Luther

Rating:
Summary: Vivid portrayal of Lutheran church founder & theologian
Review: Released in 1973 and all but forgotten now, thank goodness for Kino International who has rescued and revived this film on DVD. 'Luther' is the filming of a stage play written by renowned British playwright John Osborne, who is perhaps better known today for his oft-filmed and staged play 'Look Back In Anger'. 'Luther' was first produced for stage in England during 1962 featuring a young Albert Finney in the lead. It was then produced for Australian television in 1964 and the following year Britain produced the play as part of its TV series 'Play Of The Month'. The presentation seen here is by the American Film Theatre and is an excellent quality production. The entirety of the movie takes place on a single stage which changes appearances and locales throughout that make it fascinating to watch. The scene will slowly sweep to a different area of the castle and a new period of Martin Luther's life as a monk, and later as a theologian, develops naturally. The only disconcerting effect I found was how performers would exit a scene through an open door; as they walk away from the scene they are enveloped by a bright white light becoming blurry and soon non-existent. It doesn't seem necessary but it also isn't a distraction that will bother the viewer.

Stacy Keach gives a memorable and vigorous interpretation of the brilliant theologian Martin Luther. Keach was considered a rising star when cast in the film and indeed he has become a recognizable face in television and films, being known mainly for his portrayal of Mickey Spillane's pulp detective 'Mike Hammer'. Curiously he is the lone American actor amongst a gathering of British stage and film actors that includes Leonard Rossiter, Patrick Magee, Judi Dench and Julian Glover. Rossiter may be recognizable to most American viewers as the title character of the British TV series 'The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin'; he's excellent as Brother Weinand, a fellow monk who befriends Luther in his early days at the monastery. Patrick Magee is equally as good as Luther's father who is disappointed his genius son chose life as a monk over becoming a lawyer. Hugh Griffith, so memorable as Sheik Ilderim in 1959's 'Ben Hur', here plays the nasty and detestable John Tetzel who collects tithes for indulgences. Judi Dench, the only female in the movie, appears for a few brief scenes near the very end of the film playing Luther's wife. By far the most impressionable performance of the film among the supporting players belongs to Glover who plays a knight. He also serves as an onscreen narrator, a sort of Chorus, an implement borrowed from the plays of the Greek classical writers and Shakespeare as well. While 'Luther' is arguably an accurate portrait of the times it does succeed grandly as drama. It is difficult to say with any precision how all the details and matters leading up to the historical period known as the Reformation actually played out; nonetheless the actors here breathe life into their characters and we are soon swept away into those events. We are also reminded that many people were senselessly slaughtered during this dark era and that it wasn't just solely an individual's intellectual effort that forged a new direction in the history of the Christian church. Still, watching this film and realizing what a revolutionary Luther was I recall the often quoted famous line from Robert Browning's poem "Andrea Del Sarto": "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"

As usual Kino did a fantastic job with the transfer to DVD. There are also several special features that come with the movie which include a half-hour documentary on how the play was transferred to screen and a brief but informative interview with one of the producers of the film. The special feature I most enjoyed was the inclusion of the playbill given out at the play's premiere in England. It is reproduced here in stills that are easily readable and just as easy to page through with your DVD player. A biography of the playwright John Osborne is an addition that I found educating; I discovered some interesting facts about the mid-20th century history of the theater stage in England.

Worth noting: the British actor Tom Baker who is world renowned for his turn as the fourth doctor in the legendary 'Dr. Who' television series makes a brief uncredited appearance as Pope Leo X. Don't blink or you just might miss him!

Rating:
Summary: Love it or hate it.
Review: Some have called this movie "Luther according to Freud." Luther's struggles (spiritual and psychological) are the focus of this film, which was originally a stage play. It is true, Luther did have his struggles, but he also had his triumphs, which are not shown much in this movie. The whole film is done on one set, which gives the viewer a feeling of isolation. Keach does give an amazing performance as Luther the struggling monk and preacher. The ending is puzzling. Though a bit more bookish, the 1953 B/W classic "Martin Luther" gives a broader and more balanced view of his life. 2003's "Luther" with Joseph Fiennes should be out on DVD in Spring of 2004. That one is better yet!

Rating:
Summary: Love it or hate it.
Review: Some have called this movie "Luther according to Freud." Luther's struggles (spiritual and psychological) are the focus of this film, which was originally a stage play. It is true, Luther did have his struggles, but he also had his triumphs, which are not shown much in this movie. The whole film is done on one set, which gives the viewer a feeling of isolation. Keach does give an amazing performance as Luther the struggling monk and preacher. The ending is puzzling. Though a bit more bookish, the 1953 B/W classic "Martin Luther" gives a broader and more balanced view of his life. 2003's "Luther" with Joseph Fiennes should be out on DVD in Spring of 2004. That one is better yet!

Rating:
Summary: Well-made but with an unwelcome Freudian take on our hero
Review: There have been at least three big screen productions of the life of Martin Luther. 1953: classic black and white Martin Luther as hero; 2004: Martin Luther as rebel; and this production with the excellently cast Stacy Keach as Luther the psychoanalyzed. Keach does a great job and this is well told. The problem is that the psychoanalyzing gets in the way and seems dated. It ends with a bewildered Luther unsure of himself. This is worth seeing but I think it will, with time, seem like the dated product of an age briefly (thankfully, because Freud was proven wrong on almost every point) obsessed with Freud. It is a good thing that a movie about Luther was not made during the sex revolution or we would have had to see this brilliant doctor of the church reduced to his sexual desires. Luther was a genius, a great man, a man of courage and integrity, a great Christian, and one of the most important figures in Western history and culture. Three movies about his life do not seem enough.

Rating:
Summary: Martin Luther
Review: There is supposed to be a new film on Martin Luther done by the director Till with Alfred Molinari, and financed by the Lutheran Churches. I think Martin Luther is one of the greatest historical figures, and few people today realise just how revolutionary it was to break away from the Universal Catholic Church which controlled Church and State throughout Western Europe, and before the split with the Orthodox Church, Christendom was quite monolithic.

For a man who did not want to break with Rome, but wanted Rome to be scripturally-based rather than a multinational commercial enterprise; he it was who brought individual conscience when relating to God in place of Church and a hierarchical priesthood to the apex of God's representative on earth, the Pope; who combined this with being a Prince amongst nations.

If the West and its industrialisation, liberty, and split between Church and State can claim any one man as its initiator, it was Martin Luther; but as we all know, Luther was but the leading actor in a cast of many.