The Telephone Box (1972)

Load of rubbish!!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Firstly, I want to say this movie is amazing. In the beginning it is kind of a black comedy, in the end everybody can feel the anxiety and the fear. We can watch this movie in two ways. First, as an absurd horror movie about a man who got stuck in a telephone box. If we watch this film this way, probably we all will love it. Because the director is so successful at telling stories in cinematic way. Second, as a surreal film which has some thoughts and some allegory about politics. Locally some thoughts about Franco regime, generally some thoughts about totalitarian ideologies. Cencorship, politic slaughters, unconcern of society etc. Think about it. Could we hear our main character's voice when he got stuck in the telephone box. A main character who has not any right to talk. What a despotic film! What a censorship! We all can see the unconcern of society during the movie, except the circus guys and the dwarf. They were exiled from the society. They were funny, they were freak, they were miserable. But while the society were laughing to our character, the "freaks" were not laughing. Actually they felt sorry for him. Because they were unwelcome people for their society and their despotic regime. They were the rebels against the despotism who had no power to fight. This movie is a masterpiece in two ways as stated above. But do not watch it like a horror movie. It would be insulting this masterpiece.

When I was a child I played outside. I was happy. I did not know about life. I skipped school. I looked at the stars. I was innocent. I loved purely the girl I saw across the street. I was happy. I like films that move me. 'Soft' films like Field of dreams. I'm not a critic. I like happy endings. This is not a film I would have chosen to watch. I tuned in to this once by accident when I was young. It has never left me. I'm not happy I watched it. It changed me. It stole my childhood. I would not have missed it for the world. To this day I speak of it. No one I know has ever seen it. I always wondered if I imagined it. Having seen IMDb I now know it was real. Now I have worse fears. Was this really a film or a message sent to just a few to warn us. A warning. A WARNING. I would have missed it for the world. Oh God.

There's little I can add to the other comments on the film. Like others, I saw it as a child and never got over it. I spent countless hours fruitlessly trawling google for a film called "man in a glass booth". Finally after a tip-off from the only other person I know who'd seen it, I found it on YouTube. It brought it all back in the short 30-odd wobbly minutes it lasts, and reminded me that this bizarre childhood experience is central to my love of film now.I am convinced this was shown on more than one occasion by the BBC. The range of dates and ages given by other reviewers is too broad to be down to error (you *know* how old you were when you saw La Cabina). I saw it in the early 80s, but definitely later than 1980. Maybe it was a stock film the Beeb held in case they needed to fill in late night when the schedules ran awry.OK it's dated a little, but not enough to detract from the effect. Which is profound.But if you've read this far you've probably already seen it. If so *please log in and vote on this title*. The reviews have made me realise how valuable IMDb is. If you've any new views on interpretation, I think we'd all like to hear them. The mean score for La Cabina is so high it would rank in the top 100 on here if only it had enough votes. So give something back, create an account and vote on La Cabina and be part of the IMDb process. We might even finally get this "little dirty gem" the attention it deserves!

I'm shocked. Not only because I have just watched this wonderful and sick film. Also because almost all commentators are English. And they saw the film only once! I guess that's just because comments here have to be written in English.So let me add my Spaniard's point of view: I don't see symbols of modern world alienation, "incommunication" or anything such. Not in the 1st part of the film, at least. And, yes, you don't need to understand Spanish to get it right (though it helps). But maybe you need to know Spain.Let me talk about the 1st part of the film (until the truck takes the poor guy away). That's a depiction of a man that falls in the misfortune of having bad luck in public. So he becomes *automatically* the district's laughing stock. People gather around him amused but mostly not helping. They don't even call for help. What's worst, they discourage attempts of help (i.e., the big man) and sharply bash the one who tried helping and failed at it. And there is also the cynicism in random comments of viewers.See the circus people, which are often regarded as freaks, different ones: they are the only ones not laughing.All that would have been all the same in a small village. I don't think it's about the big city and it's alienation. And the phone booth is just the means to develop the story, but I don't think it's a symbol of lack of communication.When the police show up (by chance) they come showing their manners and attitude. Which perfectly fits in, given the historical period in Spain. You might find such manners in public forces in many other places, but this is all too normal in places under of after a dictatorship (of course, not only Spain). But the image of people is so right "in place", their aggressive attitude and lack of solidarity ... I don't know if you English speakers get what I mean. Or maybe Spain is not so "different" after all?