the building was dressed to look like a balcony and garden. Interiors were filmed at the 20th Century Fox Studios in [[Century City]], California.

== Release ==

=== Home video ===
The film was released as a region 1 DVD in 2003 and again in 2008.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=The Man in the Glass Booth |date=2008 |medium=DVD (region 1) |publisher=Kino International Corporation |oclc=840699642}}</ref> A Blu-ray version was released in the US in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |last=Orndorf |first=Brian |date=June 4, 2017 |title=The Man in the Glass Booth Blu-ray Review |url=http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Man-in-the-Glass-Booth-Blu-ray/178039/#Review |work=Blu-ray.com}}</ref>

==Reception==

=== Critical response ===
[[Roger Ebert]] wrote "Arthur Hiller's film for the AFT is a very good one, although it suffers from one basic problem. By its very nature, film tends to be a realistic medium, photographing the outsides of real world. Robert Shaw's play, even as adapted and made somewhat more realistic by Edward Anhalt, is nevertheless a symbolic and mannered one".<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Robert |title=The Man in the Glass Booth |date=January 27, 1975 |work=The Chicago Sun-Times|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-man-in-the-glass-booth-1975}}</ref> [[Raymond Benson]] wrote in 2009, "The film is a riveting, first-rate drama featuring an Oscar-nominated, tour-de-force performance by Schell".<ref name=Benson>{{cite web|title=Remember...The American Film Theater |first=Raymond |last=Benson |authorlink=Raymond Benson |date=April 16, 2009 |work=[[Cinema Retro]]|url=http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/3150-REMEMBER...THE-AMERICAN-FILM-THEATRE!.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601121955/http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?%2Farchives%2F3150-REMEMBER...THE-AMERICAN-FILM-THEATRE%21.html |archivedate=2013-06-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Awards and nominations ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Award
! Year
! Category
! Nominee(s)
!Result
|-
| [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]
| [[48th Academy Awards|1976]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| rowspan="2" |[[Maximilian Schell]]
|{{nom}}
|-
|[[Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Award]]
|[[33rd Golden Globe Awards|1976]]
|[[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama|Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama]]
|{{nom}}
|-
|[[Writers Guild of America Award]]
|1976
|[[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]]
|[[Edward Anhalt]]
|{{nom}}
|}
== See also ==
* [[List of American films of 1975]]
* [[List of Holocaust films]]
* "[[Duet (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)|Duet]]", an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' inspired by this film

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0073345|The Man in the Glass Booth}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=82642}}
* {{AFI film|55476}}
* {{ibdb title|3412|The Man in the Glass Booth}}

{{Arthur Hiller}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Man In The Glass Booth, The}}
[[Category:1975 drama films]]
[[Category:1975 films]]
[[Category:American drama films]]
[[Category:Films based on British novels]]
[[Category:American films based on plays]]
[[Category:Films about the aftermath of the Holocaust]]
[[Category:Films about World War II war crimes trials]]
[[Category:Films directed by Arthur Hiller]]
[[Category:Films produced by Ely Landau]]
[[Category:Films set in Israel]]
[[Category:Films set in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Films based on adaptations]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Edward Anhalt]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:American legal drama films]]