The Telephone Box (1972)

Why so much hype?

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Beautifully framed bright red phone booth in the middle of an open square, framed by trees. Kids play around it, nuns walk past it, and a businessman in a screamingly loud necktie curiously gets stuck in it, after trying (and failing) to use it. Stuck in this bright red phone box, in the middle of an open square, framed by the trees, like a goldfish being watched by a cat.Filmed in a wide angle lens(?) giving distortion and aerial perspective to the phone box, its lines perfectly corresponding to the lines of an apartment building behind it.Crowd soon gathers, some try to help him, to no avail. Even a strongman, bashing it with his massive shoulders, cannot free the guy, or even shatter the glass.Convenient handyman proves to be not very handy at all. Fire department eventually shows up, before those responsible for installing the phone box return for it, put it on the back of a truck and drive off with it- and with the guy still trapped inside.He is driven past another bald businessman in a screamingly loud necktie stuck in another identical phone box, also unable to free himself. Driven through burnt out industrial areas and scrap metal yards - and past a midget holding a ship in a bottle. He's even followed by a low flying helicopter, who refuses to (or is unable to) help him.Interesting geometrical shapes framing the phone box prison throughout, film seems like a slightly overlong episode of The Twilight Zone.

Any horror film should not attempt to be a perfect "Evil Dead" clone in order to create fear in hearts and minds of its viewers. This unconventional view takes into account the fact that true horror consists of something grotesque which is capable of instilling an element of fear. It does not need to be a blood Slasher genre film to be classified in the horror's hall of fame. If seen from this perspective, Spanish short film 'The Phone Box' can be considered as a quintessential horror film which continues to remain miles ahead of mainstream horror films which merely take into account viewers' ability to get easily frightened. It must also be noted that in the realm of short film, it is fairly common for screenwriters to take an elementary idea in order to blow it further for achieving great results. What is worth noticing is that seldom do short films achieve such a kind of celebrity status as achieved by "La Cabina". As a scathing attack on selfish attitudes of people, Mercero and Garci have launched a brutal attack on ordinary people for whom a common man's suffering is merely another form of "Spectacle". Those who can read between the lines would not fail to discern how subtly the political situation in Spain of olden times was criticized. It was a time when common citizens got trapped into situations wherein their individual freedom was severely curtailed as depicted in this film. This film deliberately chose not to have a happy end as daily life's simple events can lead to complicated situations. It is hoped that viewers would take it in account while watching the film's protagonist who did not notice how and when his silent composure in the time of distress got transformed into a feeling of genuine disappointment and acute hopelessness.

This 35-minute surreal Spanish short is a one-joke movie that, while perhaps a mite too extended to achieve maximum effect, has a splendidly horrific punch-line that belies the blackly comedic touches of its earlier stages. In fact, for at least half its length, this virtually resembles a Tatiesque farce (complete with negligible dialogue and pompous characterizations) with a Bunuelian premise (the inexplicable confinement of its protagonist in the titular cubicle seems to come right out of my own second favorite among the Spanish maestro's films, THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL [1962]). The plot itself is disarmingly simple: a newly-installed red phone booth incites the curiosity of a man who has just accompanied his boy to school but, as he is making a call, the previously invitingly open door shuts itself and, subsequently, he is unable to open it from the inside. As time passes, bystanders start to accumulate and become a veritable microcosm of humanity: from laid-back pensioners to mischievous school-children, from young couples to old housewives...and, of course, a gluttonous onlooker, the heavy-set man who clearly thinks he can effortlessly break the door open and the incredulous police officers who, invariably, all make fools of themselves; before long, the professionals come to the rescue: first the firemen who are about to use the axe on the thing when the phone company people who installed it in the first place appear on the scene and literally lift the telephone box off its hinges and drive away with it wholesale! Then follows the lengthy trek through the city streets (where a couple of other equally imprisoned callers can also be seen being carried away!) until the truck arrives at its destination: a tunnel replete with similar telephone boxes whose occupants have either gone off the wall, killed themselves or even decomposed!! Although nothing further is explained about this phenomenon, one cannot fail to be reminded of similarly bleak 'twist' endings like those seen earlier in John Frankenheimer's SECONDS (1966) and later in Richard Fleischer's SOYLENT GREEN (1973). Finally, I watched this Spanish TV production in its original Spanish language version with no subtitles whatsoever but, as I said before, one can easily follow what is going on the screen and, thankfully, the mostly dialogue-free movie is further boosted by an excellent music score.

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!