Galileo

What do you do when you're faced with adapting a play by Bertolt Brecht for the big screen? You hire the man that directed the original American theatre production, of course. Director Joseph Losey's "Galileo" is not only the makings of a pragmatist, it understands the theatricality of Brecht's original text and lets the absolutely stacked cast do much of the heavy lifting. And better yet, it even does so without rationalizing the priggish Galileo Galilei as a hero. Out of the many productions funded by the American Film Theatre, this one is the gem to be rediscovered.

Based on Brecht's play "Life of Galileo," the film follows Galileo (Topol) living under the protection of the Venetian republic and finding that his salary is inadequate for the kind of work he's producing. After using the telescope to find that the commonly held theory that the Earth is at the center of the universe to be wrong, he decides to bring his talents to Florence, Italy. Naturally, the Roman Catholic Church isn't very fond of his theories and he finds himself in the middle of the Inquisition without his friends rushing to his aid.

Brecht's original text finds a worthy vessel in Topol, as he plays the famed mathematician with the exact kind of gumption and pride you'd expect from such a brilliant man. The famous actor was even courted multiple times by Joseph Losey to play the part before the production actually came to fruition under the American Film Theatre. The AFT funded many adaptations of famous works between 1973 to 1975 and they all were produced with low budgets and big casts, because that's how much the talent involved believed in the work. And who better to direct "Galileo" than Losey, a man who worked hand in hand with Brecht during the 1930s and 1950s.

Even though the film is less damning about Galileo's abandonment of science in the face of the Roman Catholic Church, it presents a strong male ego as it is swallowed whole by the religious industrial complex. Many of Galileo's most successful inventions were seen as lucrative financial successes, but he stretched the church's trust when he challenged their own beliefs with science. There is no separation of church and state in his world, because they operate as the governing body. There's a terrific aside in the film where a bunch of lower-class actors and musicians scramble around drunk and disorderly, because that's exactly where the upper castes want them. This particular sequence is filmed breathlessly by throwing the viewers into the muck of human degradation by vice.

There's a great interview with Topol on this new Blu-ray release by Kino Lorber, too. One that really gives historical context to the production that was kind of lost to time over the years. Pick this release up if you're a fan of Losey or genuinely want to see a great film adaptation of one of Brecht's greatest works. Other special features include:

� Interview with Edie Landau
� "Ely Landau: In Front of the Camera"
� Gallery of trailers for the American Film Theatre

"Galileo"
Kino Lorber Blu-ray
$29.95
https://www.kinolorber.com/product/galileo-dvd