The Adding Machine (1969) User Reviews (8)

A little too stage-bound to entirely work

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 5 June 2013]

Mr Zero has a terrible home life and a robotic work life. He is rewarded for years of faithful service at the accountancy firm where he works with the sack. He is replaced by an adding machine. In blind fury he murders his boss and is executed for his crime. He ends up in a sort of half-way heaven where he is told he must return to Earth and live another life seeing as souls don't come cheap.

It's not really very surprising to learn that this film was based on a play, as it's very stagey and uncinematic. I guess the title doesn't so much refer to the device that replaces Mr Zero so much as it is meant to describe the man himself. After all, he seems to live a very robotic life and is treated with utter indifference by those around him. He might as well be a machine for all the difference it would make. So there are certainly ideas under the surface of this satirical comic fantasy that's for sure. Unfortunately, I found it somewhat uninvolving overall. I think it was down to a combination of the stagey presentation and the alienating characters. The acting is certainly good, with Phyllis Diller in particular making a mark as Mr Zero's awful wife. Watch out too for a blink-and-you'll-miss-him appearance by former Eastenders actor and stand-up comic Mike Reid in a role as a prison guard.

Machinery eventually takes the place of most professions..

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 29 November 2020]

This isn't the big disaster that I'd heard it described to be. It's basically an art house style film, an old Elmer Rice play finally reaching the big screen, and I can see why it didn't do well at the time. This is definitely not a film for all audiences, some of whom came to see Phyllis Diller and aghast by the horrible female she played, the ultimate harridan of a nasty wife, nagging husband Milo O'Shea to the point where it's surprising that he doesn't kill her. That pleasure goes to his boss, firing him after 25 years simply because they are replacing antique bookkeepers with college girls who have been trained to use that new fangled invention called an adding machine.

Sentenced to death, he wakes up in eternity and finds he doesn't like it, but he doesn't want to go back either. Anything has to be better than dealing with a boring job and coming home to a wife who doesn't appreciate him. Diller is made up to look like a witch, cleaning her face with cold cream while her scraggly black hair and witch like nose accentuate the horrible things she says to hubby O'Shea. She can't even visit him on his execution day without starting an argument. Diller is unforgettable in her limited role that utilizes her signature laugh in a way that makes her witches look all the more authentic.

O'Shea is terrific, and you can't help but feel sorry for him. There's also Billie Whitelaw as the firm secretary who has a crush on him (and arranges to join him in the afterlife) and Julian Glover as a fellow death row inmate whom O'Shea also encounters in the variation of heaven he ends up in. There's probably a bit too many metaphors utilized in the context of the script, but there's also plenty of humor even though the film can be depressing at times.

The Machine Revealed

[historyman2 · 8/10 · 1 February 2005]

The key to understanding "The Adding Machine" is understanding that the original play (on which it is based) is not about life, but about business. Like Willy Loman's in "Death of a Salesman," Mr. Zero's name is a description of the man himself; he's a zero, a nothing. His reward for years of faithful service to the company is that his job is eliminated, even when he is clearly too old to go out and get another job. He's just a number to them. But this brutal reality continues in the hereafter. Following his execution, Zero finds himself in the Elysian Fields, where he can do whatever he wants. Or can he? Told that he has to go back (to life), he protests that he's done his time. He is then asked, "Do you suppose they go to all the expense of making a soul just to use it once?" Even in Eternity, Zero is a nothing, a thing to be used over and over until he's good for nothing but the scrap heap. "The Adding Machine" is a very human story, direct in its condemnation of the brutality of the business world, yet still disarming--and distracting--enough to be funny. Then again, perhaps the final laugh is on us......

A quirky tale of life and the afterlife

[rickh1954 · 10/10 · 6 January 2005]

I had been searching for this movie for over a decade after seeing it on late night TV in the 1980's. I finally had the opportunity to see it again on one of my satellite's movie channels. Although my memory was sketchy, I remembered it as an odd but intriguing commentary on life.

This movie stars Milo O'Shea as Mr. Zero, a man who lives on the periphery of life. Phyllis Diller, in a rare dramatic role, plays his harpy of a wife. Mr. Zero's only distraction from her shrewish tyranny lies in his fascination with the woman of ill repute working in a room across from their bedroom window. When Mrs. Zero finds him spying on her, she forces him to report her to the police. Thus, he is forced to personally cut off his only avenue of escape.

At work, he has spent 25 meaningless years adding columns of numbers, with the aid of Daisy Devore, played by Billie Whitelaw. Zero has been so shrunken by his life that he can't even admit to himself that he is attracted to Daisy.

His boss, who can't remember Zero's name even after being reminded of it, announces that Zero's reward for his years of faithful service is to be replaced by an adding machine. Later that evening, during a dreary gathering of acquaintances in their apartment, Zero is arrested for the murder of his boss.

After his trial and conviction, Zero is executed and finds himself in Heaven. Nothing is as he expects it to be in the afterlife and Zero must now examine his beliefs and his own character. Has he learned anything from his experiences, or will he spend eternity constrained by his own shortcomings?

Compelling expressionistic play

[elblanco1947 · 9/10 · 12 September 2005]

This movie is different in so many ways from anything I have ever seen. Set in the 1930's, it has a modern feel with the "hippie" in heaven, etc. Phyllis Diller's performance is Oscar caliber and totally out of character. Her shrewish monologue is probably the greatest in movie history. Milo O'Shea aptly conveys the meaninglessness of Mr Zero. His reaction to the introduction of the adding machine is shocking, and the contrast with the following banality of typical party conversation (relevant even today) is most effective.

The movie suggests the vanity of human wishes as well as the despair in which the ordinary man spends life. Don't look for consistency or logic, as the movie creates an emotional rather than a rational reaction in the viewer through the presentation of a melange of philosophical ideas. Very interesting. "How Small We Are" packs a punch at the end of the movie.

Swell!

[gengar843 · 10/10 · 29 December 2010]

Whether or not Elmer Rice was interested in bashing the business world, that comes across as secondary in this film. Sure, the dismal life of the office clerk is nothing to write home about, but it honestly was not as heart-wrenching as Mr. Zero's home life. In fact, if we wanted to make a federal case of it, we could pin Zero's anger on his wife. So, what is primary? I think this film reached beyond Rice's play into quite a few plateaus of its own. First, it definitely brings to light the science vs. religion angle with more oomph. For instance, the lieutenant's monologue concerning monkeys and men is more than a little presumptuous, since it either doesn't consider that the idea of a Creator necessarily makes evolutionary theory just a little flimsy, or else it decides to have its cake and eat it too! Another moment is, of course, Shrdlu's dilemma, which is too delicious to examine clinically.

Second, there is more than a little hip enlightenment going on here. Whether you include Planet of the Apes, or Watermelon Man, or Rhinoceros, it's apparent that the late 60's/early 70's were a breeding ground for tough playwright-to-screenplay initiative. It is very cool to watch a film from 1969 bring the sensibilities of 1930's New York to life with every bit of exaggeration and yet authenticity. From the dress to the jargon and accents, there is a briskness here that will either abrade or excite you. I found the latter to be true for me. There is also the camera work, which I think is quite good, and ritualistic for the decade in question.

Third, I think it is quite noticeable that some industry competition is at work here. Perhaps I read too much into things, but the director seems to be giving Billy Wilder, and perhaps even Woody Allen or Kubrick a run for his money. Sure, the budget is low, but that only makes me want to invoke Val Lewton! Now, just for pleasure, how great is Justin Glover, who looks so much like Crispin Glover you'll pinch yourself (ow!), but they're not related... I don't think. And Billie Whitelaw is to me a dream here, a perfect character and a terrific actress with a look that is so now extinct, it makes one wistful.

That's all, folks.

A great dramatic role for Phyllis Diller

[dontspamme-76078 · 8/10 · 6 April 2019]

When I was in high school in the early 70s, we studied The Adding Machine in an English class. For some reason, I remember that we focused on the scene where Mrs. Zero nags Mr. Zero mercilessly. We kept reading that scene over and over. A few months later, this movie aired on PBS. I was mesmerized by Ms. Diller's portrayal of Mrs. Zero, particularly that scene that had bored me to tears in English class. I had every word in her lines memorized. She brought the role to life.

It's too bad that she didn't get more dramatic roles. I understand that she was a concert pianist and was a trained singer, but her trademark laugh ruined her singing voice. What a shame.

One of the great American plays

[brianericdrake · 9/10 · 27 February 2022]

Turned into a pretty darned good movie. They cut a bit, changed some of the scenes around, and added quite a lot for Phyllis Diller, but she's so perfect in the part that one doesn't mind. Milo O'Shea is perfect as Zero, Julian Glover is wonderfully warped, Sidney Chaplin in his brief role captures it. The other bits added in don't distract from the meat of the heartbreaking story.

This is one of the great American plays, Expressionism through the American lens. I saw a production by Hystopolis with puppets, it was a dream come true. During Mrs. Zero's scene-long harangue, she disappeared behind a screen to undress and multiple mouths appeared around Zero's poor head, keeping up the endless tirade.