Galileo Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Galileo Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 28, 2019

Mention the name of Topol to virtually any film fan, asking them to cite any role in a film he played, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to get a quick and decisive answer of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. The IMDb currently lists 25 performances by Topol as an actor (including some television stuff), which is certainly not a huge number by any stretch, and so that may account at least in part for that lack of diversity in answers, though Fiddler on the Roof was such a defining role for the actor that it’s probably understandable that Topol has never really been able to escape its shadow. He may not be able to escape the shadow of having played Galileo, either, though in a somewhat "equal but opposite" way, since his performance in this American Film Theatre offering of Bertolt Brecht's vaunted play has been fairly controversial since the time of the film's original release in 1975 as the premiere offering of AFT's second (and, sadly, last) season. This is one of the more blatantly theatrical presentations of the American Film Theatre properties, one that doesn't shirk from actually establishing its very theatricality from the get go, with scenes of the set, cameras and crews underlying the opening credits. Other presentational aspects, including interstitial musical elements and several monologues delivered straight to the camera, tend to highlight this same theatricality.

Topol received some critical brickbats at the time of Galileo’s release for supposedly offering a kind of hambone interpretation of the famed inventor and scientist, but when one remembers that this version of Bertolt Brecht’s play is based on the “Americanized” iteration that Brecht fashioned with Charles Laughton, who himself starred as Galileo in the stateside theatrical presentations back in the 1940s. Laughton was certainly not known for his restraint in performance, and one way or the other, there’s simply no denying the fact that the play itself tends to treat both Galileo and (arguably especially) some of the supporting characters as almost opera buffa types, so that Topol’s often hyperbolic approach really didn’t strike me personally as out of touch with the tone of the overall piece.

Galileo is in fact depicted as something of a scoundrel from the get go in Brecht’s version of events. When a prospective student tells him about a “queer tube with lenses” that magnifies things it’s pointed at which this young man has just seen in Amsterdam, Galileo fabricates one himself and then passes it off as his own invention to the Senate of Venice, in the hopes of upping his salary as a mathematics professor at the local university. The ruse works — for a few days, anyway, until a ship laden with telescopes from the Netherlands arrives in port. In the meantime, though, Galileo has started pointing his “queer tube with lenses” toward the sky, and while putatively aimed at the heavens, all hell of course breaks loose when Galileo starts insisting that thousands of years of teaching about the universe, astronomy, and, not so coincidentally, religion (in terms of the Earth’s — and Man’s — supposed focal supremacy in the eyes of the Creator) have been disastrously wrong.

Galileo may rely on Topol for the bulk of its dramatic energy, but the film is stuffed to its veritable gills with an assortment of starry supporting players. John Gielgud really hams it up (far more than Topol, in my estimation, anyway) as a Cardinal refusing to bow to the idea the he (or at least Man) is not the center of the universe, and Edward Fox and Patrick Magee also essay Catholic officials who are involved in one way or the other with Galileo’s increasingly fraught relationship with the church. Tom Conti portrays the adult version of a little boy seen in the first scene of the movie as an early acolyte of Galileo’s. There’s also what amounts to a music hall performance by real life married couple Clive Revill and Georgia Brown, a pair who became famous for their portrayals of Fagin and Nancy in the original Broadway version of Oliver!. There are other interstitial musical moments offered by a trio of boys who introduce various scenes with some charming quasi- “historical” vocal music by Hanns Eisler.

Galileo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Galileo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Classics, an imprint of Kino Lorber, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is one of the more pleasing American Film Theatre releases that I've reviewed, but there are still some issues videophiles may want to be aware of. The palette looks a bit wan and/or pallid quite a bit of the time, and flesh tones can tip toward an almost violet or ruddy pink tone on occasions. There are also some noticeable variances in densities and general warmth of the palette, with a few individual scenes looking at least relatively desaturated when compared to the rest of the presentation. There's rather good detail overall, with textures like a straw hat or brocaided white robe that Galileo wears at various points looking precise and natural. There's intermittent if fairly small amounts of damage on display, along with a brief but much more noticeable blemish that shows up on the right side of the frame for a few seconds at around the one hour mark during the April Fool's song and dance routine.

Galileo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Galileo features an LPCM 2.0 mono track which faithfully recreates the film's dialogue and kind of whimsical musical elements. Both the boys' trio and longer song and dance routine with Revill and Brown sound full bodied and commendably warm. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation, and there are no signs of age related damage in the form of distortion or dropouts.

Galileo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release repeats some of the supplements found on other Kino Blu-ray versions of the American Film Theatre series.

• Interview with Topol (480i; 20:49) stems from 2003 and has some interesting historical background on the play.


• Interview with Edie Landau (1080i; 26:16) is an extremely engaging sit down with Ely Landau's widow, with both general background information on their producing careers as well as some fun anecdotes about American Film Theatre's relatively brief existence.


• Ely Landau: In Front of the Camera (1080i; 6:30) is a perhaps unintentionally funny promotional piece that Landau evidently filmed to show subscribers at the end of the first season. Let's just say that it's obvious what a showman Landau was from even this brief piece.


• AFT Trailers

  Butley (1080i; 2:58)

  
  

  A Delicate Balance (1080i; 3:25)

  
  

  Galileo (1080i; 3:30)

  
  

  The Homecoming (1080i; 2:36)

  
  

  The Iceman Cometh (1080i; 2:38)

  
  

  Jacques Brel is Alive and Well. . . (1080i; 3:26)

  
  

  Lost in the Stars (1080i; 2:10)

  
  

  Luther (1080i; 2:31)

  
  

  The Maids (1080i; 3:06)

  
  

  The Man in the Glass Booth (1080i; 2:44)

  
  

  Rhinoceros (1080i; 1:55)

  
  

  Three Sisters (1080i; 2:43)

Galileo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are definitely some tonal imbalances in Galileo, but I personally wouldn't lay them all at Topol's feet, since it's obvious the play itself kind of wants to be almost slapstick-y at times. While probably not an example of "the facts, and just the facts, ma'am" historical accuracy, this is an often riveting piece that raises a whole host of interesting ideas and/or issues. Some folks have taken this film to task for supposedly downplaying Galileo's "surrender" to the forces of the Catholic Church, but I really have to say I think they're missing the point. While Brecht probably does hint at Marxist ideology, suggesting that the "evil" forces of Capitalism force Galileo to recant, the play also makes it clear that Galileo was playing a "long game", supposedly giving in even while he recognized his discoveries would ultimately triumph because they were, after all, based in truth. There are some occasional hurdles in the video department with this release, but audio is fine, and the interview with Topol quite engaging. Recommended.