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IMDbPro

Galileo

  • 1975
  • PG
  • 2h 25m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
790
YOUR RATING
Topol in Galileo (1975)
Galileo: I've Achieved Nothing
Play clip1:59
Watch Galileo: I've Achieved Nothing
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10 Photos
BiographyDrama

Galileo Galilei, his telescopic discoveries, support of Copernican theory, conflict with Catholic Church leading to imprisonment, and influence on future scientists like Newton and Kepler.Galileo Galilei, his telescopic discoveries, support of Copernican theory, conflict with Catholic Church leading to imprisonment, and influence on future scientists like Newton and Kepler.Galileo Galilei, his telescopic discoveries, support of Copernican theory, conflict with Catholic Church leading to imprisonment, and influence on future scientists like Newton and Kepler.

  • Director
    • Joseph Losey
  • Writers
    • Barbara Bray
    • Bertolt Brecht
    • Charles Laughton
  • Stars
    • Topol
    • Edward Fox
    • Colin Blakely
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    790
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Joseph Losey
    • Writers
      • Barbara Bray
      • Bertolt Brecht
      • Charles Laughton
    • Stars
      • Topol
      • Edward Fox
      • Colin Blakely
    • 13User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Galileo: I've Achieved Nothing
    Clip 1:59
    Galileo: I've Achieved Nothing

    Photos9

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    Top cast56

    Edit
    Topol
    Topol
    • Galileo Galilei
    Edward Fox
    Edward Fox
    • Cardinal Inquisitor
    Colin Blakely
    Colin Blakely
    • Priuli
    Georgia Brown
    Georgia Brown
    • Ballad Singer's Wife
    Clive Revill
    Clive Revill
    • Ballad Singer
    Margaret Leighton
    Margaret Leighton
    • Elderly Court Lady
    John Gielgud
    John Gielgud
    • The Old Cardinal
    Michael Gough
    Michael Gough
    • Sagredo
    Michael Lonsdale
    Michael Lonsdale
    • Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)
    Richard O'Callaghan
    Richard O'Callaghan
    • Fulganzio
    Tim Woodward
    Tim Woodward
    • Ludovico Marsili
    Judy Parfitt
    Judy Parfitt
    • Angelica Sarti
    John McEnery
    John McEnery
    • Federzoni
    Patrick Magee
    Patrick Magee
    • Cardinal Bellarmin
    Mary Larkin
    Mary Larkin
    • Virginia
    Iain Travers
    • Andrea Sarti (boy)
    Tom Conti
    Tom Conti
    • Andrea Sarti (man)
    James Aubrey
    James Aubrey
    • Monk-Scholar
    • Director
      • Joseph Losey
    • Writers
      • Barbara Bray
      • Bertolt Brecht
      • Charles Laughton
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews13

    6.5790
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    Featured reviews

    6henry8-3

    Galileo

    Joseph Losey's adaptation of Bertold Brecht's controversial play about the famous philosopher and scientist. The story focusses on Galileo's run in with the Catholic Church, who whilst largely accepting his scientific evidence on a number of issues, particularly that the Earth was not a stationary object at the centre of the universe, were not prepared for it to be accepted truth. They simply could not allow this scientific fact to interfere in the order of things, particularly in their view the undermining of god and the church first and foremost.

    An exception cast has been pulled together to tell the story and it is an absorbing tale, essentially delivered as a play with no exterior shots to be seen. The cast are universally good, although, I was never entirely convinced by Topol in the lead.
    8JuguAbraham

    Losey captures the essential Brecht

    Bertolt Brecht is a great playwright. And Joseph Losey (during his self exile in the UK) captured the essential Brecht (originally in German) in English, complete with the choruses. The performances and the subject make you love this forgotten film that is laudable for its contribution to the world of evolved theater. It also presents Topol, Edward Fox, Michel Lonsdale and Judy Parfitt in memorable roles.
    7boblipton

    Martyrs Of Science

    Galileo wheedles, cajoles, and instructs in this filmed stage version of Bertold Brecht's play, as translated by Charles Laughton.

    Director Joseph Losey had directed its Broadway debut eight years earlier, and it's offered as a stage show, albeit with cinematographer Michael Rand offering a variety of angles and editor Reginald Beck trying his hardest.

    It's one of those shows that is a hagiography, as Topol ages and looks weary, but maintains his childlike wonder. It's got some stage luminaries giving restrained performances -- except for John Gielgud as an elderly, ranting cardinal. The great charm of this production is, of course, seeing these fine stage actors in their natural medium. With Edward Fox, Margaret Leighton, Clive Revill and Tom Conti.
    sundar-2

    A bland film

    See the Plot Summary to know what this film is about.

    Topol with his impatient manner of speech is somewhat insufferable as Galileo. But then, by all accounts, the real Galileo had a touch of arrogance in him and was not very likeable. This movie does not capture the horrors of pre-Industrial Europe, when religious authorities could inflict the most fiendish tortures on any victims they chose. This movie could have made a statement about religion run amok in the social milieu of the day. Instead, it is a bland film lacking dramatic tension. It is a movie adapted from a play and it shows. There is even a chorus of choirboys which is totally out of place. However, there are few bio-pics of great scientists, so this one is worth watching once.
    8bkoganbing

    Delayed by HUAC

    This fine work by Berthold Brecht and directed by Joseph Losey is brought to us by about a 20 year delay period. That was because of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the blacklisting of both.

    Brecht kind of, sort of made his case for HUAC as he went back to East Germany where he was acclaimed a cultural icon. Joe Losey took off for Great Britain where he worked for the most part until his death.

    You can see why the mossbacks of HUAC thought Galileo by Brecht was highly subversive stuff. Question church authority and by implication the state because religion was established. No more so than in Italy and its many Catholic city/states.

    Galileo Galilei scientist/engineer was a popular well respected fellow who got a hold of a spyglass invented by the Dutchman Hans Lippershey and saw the possibilities for it in astronomy. Already a believer in the theory advanced by Copernicus about the sun being a center of the universe. The telescope allowed Galileo to observe and make more findings. If the Earth is the center of things than what are those bodies orbiting Jupiter for instance?

    The Roman Catholic now engaged in a counter attack against all that Protestant type heresy took a dim view of this stuff. Galileo got vigorously questioned for these theories.

    Israeli actor Topol plays the bluff and hearty Galileo. He's a man used to his creature comforts and not built for martyrdom as is shown in the play.

    The fine cast Losey assembles includes Clive Revill and Georgia Brown as cabaret singers, Michael Lonsdale as Pope Urban, and Edward Fox as the Cardinal Inquisitor. John Gielgud has a great cameo as a cardinal who is beside himself with indignation that anyone would question the workings of the universe, their universe.

    Galileo's epitaph despite his failure to martyr himself is the best of all. No amount of proclamations from the state or the pulpit will change the way the universe works.

    That IS subversive stuff.

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    Related interests

    Ben Kingsley, Rohini Hattangadi, and Geraldine James in Gandhi (1982)
    Biography
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Joseph Losey had also directed the original Broadway production of "Galileo," 28 years previously.
    • Goofs
      After the crier announces Galileo Galilei's recantation, a chessboard is seen on the left side of the screen: all the pieces are upright. As Galileo enters, a new shot shows that one of the pieces has been toppled. In the next shot, all the pieces are again upright (1:57:50-1:58:10).
    • Quotes

      Andrea Sarti: [upon Galileo's recantation] Unhappy is the land that has no heroes.

      Galileo Galilei: Incorrect. Unhappy is the land that *needs* a hero.

    • Connections
      Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #23.1 (2010)

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    FAQ15

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 27, 1976 (United Kingdom)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Galileo Galilei
    • Filming locations
      • Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK(Studio)
    • Production companies
      • Cinévision Ltée
      • The American Film Theatre
      • The Ely Landau Organization Inc.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 25m(145 min)
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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