Review – The Man in the Glass Booth

Though I’ve enjoyed Robert Shaw’s work as an actor – particularly as one of the villains in From Russia With Love and of course the quintessential Quint – his writing (if this script is any indication) is strictly amateur hour. He starts with an Eichmann-like abduction and trial, which should have supplied plenty of fodder for solid storytelling. But the production swiftly becomes mired in implausible drama and ludicrous speechmaking. The first act is insanely boring, composed of the inane ramblings of an old, rich, Jewish man (Maximillian Schell) who is seized by Israeli commandos and dragged off to stand trial as a Nazi concentration camp officer. His hearing drags on and on, the usual horror-filled testimony punctuated by the booth occupant’s absurd explanations for the Holocaust. And don’t even get me started on where it ends up. Actual footage from Eichmann’s trial was a million times more compelling than this weak, over-dramatized nonsense. What a tremendous disappointment. See if desperate