As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, at 9 pm et, Tim Buntley will be hosting #ScarySocial! The movie? 2014’s Exists!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.
Happy birthday to Baltimore’s own Barry Levinson!
4 Shots From 4 Barry Levison Films
Diner (1982, directed by Barry Levison, DP: Peter Sova)
The Natural (1984, directed by Barry Levinson, DP: Caleb Deschanel)
Tin Men (1987, directed by Barry Levinson, DP: Peter Sova)
Avalon (1990, directed by Barry Levinson, DP: Allen Daviau)
That’s the question at the heart of the 1975 film, The Man In The Glass Booth.
When we first meet Arthur Goldman (Maximilian Schell), he is a wealthy businessman who lives in a Manhattan high-rise and who appears to rarely leave the safety of his penthouse. He is waited on by two assistants, Jack (Henry Brown) and Charlie (Lawrence Pressman), both of whom he talks to and treats as if they are members of his own family. His most frequent visitor is his psychiatrist, Dr. Weissburger (Robert H. Harris), who frequently stops by and asks Arthur if he’s been taking his medication.
Arthur Goldman is a man who loves to talk. Indeed, the first hour of the film feels almost like a nonstop monologue on the part of Goldman, with just occasional interjections from the other characters. Goldman was born in Germany. He talks about how, when he was young, he and his family were sent to a concentration camp and it was there that he witnessed the murder of his father by the camp’s sadistic commandant, Dorff. Dorff is one of the many Nazis who disappeared to South America at the end of the war.
When Goldman spots a car that always seems to be parked across the street from his building, he becomes paranoid. He says that he’s being watched and even suggests that Dorff has come to capture him. Instead, it turns out that Mossad come for him. As the agents explain it to Charlie, dental records prove that Arthur Goldman is actually Commandant Dorff. Goldman/Dorff is taken back to Israel to stand trial for his crimes.
Are Arthur Goldman and Dorff the same man? Once in Israel, Goldman tells anyone who will listen that he is Dorff and that he feels no guilt for his actions. He insists on being allowed to wear his SS uniform during the trial. Because of threats to his safety, a booth made of bullet-proof glass has been placed in the courtroom. As the trial commences, The Man in the Glass Booth continues to rant and rave and declare his guilt. However, the prosecutor (Lois Nettleton) comes to doubt that the man is who he says he is.
The Man In The Glass Booth is based on a novel and play by Robert Shaw. (The same year that The Man In The Glass Booth was released, Shaw played Quint in Jaws.) The film was produced as a part of an experiment called American Film Theatre, in which well-known plays would be adapted to film and then would be shown at 500 participating movie theaters in America. Each production would only be shown four times at each theater and subscriptions were sold for an entire “season” of films. It sounds like an interesting experiment and the type of thing that I would have enjoyed if I had been around back then. Today, of course, these productions would have just premiered on a streaming service.
The Man In The Glass Booth is a film that very much feels like a filmed play. There are only three locations — Goldman’s penthouse, his cell, and the courtroom where he is put on trial. The three act structure is very easy to spot. Maximilian Schell’s performance is also very theatrical. In fact, it’s so theatrical that, for the first hour or so, I found myself wishing that he would just stop talking for a few second or two. He was so dramatic and so flamboyant and so intentionally over-the-top that he became somewhat exhausting. But, during the second hour, I came to see that all of that “overacting” was actually setting up the film’s final act. Schell talks so much that, when he finally does find himself unable to explain himself, it’s a shocking moment and one that perfectly captures not just the evil of the Nazis and the Holocaust but also how the legacy of that evil lives on after the fall of the Third Reich and the deaths of the majority of the Holocaust’s perpetrators. At that moment, I realized that The Man In The Glass Booth never stopped speaking because silence would force him to confront the horrors of the past and the trauma, guilt, and uncertainty lurking in his subconscious. Maximilian Schell was nominated for an Oscar for his performance here and, by the end of the film, I totally understood why.
The Man In The Glass Booth requires some patience. Actually, it requires a lot of patience. However, those who stick with it will discover an intelligent and thought-provoking film about not only the horror of the past but also how those in the present deal with and rationalize those horrors. Though the film is a bit too stagey for its own good, it’s also one that sticks with you even after the curtain falls and the end credits roll.
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on Twitter and Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, at 10 pm et, we’ve got 1987’s The Barbarians!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
The Barbarians is available on Prime and Tubi! See you there!
108 years ago today, the actor Gregory Peck was born in San Diego, California. With his deep voice and his Lincolnesque profile, Peck was always best cast as a man of integrity who was willing to take a stand, even if it meant going against the majority. That made him ideal for the role of attorney Atticus Finch in 1962’s To Kill A Mockingbird.
Today’s scene that I love comes from that film. In this scene, Atticus makes his closing statement in the murder trial of Tom Robinson. While Atticus is speaking to the jury, Gregory Peck is speaking to the audience in the theater (and later, in front of the television). Reportedly, Peck only needed one take to perfectly deliver his speech.
4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.
Today, we wish a happy 98th birthday to the legendary filmmaker, Roger Corman! And that means that it’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Roger Corman Films
Not Of This Earth (1957, dir by Roger Corman, DP; John J. Mescall)
X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (1963, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Floyd Crosby)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Nicolas Roeg)
The Trip (1967, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Archie R. Dalzell)
The 2012 French film, Against Their Will, tells the story of two Alsatian teenagers during the Nazi occupation of France.
Lisette (Louise Herrero) is blonde and praised, by the Nazis, for her Aryan appearance. She appears to always have a positive attitude no matter what is going on. Lisette’s father is a collaborationist with the Nazis and Lisette publicly defends the German occupiers while privately disdaining them and the war. Her fiancé, Henri, has been conscripted into the army and has been sent to the Russian front. He writes her letters but, because he is now required to write only in German and not in the French that he and Lisette grew up with, Lisette cannot read them.
Alice (Flore Bonaventura) is dark-haired and therefore considered to be inferior to Lisette. This is despite the fact that Alice is fiercely intelligent and has been trained as a nurse. Alice’s father is a doctor who has been sent to a prison camp as punishment for treating a wounded British soldier. Alice is rebellious and, unlike Lisette, she has no compunctions about telling the Nazis exactly how she feels about them. When she is ordered to salute the Nazi flag, she lifts on arm in a stiff salute while using her other hand to extend her middle finger.
Lisette and Alice are amongst the many teenagers who are taken from their families and sent to a German indoctrination camp, where the strict and cruel Trudl (Julia Thrunau) tries to brainwash them. Lisette and Alice become unlikely friends as they are sent from the camp to work in a munitions factory and finally to serve in the Lebensborn, which was Germany’s eugenics program. While Alice works in the maternity ward, Lisette’s Aryan appearance attracts the attention of a cruel SS officer.
Against Their Will starts out strong, showing how even the most intelligent and independent of people can be forced to do things that go against their beliefs, whether as a result of brainwashing or just plain fear. The scenes in the indoctrination camp and later in the munitions factory show how the Nazi government treated both people in both Germany and the occupied territories as cannon fodder in their war with the Allies. Even during an air raid, Alice is ordered to continue working and, even though one mistake could lead to an explosion that would kill both them and several of their co-workers, Alice and Lisette are continually told to speed up when it comes to making the shells that will later be dropped on the Allies.
The film loses its way during the final third, largely because French girls — even ones from the German-influenced Alsace region of France — would never have been sent to the Lebensborn, which was meant to be exclusively for the breeding of “pure” Germans. By suggesting otherwise, the film unintentionally downplays the nationalism and the racism at the heart of the Nazi ideology. The film’s framing device — in which one of the women tells her story to her granddaughter — also feels a bit awkward and the film also makes a bit too much use of the stereotype of the good German, the one Nazi who is not quite as cruel as the others.
The first half of the film is a strong portrayal of life under an occupation, with both of the lead actresses giving good performances as two women who deal with their circumstances in very different ways. It’s just a shame that the film’s conclusion doesn’t live up to what came before it.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to actor and now-Oscar winner Robert Downey, Jr!
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1987’s Less Than Zero. Long before he played Iron Man, Downey played Julian, a young, self-destructive drug addict in Los Angeles. In this scene, Julian talks to his father, played by the great character actor, Nicholas Pryor.
Downey has said that playing Julian was not a huge stretch for him as he was dealing with his own growing drug addiction while making Less Than Zero. (Considering how heavy-handed the film was in its anti-drug message, it’s interesting that both Downey and Andrew McCarthy have talked about first experimenting with cocaine while making the film.) It’s been quite a turn-around for Downey, who went from being a poster boy for self-destruction to a beloved pop cultural icon. Just last month, Downey won an Oscar for his performance in Oppenheimer. He deserved every minute of the applause he received.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
On this date, 92 years ago, Andrei Tarkovsky was born in Russia. Before he was murdered by the KGB in 1986, Tarkovsky was responsible for some of the most intriguing and visually stunning films ever made. Today, we pay tribute to Tarkovsky’s art and his legacy. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Andrei Tarkovsky Films
Ivan’s Childhood (1962, dir by Andrei Tarkovsky, DP; Vadim Yusov)
Solaris (1972, dir by Andrei Tarkovsky, DP: Vadim Yusov)
Mirror (1975, dir by Andrei Tarkovsky, DP: Georgy Rerberg)
Stalker (1979, dir by Andrei Tarkovsky, DP: Alexander Knyazhinsky)
The 1942 film, Hitler — Dead or Alive, opens with two reporters visiting a prominent industrialist named Samuel Thornton (Russell Hicks). They are curious about a statue of three men that stands outside of Thornton’s mansion. Thornton proceeds to tell them the story of the three men.
In 1939, shortly after the Nazis invaded Poland and with the United States still pursuing a policy of neutrality, Thornton independently offered a million dollars to anyone who could bring Adolf Hitler to justice, dead or alive. Accepting the offer were three ex-cons who had just been released from Alcatraz, Steve Maschick (Ward Bond), Hans “The Dutch” Havermann (Warren Hymer), and Joe “The Book” Conway (Paul Fix). (As you may have guessed “The Book” is the intellectual of the group and yes, he wears glasses.) After Thornton makes clear to them that they’re going to have to make sure that they either capture or kill the real Hitler and not one of his many doubles, the three men join the Royal Canadian Air Force and, along with ace pilot Johnny Stevens (Bruce Edwards), they head for Germany.
Made for an obviously low-budget, this B-movie is a bit of a curiosity. It starts out as a comedy, with the three cooks cracking jokes about going straight and a lengthy sequence in which they try to work up the courage to parachute into Germany. Even after they get caught by the Gestapo and sent to a prison camp, much of the film is played for laughs. It’s not until they escape from the prison and Johnny sacrifices his life while shooting it out with the Nazis that the film starts to take a more serious turn. Steve, who starts out the film only caring about the money, comes to realize that there are more important things than just finding a quick payday.
Steve, Hans, and Joe end up at the mansion of Else von Brandt (Dorothy Tree), a secret member of the German resistance who is so trusted by the Nazis that Hitler himself (played by Bobby Watson) will be stopping by for a visit. By this point, Steve explains that he no longer cares about the money. As far as he’s concerned, he’s now working for free. After learning about all of the people who have been killed by Hitler, Steve is determined to stop him, even if it means sacrificing his own life.
There are still moments of humor to the found in the latter half of the film. When Steve, Hans, and Joe confront Hitler, one of the first things that they do is shave off his mustache. But the film’s conclusion is ultimately a very serious one and features one particular act of violence that I imagine stunned audiences in 1942. Having told the story of the three men and their mission to get Hitler, Samuel Thornton ends the film by saying that it doesn’t matter whether Germany is being led by Hitler or Hitler’s double. What matters is eradicating all of the Nazis from the Earth. In the end, the message of the film is a simple one. It’s okay to laugh. It’s okay to joke. But, in the end, everyone must do their part.
Hitler — Dead or Alive was made for an obviously low-budget and there are a few scenes, especially in the beginning, where the pace feels a bit off. Just as with Beast of Berlin, the film’s version of a German prison camp feels like it could have been lifted from a dozen American crime films. But Ward Bond is a strong hero and he delivers his lines with conviction, especially when he discusses why nothing is more important than stopping Hitler. He gets good support from both Paul Fix and Warren Hymer. The film may start out as a comedy but it’s anti-Hitler message comes through loud and clear. Seriously, how can you not appreciate a film about defeating the Nazis?
Through the Shattered Lens 