By Sidney Lumet relies almost exclusively upon an interview with the director, filmed a few years before his death in 2011. As such, the perspective on Lumet’s film and life are mostly his, which is more of a lazy way out for the usually rigorous American Masters standards for an artistic biography. Also, while his Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico movies with Al Pacino get their proper due, there’s far too little time given to scriptwriter Paddy Chayefsky’s masterpiece Network, and virtually nothing to Deathtrap and Equus. But the omissions leave room for unexpected treats, especially a sampling of Lumet’s mid-1950s TV work on the historical recreation series You Are There, and how it fit into the entire Joseph McCarthy Communist witch hunt phase. Check local listings.