Galileo

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.

5.9

145 min

Cast

Chaim Topol

as Galileo Galilei

Edward Fox

as Cardinal Inquisitor

Colin Blakely

as Priuli

Georgia Brown

as Ballad Singer's Wife

Clive Revill

as Ballad Singer

Margaret Leighton

as Elderly Court Lady

John Gielgud

as The Old Cardinal

Michael Gough

as Sagredo

Michael Lonsdale

as Cardinal Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII)

Richard O'Callaghan

as Fulganzio

Tim Woodward

as Ludovico Marsili

Judy Parfitt

as Angelica Sarti

John McEnery

as Federzoni

Patrick Magee

as Cardinal Bellarmin

Mary Larkin

as Virginia

Madeline Smith

as young lady

Director

Joseph Losey