Glass House - The El Salvador Action

Glass House, is an independent feature-length documentary about the historically-overlooked “El Salvador Action” in which two Salvadoran diplomats devised and implemented a daring plan to provide protection to approximately 30,000 endangered Jews during World War II.

Director Brad Marlowe who self-funded the project shot in high-end digital video brings Glass House to the Latino Film Festival in hopes of securing a larger distribution deal.

Glass House (78 minutes) is a moving documentary of how El Salvador, one of the smallest countries in the world, facilitated one of the most successful rescue operations during the second World War.   It shares the story that begins in 1942 when the lives of thirty thousand Jews were saved when they were issued certificates of Salvadorian citizenship thanks to “El Salvador Action”.   José Arturo Castellanos headed the operation, a man assigned to open the Consulate of El Salvador in 1938 in in Hamburg while Europe was under Nazi siege. Glass House shares one of the greatest humanitarian efforts in the Holocaust’s history.  The documentary was filmed over a three-year period on location in Central America, Switzerland, Hungary, and Spain, as the sons and daughters of the heroes themselves along with some of the survivors of the effort, share this inspirational story, all people who owe their lives to El Salvador.

High Speed Rescue of Blinded Driver

Have you ever seen a good Samaritan moving at 60mhp?   A brave, and talented driver helped avert potential disaster on Interstate 880 in California.  A very small sidebar story in the Mercury News is worth a read.  It starts with a thank you from the rescued driver.  This is in Q&A format.  The ‘Q’ is Mark Underwood (Driver) and the ‘A’ is Gary Richards from the Mercury News.

Q - I would like to thank the man who leaned out the passenger side of a white full-sized truck Monday morning to pull a large sheet of cardboard off my windshield after it flew up and virtually blocked my entire view of the road.

Mark Underwood
Scotts Valley

A - Wow! He did what?

Q - I was traveling south on Interstate 880 before Highway 17 about 10:30 a.m. in the fast lane when a large piece of cardboard blew up from the ground, getting pinned against my window. I had to lean over into the passenger seat of my Civic to see.  I worked my way out of the fast lane and began moving to the right to get off the road or find an exit.  I slowed to maybe 50 mph and the next thing I know, this white truck races up next to me, just a couple of inches from my car.  Then this mysterious good Samaritan leans way out and pulls the cardboard sheet off my windshield.  To him, I say: Thank you very much and God bless you.

Mark Underwood

A - I’ve written about good deeds on the road numerous times, but this may be the topper. There was more than one hero in what could have been a tragic incident. First, a person in a car behind Mark saw what was happening and turned on his emergency lights, alerting other drivers to a problem ahead. Then, this driver of the white truck pulls up next to Mark at 50 mph and his passenger risks his life torescue Mark. Man, what quick thinking. What a story. Mark would love to meet the pair in the truck, and so would I.

Read the entire Mercury News Roadshow article