Synopsis
Challenged by a new student, tutor and theorist Galileo co-opts emerging telescope technology and discovers irrefutable proof of the heretical notion that the earth is not the center of the universe. But in a rigid society ruled by an uneasy alliance of aristocracy and clergy already undermined by the Plague and the Reformation, science is a threat and enlightenment is a luxury. Faced with either death at the hands of the Inquisition or recantation to a hypocritical but all-powerful Papacy, Galileo must choose between his own life and the restless scientific curiosity that he has spurned family, friends, and wealth to pursue.
Ratings
IMDb6.6/10
15 audience votes
Key crew
- Joseph LoseyDirector
- Barbara BrayWriter
- Joseph LoseyWriter
- Hanns EislerOriginal Music Composer
- Richard HartleyOriginal Music Composer
Cast
- Chaim TopolGalileo Galilei
- Edward FoxCardinal Inquisitor
- Colin BlakelyPriuli
- Georgia BrownBallad Singer's Wife
- Clive RevillBallad Singer
- Margaret LeightonElderly Court Lady
- John GielgudThe Old Cardinal
- Michael GoughSagredo
- Michael LonsdaleCardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)
- Richard O'CallaghanFulganzio
- Tim WoodwardLudovico Marsili
- Judy ParfittAngelica Sarti
Stills
Themes
inquisitionpopehistorical figurechurchsolar system