The Movies and Ethnic Representation: Jews: Videotapes in the Media Resources Center, UC Berkeley

The Movies, Race, and Ethnicity: Jews

Hollywood and international film

Yiddish film

Middle Eastern Cinema (for Israeli feature films)

Jewish Studies (documentary films about Jews/Jewish history)

War Propaganda (for Nazi propaganda)

The films of Woody Allen

The films of The Marx Brothers

Jews in Film and Television: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Libraries

Woody Allen: A Short Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Libraries

38--auch das war Wien (Austria / West Germany, 1987)

Director, Wolfgang Glück. Cast: Sunnyi Melles, Tobias Engel, Heinz Trixner, Ingrid Burkhard. Follows two lovers--one Jewish, one Aryan--in pre-war Vienna who are blind to the inhumanity which surrounds them. In German without subtitles. 94 min. DVD 7693

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Affaire Blum (Blum Affair) (Germany, 1948)

Directed by Erich Engel. Cast: Paul Bildt, Hans Christian Blech, Klaus Becker, Gerhard Bienert. A film based on a true case which occured in the 1920's. An accountant responds to an advertisment and gets murdered for his money. Mr. Blum is blamed for the murder because the accountant was about to give evidence about a tax fraud involving Mr. Blum's company. A dramatic presentation about pre-Hitlerite Germany which relates the story of a Jewish businessman falsely accused by anti-Semitic police. 100 min. 999:299

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Aimee & Jaguar (Germany, 1999)

Directed by Max Faberbock. Cast: Maria Schrader, Juliane Kohler, Heike Makatsch, Johanna Wokalek, Elisabeth Degen, Detlev Buck. Based on true events during the Battle of Berlin in World War II, about two women who find each other. One is single, Aimee, the other, Jaguar, is unhappily married with 4 children. In war torn Germany it was not safe to be Jewish, it was just as unsafe to be a lesbian. When Jaguar's husband, who is a German soldier, finds out about the relationship of his wife to Aimee, nothing but trouble ensues. 125 min. DVD 3788

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All My Loved Ones (Vsichni moji blízci) (Czech Republic / Slovakia / Poland, 1999)

Directed by Matej Minac. Cast: Josef Abraham, Libuse Safrankova, Jiri Bartoska, Ondrej Vetchy, Branislav Holicek, Lucia Culkova, Tereza Brodska, Marian Labuda, Rupert Graves. Inspired by the real life heroics of Nicholas Winton who saved hundreds of Czech Jewish children from the Nazis. The Silberstein's are a large and close knit extended family living in Czechoslovakia. Believing in the decency of mankind, they don't pay heed to the Nazi threat. They finally realize the true horror of what is coming, but it is too late. Making the toughest possible decision, they must decide if they will turn their young son, David, over to Nicholas and risk never seeing him again. 95 min. DVD 7254

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Amen (France / Germany / Romania / USA, 2002)

Directed by Costa-Gavras. Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Mathieu Kassovtiz, Ulrich Muhe, Michel Duchaussoy, Ion Caramitru, Marcel Iures, Friedrich von Thun, Antje Schmidt, Angus MacInnes. When a newly commissioned SS Lieutenant witnesses the chemical disinfectant he's helped perfect being used to systematically murder interred Jews, he knows he must act. The only symphatic ear he finds is a young priest with ties to the Vatican. As the two unlikely allies fight to reveal the truth to the Church and world, they discover that a man of conscience can commit treason and a man of God can commit heresy in order to thwart genocide. Based in part on actual events. 126 min. DVD 2216

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The Angel Levine (1970)

Directed by Jan Kadar. Cast: Zero Mostel, Harry Belafonte, Ida Kaminska, Milo O'Shea, Gloria Foster. A touching, humorous film about Morris Mishkin, an elderly Jew whose life experiences have left him an embittered agnostic. Into Mishkin's life floats Alexander Levine, a black Jewish angel, who must convince the old man that life has value else Levine will never earn his wings. 106 min. 999:2625

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Angry Harvest (Bittere Ernte) (West Germany, 1984)

Directed by Agnieszka Holland. Cast: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elisabeth Trissenaar, Wojciech Pszoniak, Gerd Baltus, Anita Hofer, Kathe Jaenicke, Hans Beerhenke, Isa Haller, Margit Carstensen. A wartime story [1943] that is both a character study and a mesmerizing cat and mouse game between a Polish Catholic farmer and a Jewish woman who has escaped a train bound for the Nazi death camps. Set in Silesia during WWII, the drama unfolds with the concealment of the woman by the wealthy, sexually repressed farmer, and moves through various stages of power and powerlessness on both sides. The battle between the two is dispassionate yet haunting in its portrayal of this ill-fated relationship. 102 min. DVD 6834; vhs 999:618

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Anne Frank (USA / Czech Republic, 2001)

Directed by Robert Dornhelm. Cast: Ben Kingsley, Brenda Blethyn, Hannah Taylor Gordon, Tatjana Blancher, Joachim Krol, Jessica Manley, Nick Audsley, Jan Niklas, Lili Taylor. A dramatization that paints the true portrait of Anne Frank both before and after she went into hiding. Get to know the high-spirited and popular girl before the war, and experience the challenges of the brave people who risked their lives trying to keep her safe. This film also explores the enduring mystery of who betrayed the Frank family and reveals what happened next. 189 min. DVD 922

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Barnouw, David. "Anne Frank and Film." In: Anne Frank : reflections on her life and legacy / edited by Hyman Aaron Enzer and Sandra Solotaroff-Enzer. pp: 165-72.Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c2000. (Main Stack DS135.N6.F73 2000)

Doneson, Judith E. "Feminine stereotypes of Jews in Holocaust films; focus on the diary of Anne Frank." In: The Netherlands and Nazi genocide : papers of the 21st annual scholars' conference / edited by G. Jan Colijn and Marcia S. Littell. Lewiston, N.Y. : E. Mellen Press, c1992. (Main Stack D804.3.N48 1992)

Langer, Lawrence L. "The Americanization of the Holocaust on Stage and Screen." In: From Hester Street to Hollywood : the Jewish-American stage and screen / edited by Sarah Blacher Cohen. pp: 213-230 Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1983. (Main Stack PN3035.F76 198; Moffitt PN3035.F76 1983)

The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (De schuilplaats van Anne Frank)(USA, TV, 1988)

A made for television docu-drama telling the story of Miep Gies who helped to hide Anne Frank and her family. Originally produced as television programme in 1988. Directed by John Erman. In English with Dutch subtitles. 2006. 95 min. DVD 7907

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Annie Hall (1977)

Directed by Woody Allen. Like most Allen films, full of Jewish schtick and Jewish angst. Check out the Hassid-at-the dinner-table scene (with Diane Keaton's mega-WASP family). DVD 56; vhs 999:263

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Au Revoir les Enfants (Goodbye, Children) (France / West Germany, 1987)

Directed by Louis Malle. Based on the director's life, this film chronicles Malle's experiences during the German occupation of France in World War II. Julien (Malle) is 12 years old, and the smartest boy in his class at a Catholic boarding school when a new student appears. The two form a friendship and Julien soon discovers that his new friend is a Jew who must be hidden in their school from German soldiers. 103 min. DVD 5379; vhs 999:1434

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Avalon (1990)

Directed by Barry Levinson. Cast: Leo Fuchs, Eve Gordon, Lou Jacobi, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elizabeth Perkins, Joan Plowright, Kevin Pollak, Aidan Quinn, Elijah Wood. The story of several generations of a Jewish family, from the arrival of immigrant Sam Krichinsky in the suburb of Baltimore called Avalon down through his children and grandchildren. The family goes from poverty to prosperity and the world changes around them, but their love and humor hold the family together. 126 min. DVD 8292; 999:1955

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Awake and Sing (TV, 1972)

Director, Falk Harnack. Cast: Felicia Farr, Leo Fuchs, Robert Lipton, Walter Matthau, Ron Rifkin, Martin Ritt, Milton Selzer, Ruth Storey, John Myhers. This made for television adaptation of the story by Clifford Odets about a Jewish family in a Bronx tenement, perfectly captures the spirit of the Depression years in New York City. Based on the play by Clifford Odets (SEE Awake & Singing: Six Great American Jewish Plays, MAIN: PS628.A47 A93 2004). 100 min. DVD 1450

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The Axe of Wandsbek (Das Beil von Wandsbek)(East Germany, 1951)

Director, Falk Harnack. Cast: Kathe Braun, Erwin Geschonneck, Gefion Helmke, Willy A. Kleinau, Ursula Meibner, Arthur Schroder, Claus Holm. Tells the story of a butcher who serves as an executioner for the Nazis and also turns in four antifascists. After these atrocities become known, customers start to boycott his store, his wife takes her life and he eventually shoots himself. Six weeks after its premiere, the film was banned and the director Harnack left East Germany to direct only in the West. 111 min. 999:2609

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The Believer (2001)

Director, Henry Bean. Cast: Ryan Gosling, Summer Phoenix, Glenn Fitzgerald, Theresa Russell, Billy Zane. Based on the true story of an American Nazi Party leader in the 1960s who was revealed to be Jewish. The film tells the story of Danny Balint and his struggle between destroying his own people and being drawn back to Judaism. 99 min. DVD 1721

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Brooks, X. "The believer." Sight & Sound v. ns11 no. 12 (December 2001) p. 43-4

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Marcus, Greil., Jr. "The Believer." Film Comment v. 38 no. 3 (May/June 2002) p. 76

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Bent (UK, 1997)

Director, Sean Mathias. Cast: Lothaire Bluteau, Clive Owen, Brian Webber, Ian McKellen, Mick Jagger. Pursued and captured by the Nazis because he is gay, Max is placed in a concentration camp where he pretends to be Jewish to avoid even worse persecution. There he meets another gay prisoner and learns a life-altering lesson about human love. 104 min. DVD 1719

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A Bite to Eat (Czechoslovakia, 1963)

Directed by Jan Nemec. Nemec's diploma film from the Prague Film Academy. The film is a hallucinatory moment, virtually without dialogue and handles one man's feverish attempt to steal a loaf of bread from a Nazi-guarded train. 10 min. In Czech with German subtitles. Video/C 999:3795

Het bittere kruid (Bitter Sweet) (Netherlands, 1985)

Directed by Kees Van Oostrum. Cast: Ester Spitz, Gerard Thoolen, Kitty Courbois, Frank Rigter. This interpretation of the life of a Jewish girl in Holland -- who escapes being sent to German death camps in 1942 while the rest of her family is deported -- is loosely based on the autobiographical novel by Marga Minco. The author sued to insert a disclaimer before the title that a fictional Nazi family introduced in this film and the young Jewish girl could never have had the relationship shown, a relationship contrary to her book and her experience. Screenwriter Maurice Noel added the Nazi family whose father is a VIP in the Nazi youth, whose son is a Nazi soldier, and whose daughter makes friends with the Jewish Sara while the two are in the hospital. Later, viewers are to believe that Sara visits the Nazi family often and is welcomed -- wearing her yellow star -- in complete safety. The real "Sara" was hidden for three years by friends in the Dutch Resistance and miraculously escaped deportation and death only because of their own risk in hiding her. In Dutch without subtitles. 83 min. DVD 7825

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Black Book (Zwartboek) (Netherlands / Germany / Belgium, 2006)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Cast: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Waldemar Kobus, Derek de Lint, Christian Berkel, Dolf de Vries, Peter Blok, Michiel Huisman. Rachel, a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazi's during World War II in The Netherlands, sees her hiding place blown up. She escapes with her rescuer, a young sailor, but the boat sails into a trap set by the Germans. She escapes and joins the resistance, and under the false name Ellis de Vries she meets SS-hauptsturmfuhrer Ludwig Muntze on a train smuggling weapons. She goes to his headquarters to meet him again and gain his trust, and soon they fall in love. She joins his office as a spy, but when someone within the resistance betrays her, she is now seen as an enemy betraying both sides. All that's left to do is run with the man she learned to love and find a way to prove her innocence by finding the real betrayer. 146 min. DVD 8526

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The Boat is Full (Das Boot ist voll)(Switzerland / West Germany / Austria, 1981)

Director, Markus Imhoof. Cast: Tina Engel, Curt Bois, Gerd David, Renate Steiger, Mathias Gnadinger, Michael Gempart, Hans Diehl, Martin Walz, Simone, Laurent. In the summer of 1942 the Swiss government, alarmed at the numbers of people fleeing Nazi Germany, set up stringent immigration policies. But when a Swiss inkeeper's wife finds a group of refugees hiding on her property, she looks the other way and takes them in. When the local authorities are alerted, the woman, her husband and the townspeople have a decision to make... ignore the callous policies of their government or send the refugees back to certain death? 104 min. 999:2907

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Border Street (Ulica graniczna) (Poland, 1948)

Director, Aleksander Ford. A tragedy about an old tailor who tries to save his daughters and others in the Warsaw ghetto. Culminates with the uprising of 1943, when Jews, supported by the Polish underground, take up arms and die fighting. 122 min. DVD 6008

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (UK / USA 2008)

Director, Mark Herman. Cast: Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, David Hayman, Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Amber Beattie, Jim Norton, Sheila Hancock, Richard Johnson. Set in Poland during World War II. Innocent and naive 8-year-old Bruno is bored and restless in his new home. Ignoring his mother, he sets off on an adventure in the woods where he comes across a high fence which separates him from the people he can see through it. Soon he meets a young boy in striped pajamas, and a surprising friendship develops. Based on the book "The Boy in the striped pajamas" by John Boyne. Bonus features: "Friendship beyond the fence" featurette (ca. 20 min.) ; Optional audio feature commentary by writer/director Mark Herman and author John Boyne ; Deleted scenes with optional commentary by writer/director Mark Herman and author John Boyne. 94 min. DVD X1498

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The Boys from Brazil (UK / USA, 1978)

Director, Franklin J. Schaffner. Cast: Gregory Peck, Laurence Oliver, James Mason, Lilli Palmer. A band of Nazi leaders, escaped from postwar Germany, scheme to return to power. Their plans to dominate the world are based on a bizarre biological experiment undertaken by Josef Mengele. Based on the novel by Ira Levin. 104 min. DVD 4615

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Willson, Robert F., Jr. "From Novel to Film: De-Sinistering The Boys from Brazil." Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 7, pp. 322-24, 1979.

Chariots of Fire (UK, 1981)

Directed by Hugh Hudson. Cast: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige, Nigel Davenport, John Gielgud, Ian Holm, Patrick Magee. Based on true events, tells the story of two English runners that were both driven by different means to win the Olympics. Eric, a devout Scottish missionary runs because he knows it must please God. Harold the son of a newly rich Jew runs to defeat antisemitism and prove his place in Cambridge society. 124 min. DVD 5492

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Cashmore, Ellis. "Chariots of Fire: bigotry, manhood and moral certitude in an age of individualism." Sport in Society, Mar2008, Vol. 11 Issue 2/3, p159-173, 15p

Miles, Margaret R. "Not with my other: representing Islam and Judaism in a dominantly Christian society : Chariots of fire." In: Seeing and believing : religion and values in the movies / Margaret R. Miles. Boston : Beacon Press, 1996. (Main Stack PN1995.9.R4.M56 1996)

Neale, Steve. "'Chariots of Fire', Images of Men." Screen; Sep/Oct82, Vol. 23 Issue 3/4, p47-53, 7p

A Child of the Ghetto. (1910)

Directed by D.W. Griffith. Cast: Kate Bruce, George Nichols, Henry B. Walthall, Dorothy West. After her mother's death, Ruth struggles to support herself as a seamstress. While Ruth delivers shirts to the factory owner, the owner's son steals some money and Ruth is accused of the crime. She flees the ghetto of New York's Lower East Side and hides in the country where a young farmer takes her in and they fall in love. Silent with English intertitles. 16 min. DVD 1374; vhs 999:2130

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Cohen on the Telephone (1929)

Directed by Robert Ross. Cast: George Sidney. With the advent of sound, the vaudeville-immigrant genre added comic speech to its repertoire of physical comedy and funny situations. This film presents a humorous monologue of a Jewish immigrant using the telephone for the first time when he calls his landlord about repairs to the owner's property. Unfamiliar with the telephone and still uncomfortable with the English language, Cohen embroils himself in a comic monologue of misunderstanding. 9 min. DVD X2079; vhs 999:2388

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Corenthal, Michael. "Cohen on the Telephone: An Introductory Discussion of Recorded Jewish Humor." JEMF Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 64, pp. 182-191, Winter 1981.

Cohen's Advertising Scheme (1904, silent)

Directed by Edwin S. Porter. Cohen's advertising scheme: This is perhaps the earliest cinematic example of the Jewish stereotype known as the "scheming merchant," a familiar caricature from theater and literature. In this typical one-shot gag film Cohen, a Jewish shop owner, hits upon a new advertising scheme: tricking a passerby into buying a coat on which he hangs a large sign advertising his store on the back. 14 min. DVD X2060; vhs 999:2340

Cohen Saves the Flag (Mabel Saves Her Darlings) (1913)

Directed by Mack Sennett. Cast: Ford Sterling, Mabel Normand, Henry Lehrman. "'Cohen Saves the Flag' is a very early Keystone comedy, one of several starring Ford Sterling as a scruffy coward named Izzy Cohen. All of the instalments in the 'Cohen' series feature some humour based on Jewish stereotypes, which has dated badly; fortunately, these films also have clever storylines and non-ethnic slapstick gags, so (with the possible exception of 'Cohen Collects a Debt') these films are still funny in spite of some (arguably) anti-Semitic content. All of the other 'Cohen' shorts are set in the contemporary present; 'Cohen Saves the Flag' backdates Izzy Cohen to 1861 in order to put him in a Civil War setting." [from Internet Movie Database]12 min. DVD X2074; vhs 999:1463

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Cohen's Fire Sale(1907)

Directed by Edwin S. Porter. "A very early silent short from film pioneer Edwin S. Porter. Based on popular vaudeville routines of the day, the title character is a made up in a rather grotesque, broadly stereotyped manner and the sketch itself could definitely be viewed as an offensive piece. A Jewish store owner sees his new shipment of hats picked up by the trash wagon and chases the vehicle down to recapture his merchandise. When the hats don't sell anyway, he sets his business on fire to collect the insurance money." [from FACETS catalog] 10 min. DVD X2060; also on DVD 3552 [disc 3]; vhs 999:2340

Cold Days (Hideg Napok) (Hungary, 1966)

Directed by Andras Kovacs. Cast: Zoltan Latinovits, Ivan Darvas, Adam Szirtes, Ibor Szilagyi, Margit Bara. A film centered around the memories and self-justifications of four men awaiting trial for the 1942 massacre of several thousand Jews and Serbs at Novi Sad. 102 min. 999:3511

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Conspiracy (UK / USA, 2001)

Director, Frank Pierson. Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth, Jonathan Coy, Brendan Coyle, Ben Daniels, Barnaby Kay, Kevin McNally, Ian McNeice, Brian Pettifer, Ewan Stewart, Peter Sullivan, Owen Teale, David Threlfall, Nicholas Woodeson. On January 20, 1942, 15 German officials attended a conference at Wannsee - on the outskirts of Berlin. The meeting is comprised of mid-ranking SS commanders and a variety of government ministers. The meeting was organized by SS Major Adolf Eichmann under the direction of Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich. It was a polite conference, but under this thin veneer of manners lay an evil intent. By the end of the meeting, the fate of six million lives would be decided and the shape of the world would be altered forever. 96 min. DVD 1378

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Steinweis, Alan E. "Conspiracy." American Historical Review 107.2 (April 2002): 674(2).

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Conspiracy (Law & Order) (1999, TV)

A prominent black political leader is shot and killed at a rally and a Jewish liberal, seen at the rally with a gun, is blamed and brought to trial. 47 min. Video/C 7640

Council of the Gods (Der Rat der Götter) (East Germany, 1950)

Directed by Kurt Maetzig. Cast: Paul Bildt, Fritz Tillmann, Willi A. Kleinau, Hans-Georg Rudolph, Albert Garbe, Helmuth Hinzelmann, Inge Keller, Yvonne Merin, Kate Scharf. A film based on the Nuremberg Trials against the directors of the IG Farben Company which proved the joint guilt of German industry in fascism and war, and the close ties between big industry and the Nazis. Two main protagonists dominate this epic. Chairman Mauch, who had supported Hitler, finds new fame and fortune in West Germany after the war, while the bourgeois chemist Dr. Hans Scholz lives through a tortutous political transformation forced to face the fact that poison was being produced in his factory which was used to kill millions at concentration camps. The film also brings to light the cooperation between German industry and U.S. monopolies. In scenes that take place after 1945, the USA is portrayed as a latent fascist power. Special DVD features: Interviews; newsreels; about the filmmakers; stills gallery; 3 vintage trailers. Based on IG Farben by Richard Sasuly. 105 min. DVD 6869; vhs 999:2570

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The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) (Austria / Germany, 2007)

Director, Stefan Ruzowitzky. Cast: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, Veit Stubner, August Zirner, Marie Baumer, Dolores Chaplin. The Counterfeiters is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch, the king of counterfeiters, lives a life of cards, booze, and women, but his luck runs dry when he is arrested and thrown into the Mauthausen concentration camp. There he exhibits exceptional skills and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of Sachsenhausen where, hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Berhard. Special features : Optional commentary with director Stefan Ruzowitzky ; The making of Counterfeiters ; interviews ; Adolf Burger's artifacts ; Q&A with director Stefan Ruzowitzky ; deleted scenes ; original theatrical trailer. 76 min. DVD X476

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Creating Jewish Characters for TV.

One in a series of satellite seminars which investigate how prime-time television is conceptualized and created. This film explores the creation and characterization of Jewish characters presented in television sit-coms and dramas through comments by the creators of "Thirtysomething," "Chicago hope," "Relativity," "Northern exposure," and "Seinfeld." This seminar is presented at the Museum of Television and Radio, Los Angeles, California. 1998. 61 min. Video/C 5744

Crossfire. (1947)

Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Cast: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly, Sam Levene, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, George Cooper, Richard Benedict, Richard Powers, William Phipps, Lex Barker, Marlo Dwyer. This intense thriller was shot entirely with a style reminiscent of expressionism. A Jew is murdered in a New York hotel, and three ex-soldiers are suspected. Hollywood's first strong statement against anti-semitism. (Interestingly, the original script of Crossfire concerned the murder of a homosexual; 1940's Hollywood apparently found it more palatable to deal with anti-semitism than homophobia). Based on Richard Brook's novel, The Brick Foxhole. Special DVD features: Exclusive behind-the-scenes retrospective on the making of Crossfire and interview with director Edward Dmytryk. 86 min. DVD 4115; vhs 999:1027

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Crossing Delancy (1988)

Directed by Joan Micklin Silver. Cast: Amy Irving, Peter Riegert, Jeroen Krabbe, Sylvia Miles, Reizl Bozyk. The Jewish grandmother of a 30-something year old woman in New York decides her granddaughter should be married, and hires a matchmaker. Isabelle, the granddaughter, who considers herself successful and happy, is appalled, but humors her grandmother and agrees to meet the marriage prospect, a man who runs a streetside pickle stand. Based on the play by Susan Sandler. 97 min. DVD X1046; vhs 999:3468

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Crown Heights (TV, 2004)

Directed by Jeremy Kagan. Cast: Mario Van Peebles, Howie Mandel, Jeremy Blackman, Dequan Henderson, Jason Blicker. In August of 1991, an African American boy (Gavin Cato) was accidentally killed by a car driven by a Hasidic Jewish man in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. Four hours later Yankel Rosenbaum was murdered in retaliation. For the following three days, the Heights experienced riots and racial tensions. The efforts of an African American youth leader and a Hasidic rabbi bring the polarized communities together. During this time, two teens, Yudi Simon and T.J. Moses forge a friendship based on a mutual love of rap music and dance. Two groups that have suffered persecution throughout the centuries embrace tolerance and discover that progress is possible. 88 min. DVD 8284

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Dad on the Run (Cours toujours) (France, 2000)

Director, Dante Desarthe. Cast: Clement Sibony, Rona Hartner, Isaac Sharry, Marie Desgranges, Emmanuelle Devos. Jonah, a young musician and father to a newborn son, learns at the last minute that, according to an obscure Jewish custom, he must rush to bury the foreskin of his just-circumcised son. 89 min. DVD 1709

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David (West Germany, 1979)

Directed by Peter Lilienthal. Cast: Mario Fischel, Irene Vrkijan, Walter Taub, Eva Mattes. Based upon a true story this film focuses on the everyday life of an orthodox rabbi and his close knit family trying to survive during the Nazi persecutions. It begins when David is a small boy in Liegnitz in 1933 and follows him to his escape in 1943 as one of the last Jews to leave Germany. Based on David: Notes of a Surviver by Joel Konig. 106 min. vhs 999:2583

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Defiance (2008)

Directed by Edward Zwick. Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Allan Corduner, Mark Feuerstein. Based on true events. The deep forests of Poland and Belorussia are the domain of the occupying Germans during World War II. The three Bielski brothers go into the forests to undertake the impossible task of foraging for food, weapons and survival, not just for themselves but for a large mass of Polish Jews fleeing from the German war machine. The brothers, living with the fear of discovery, must contend with neighboring Soviet partisans and deciding whom to trust. They take on the responsibility of guardians and motivate hundreds of women, men, children and elderly to join their fight against the Nazi regime while hiding in makeshift homes in the dark, cold, unforgiving forest. At the same time, the brothers turn a band of war defectors into powerful freedom fighters. Based on the book "Defiance: the Bielski Partisans" by Nechama Tec. Special features: Commentary by director Edward Zwick, return to the forest: The making of Defiance, Children of the Otriad: The families speak, and more. 136 min. DVD X1388

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Diamonds of the Night (Demanty noci) (Czechoslovakia, 1964)

Directed by Jan Nemec. Cast: Ladslav Jansky, Antonin Kumbera. Diamonds of the night is a study of two Jewish boys who escape from a train which is transporting them from one concentration camp to another. The film goes beyond the theme of war and anti-Nazism to concern itself with man's struggle to preserve human dignity. 64 min. Video/C 999:3795

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The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

Directed by George Stevens. Cast: Millie Perkins, Joseph Schildkraut, Shelley Winters, Richard Beymer, Gusti Huber, Lou Jacobi, Diane Baker, Douglas Spencer, Dody Heath, Ed Wynn. An extraordinary portrayal of humanity set during one of history's most inhumane periods. Features Millie Perkins as the insightful 13 year old biographer of her family's two-year hiding in an Amsterdam attic. At first, the strong-willed teenager embraces her fugitive lifestyle as an adventure. But in time, the ever-increasing fear of discovery and close quarters prove nearly unbearable for the eight personalities in hiding. Special DVD features (Side A): Optional audio commentary by George Stevens, Jr. (Side B): Documentary featurette, The Diary of Anne Frank : echoes from the past (90 min.); excerpt from the documentary, George Stevens : a filmmaker's journey; George Stevens press conference; Movietone News featuring Millie Perkins appearances, Academy Award Highlights, Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony, and more; Millie Perkins screen test; still gallery; trailers. 158 min. DVD 7347; vhs 999:954

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Barnouw, David. "Anne Frank and Film." In: Anne Frank : reflections on her life and legacy / edited by Hyman Aaron Enzer and Sandra Solotaroff-Enzer. pp: 165-72. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c2000. (Main Stack DS135.N6.F73 2000

Distant Journey (Daleká cesta) (Czechoslovakia, 1949)

Directed by Alfred Radok. Cast: Blanka Waleska, Otomar Krejca, Viktor Ocasek, Zdenka Baldova, Jiri Spirit, Eduard Kohout. One of the first theatrical films about the Holocaust, banned for decades in the Czech Republic and then rediscovered, follows the struggles of Dr. Hannah Kaufman and her family from the time of the Nazi Occupation of Prague through her experiences in the transit camp of Theresienstadt (modern Terezin). 98 min. DVD 4133

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Divided We Fall (Musime si pomahat) (Czech Republic, 2000)

Director, Jan Hrebejk. Cast: Boleslav Polivka, Csongor Kassai, Jaroslav Dusek, Anna Siskova, Jiri Pecha, Martin Huba, Simona Stasova, Vladimir Marek, Jiri Kodet. During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslavakia, a couple, Josef and Marie, decide to hide a young Jewish neighbor in their small apartment. They keep getting a visit from their neighbor, Horst, who is a German sympathizer who has his eye on Marie. When she rejects his advances he seeks revenge by trying to move a Nazi clerk into their home, forcing the couple to tell a lie that will change their lives forever. 122 min. DVD 1227

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Downfall (Untergang) (Germany / Italy / Austria, 2004)

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. Cast: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes. Set in Hitler's bunker in 1945, during the brutal and harrowing last days of the Third Reich as seen through the eyes of Hitler's infamous secretary Traudl Junge. Optimism crumbles into grim realization and terror as it becomes clear that Germany's defeat is inevitable. As the Russian army circles the city, the dimly lit halls of the underground refuge become an execution chamber for the Fuhrer and his closest advisors. 155 min. DVD 4178

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Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Directed by Bruce Beresford. Cast: Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, Patti Lupone, Esther Rolle. Set in Atlanta in the 1950's, a textile factory owner insists on hiring an ever-patient chauffeur for his aging head-strong mother. The Jewish woman and her African American driver eventually build a relationship over many years. 99 min. DVD 5147

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Enemies, A Love Story (1989)

Directed by Paul Mazursky. Cast: Anjelica Huston, Ron Silver, Lena Olin, Margaret Sophie Stein, Judith Malina, Alan King. A Holocaust survivor finds himself simultaneously involved with three women: the peasant who hid him from the Nazis during the war, a beautiful concentration camp survivor, and his first wife (who he was certain was dead). 120 min. DDVD 7248

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Escape from Sobibor (Yugoslavia / UK, 1987)

Directed by Jack Gold. Cast: Alan Arkin, Rutger Hauer, Joanna Pacula, Hartmut Becker, Jack Shepherd. Period Nazi propaganda. Towards the end of World War II the Nazi regime created three "Death camps" in Eastern Poland. A small group of prisoners were kept back from the gas chambers to work the camp under the control of the Nazi guards. This is the true story of the mass escape of Jewish prisoners from the Nazi death camp at Sobibor, Poland; of people who had to watch their countrymen and families die and pushed to the limit of human endurance, finally found a way to fight back. 999:2394

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Eternal Jew (Der Ewige Jude) (Germany, 1940)

Directed by Fritz Hippler. Period Nazi propaganda. An anti-Semitic film made by the Nazis from footage taken at Lodz ghetto, in Poland. 999:295

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Europa, Europa: A True Story (Hitlerjunge Salomon) (Germany / France / Poland, 1990)

Directed by Agnieszka Holland. Cast: Marco Hofschneider, Julie Delpy, Hanns Zischler. A dramatization of the true story of a Jewish teenager who survived World War II by living as a Nazi for 7 years. Through quick wittedness, the oddest twists of fate, and sheer luck, the young Jewish boy escapes from a Polish ghetto, lives in a Communist orphanage, hides out in an elite school for Hitler's youth and fights as a Nazi soldier without the Germans ever knowing the truth. 115 min. DVD 8362; vhs 999:1424

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Solomon Perel, Nov. 9, 1993, University of California, Berkeley. 110 min. Video/C 5199

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Everything is Illuminated (2005)

Directed by Liev Schreiber. Cast: Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz, Boris Leskin, Laryssa Lauret. A young American man, with the help of a local who speaks weirdly broken English, journeys to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village that was ultimately razed by the Nazis. 106 min. DVD 5327

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Exodus (1960)

Directed by Otto Preminger. Cast: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Sal Mineo, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb. Dramatizes part of the Israeli independence moment, dealing with various factions involved in the internecine struggle between the moderate Haganah and the radical terrorist Irgun Zvai Leumi. Interspersed throughout are segments showing the migration of European Jews to the new land, paying special attention to the ragged survivors of Nazi death camps on board the vessel Exodus, blockaded in a Cyprus harbor by British warships. Also depicts the struggle of the Jews in Palestine to gain partition, then profiles the main characters after the partition, fighting to continue as the nation of Israel. Based on the book by Leon Uris. 208 min. DVD X1091; vhs 999:831

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Ahl, F. "Spartacus, Exodus, and Ideologies of War: Managing Ideologies of War." In: Spartacus : film and history / edited by Martin M. Winkler. Malden, MA, USA : Blackwell Pub., 2007. (Main Stack PN1997.S6425.S63 2007)

Loshitzky, Y. "National Rebirth as a Movie: Otto Preminger"s Exodus." National Identities 4.2 (July 1, 2002): p119(13).

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Weissbrod, Rachel. "Exodus as a Zionist Melodrama." Israel Studies 4.1 (Spring 1999): 129.

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Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Directed by Norman Jewison. Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann. Tevye is a poor Jewish milkman with five unmarried daughters to support in a village in Czarist Russia. With a sharp tongued wife at home and growing anti-Semitism in the village, Tevye talks to God about his troubles. His people's traditions keep him strong when his existence is as precariously balanced as a fiddler on the roof. Special DVD features: "Norman Jewison, filmmaker" documentary, audio commentary by Norman Jewison and Topol, never-before-available deleted song "Any day now", "Tevye's dream" in full color, stories of Sholom Aleichem and historical background read by Norman Jewison, and storyboard to film comparison. 180 min. DVD 2578; vhs 999:768

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Wolitz, Seth L. "The Americanization of Tevye or Boarding the Jewish Mayflower." American Quarterly vol. 40 no. 4. 1988 Dec.: 514-536.

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The Fifth Rider is Fear (A páty Jezdec je Strach)(Czechoslovakia, 1964)

Director, Zbynek Brynych. Cast: Miroslav Machacek, Olga Scheinpflugova, Jiri Adamira, Illia Prachar, Josef Vinklar, Zdenka Prochazkova, Slavka Budinova, Jiri Virtala. An aging Jewish doctor is forbidden to practice medicine in Prague during the Nazi occupation. He is employed in a warehouse as a clerk, cataloguing confiscated Jewish property. When a partisan is wounded, the doctor reluctantly agrees to treat him. The doctor hides him in his run-down apartment building as he sneaks through the black-market underworld of Prague in search of morphine to ease the man's pain, ever fearful of informant neighbors and vigilant authorities. Within a historical context, director Zbynek Brynych creates a thinly-disguised allegory about contemporary communist Czechoslovakia that is rich in atmosphere and dark in tone. 100 min. DVD 7247

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Focus(2002)

Director, Neal Slavin. Cast: William H. Macy, Laura Dern, David Paymer, Meat Loaf Aday, Kay Hawtrey, Joseph Ziegler, Kenneth Welsh. This story follows a Brooklyn man and his wife who become victims of mistaken identity at the height of World War II. Their bigoted community believes that they are Jews. Slowly ostracized at home and work, they learn the value of self and solidarity as they struggle to maintain dignity and find happiness. 107 min. DVD 1134

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The Frisco Kid (1979)

Directed by Robert Aldrich. Cast: Gene Wilder, Harrison Ford. A innocent Polish rabbi travels through 1850s America toward his new congregation and wife in San Francisco. Along the way, he forms an uneasy alliance with an inept bank robber and the two cut a pratfall-filled path across the wild west. 119 min. DVD 5972

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Funny Girl (1968)

Directed by William Wyler. Cast: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walte Pidgeon. Follows the early career of stage comedienne, Fanny Brice, her rise to stardom with the Ziegfeld Follies, and her stormy romance with Nicky Arnstein. Starring arbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walte Pidgeon.165 min. 999:830

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The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Giardino dei Finzi-Contini) (Italy / West Germany, 1970)

Directed by Vittorio De Sica. Cast: Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda, Fabio Testi, Romolo Valli, Helmut Berger. This drama is set in Italy in 1938, when Mussolini's anti-Semitic edicts began to isolate the Jews from their communities. As the political atmosphere becomes increasingly hostile to Jewish citizens the handsome and carefree children of a cultured Jewish family, the Finzi-Continis, turn their home into a refuge for their young friends. In an atmosphere of emotional instability, they play out hearbreaking romantic rituals which spiral into tragedy as Fascism gradually descends upon their world. Based on the novel of the same title by Giorgio Bassani. 94 min. DVD 5520; vhs 999:1909

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Geburtig (Poland / Germany / Austria, 2002)

Directed by Robert Schindel, Lukas Stepanik. Cast: Peter Simonischek, Ruth Rieser, August Zirner. The past catches up with two men, the Jewish emigrant composer Hermann Geburtig and the German journalist Konrad Sachs. Geburtig testifies against a former concentration camp supervisor, and Sachs faces the reality that his father was an SS-Doctor. 100 min. DVD 2960

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Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Directed by Elia Kazan. Cast: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Celeste Holm, Anne Revere, June Havoc, Albert Dekker, Jane Wyatt, Dean Stockwell. A writer who is assigned to do a magazine series on anti-Semitism decides to pose as a Jew, and soon discovers what it is like to be a victim of religious intolerance. Special DVD features: Audio commentary by Celeste Holm, June Havoc and film critic Richard Schickel; AMC Backstory episode: "Gentleman's agreement"; 2 Fox Movietone newsreels; still gallery; theatrical trailer. 118 min. 999:987

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The Girl of Your Dreams (La Niña de tus ojos) (Spain, 1998)

Directed by Fernando Trueba. Cast: Neus Asensi, Jesus Bonilla, Penelope Cruz, Karel Dobry, Loles Leon, Gotz Otto, Antonio Resines, Jorge Sanz, Rosa Maria Sarda. In Civil War torn Spain, Germany invites a group of filmmakers to shoot two versions of the Andalusian musical drama "The girl of your dreams" in Berlin. Happy to leave the war behind them, the troupe of Spaniards starts filming in Hitler's Berlin. The hospitality upon their arrival has more to do with the youthful charms of Macarena Granada. What's more, the only Andalusion-looking extras in Germany are the gypsies and Jewish prisoners in a nearby concentration camp. When Macarena befriends one of the prisoners, the troupe must decide if the movie is more important than their lives. 105 min. 999:1790

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God on Trial(TV, 2008)

Directed by Andy DeEmmony. Cast: Anthony Sher, Stellan Skarsgard, Stephen Dillane, Dominic Cooper, Eddie Marsan, Rupert Graves, Jack Shepherd. Following the harrowing ritual of selection for death or hard labor, a group of new inmates unsure of their appointed fates begins asking how God could allow for so much suffering. Impulsively, the men decide to put God on trial for abandoning His chosen people. Amid the outside sounds of prisoners being marched to the gas chamber, the trial unfolds. They group address the question: How can there be evil in a universe ruled by an all-powerful, benevolent God? Originally broadcast in 2008 on BBC2 in the UK and on the PBS television program Masterpiece Theatre in the U.S. 86 min. DVD X2117

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The Golem: How He Came Into the World (Germany, 1920, Germany)

Directed by Carl Boese and Paul Wegener. Set in medieval Prague, the rabbi gives life to the Golem who falls in love with the rabbi's daughter and brings fear to the emperor's court. He is destroyed by an innocent child. Based on the legend of the Golem, a popular figure in Jewish tradition.

Restored authorized edition, 86 min.: DVD 1384

90 min. version: DVD 1385

94 min. version: VHS 999:141

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Goodbye, Columbus (1969)

Directed by Larry Peerce. Cast: Richard Benjamin, Ali MacGraw, Jack Klugman. Richard Benjamin, Ali MacGraw, Jack Klugman, Nan Martin. A Jewish man and a jewish woman meet and while attracted to each other find that their worlds are very different. She is the archetypical Jewish-American-Princess, very emotionally involved with her parents world and the world they have created for her while he is much less dependent on his family. They begin an affair which brings more differences to the surface. Based on the novella by Philip Roth. 105 min. DVD 8370; vhs 999:2403

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Lewis, Cherie S. "Philip Roth on the Screen." Studies in American Jewish Literature, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 204-211, Fall 1989.

The Great Dictator (1940)

Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin plays the dual role of a persecuted Jewish barber as well as Adenoid Hynkel, dictator of Tomania. The barber is imprisoned, escapes, and is finally mistaken for the dictator. At that time, the barber makes an impassioned humanistic speech which amazes the dictator's followers. 126 min. DVD 243; Video/C 999:44

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The Grey Zone (2001)

Directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Cast: David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, Steve Buscemi, David Chandler, Allan Corduner, Harvey Keitel, Natasha Lyonne, Mira Sorvino, Kamelia Grigorova. Based on real-life events this harrowing and compelling film chronicles a unit of Auschwitz's Sonderkommandos, a special squad of Jewish prisoners, who stage the only armed revolt that would ever take place at Auschwitz. But when the unit discovers a 14- year-old child who has miraculously survived the gas chambers, they risk all to save this one child. 126 min. DVD 1611

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Hanna K. (Israel / France, 1982)

Directed by Costa-Gavras. Cast: Jill Clayburgh, Jean Yanne, Gabriel Byrne, Muhammad Bakri. Story of a Jewish-American woman attorney's tumultuous relationships with her sullen client, an accused Palestinian terrorist, her fiery lover and her new homeland of Israel. 111 min. 999:3065

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The Harmonists (Germany / Austria, 1997)

Directed by Joseph Vilsmaier. Cast: Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Max Tidof, Kai Wiesinger, Meret Becker. In this dramatization of a true story, Harry and his friends form "The Harmonists," a singing group in pre-war Germany. Changes in the nation's political tide force them to make decisions that will test their loyalty. When three of the six are disclosed as Jews, the group faces banning. 115 min. DVD 1862

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Hate (La Haine)(France, 1995)

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Cast: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili, Solo, Joseph Momo, Heloise Rauth. Said is an Arab, Hubert is black, Vinz is a Jew, all living in Paris. Each of them needs to vent the anger they feel about the police brutality that landed another friend in the hospital. Vinz finds a Smith & Wesson .44 that sparks the shocking climax after the boys tangle with the cops and a gang of skinheads. Special features (ca. 135 min.) (Disc 1): Video introduction by Jodie Foster (14:51); Audio commentary by director Mathieu Kassovitz; Theatrical trailers. (Disc 2): "Ten Years of La haine" (83:25); "Social Dynamite" (33:59); "Preparing for the Shoot" (5:57); "Making of a Scene" (6:36); Deleted and extended scenes (5:57); Still gallery. Essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau, and appreciation by Costa-Gavras in booklet. 95 min. DVD 7386; DVD 5603 (non-US DVD); vhs 999:1644

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The Hebrew Hammer (2003)

Directed by Jonathan Kesselman. Cast: Andy Dick, Adam Goldberg, Judy Greer, Mario Van Peebles, Nora Dunn, Peter Coyote. Comedy Central presents a wildly satirical and politically incorrect comedy about a psychotic Santa who tries to destroy Chanukah by hypnotizing Jewish children with bootlegged copies of the Christmas film, "It's a Wonderful Life." Its up to semitic super stud Hebrew Hammer, together with Mohammed, head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front, to hunt down the renegade Santa and make the holiday season safe for all. 85 min. DVD 3197

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Hester Street (1975)

Directed by Joan Micklin Silver. Cast: Mel Howard, Carol Kane, Doris Roberts, Stephen Keats, Dorrie Kavanaugh. Russian Jewish immigrants, Jake and Gitl, encounter trials and tribulations as they discard their old world traditions and adjust to life in America in 1896. Based on the play "Yejl" by Abraham Cahan. Special DVD features: Audio commentary by Joan Micklin Silver and Raphael Silver; interviews with Joan Micklin Silver and Raphael Silver, Carol Kane and Doris Roberts. DVD 3372; vhs 999:666

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His Excellency (Yevo prevoshoditelstvo) (Soviet Union, 1928)

Directed by Grigori Roshal. Based on the life of Hirsch Lekert, a shoemaker and militant Jewish Labor Bund member, who attempted to assassinate the Vilna governor in 1902 to avenge the flogging of workers who participated in a May Day rally. Although the film was intended "as a track against individualism...a greater emphasis is placed on class struggle within the Jewish community." Bourgeois Jewish Zionists find themselves pitted against fellow Jewish proletariats and the government. 76 min. 999:3755

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Holocaust (199-?)

Contents: In Dark Places -- How Come Israel? -- The Good Omen -- The Hangman. Social critic and author of "In dark places," Susan Sontag, explores the meaning of Hitler's genocide with a group of present day students. This powerful document is followed and complemented by three gripping short films which probe and elaborate on the same theme. Narrator, Herschel Bernardi (Hangman). 84 min. 999:2382

Holocaust: The Story of the Family Weiss (TV, 1978)

Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky. Cast: Tom Bell, Joseph Bottoms, Tovah Feldshuh, Marius Goring, Rosemary Harris, Anthony Haygarth, Michael Moriarty, Deborah Norton, George Rose, Robert Stephens, Meryl Streep, Sam Wanamaker, David Warner, Fritz Weaver, James Woods. The time is the decade spanning the turbulent years of 1935 to 1945. As the action unfolds, two families living in Nazi Germany struggle to survive amid the chaos and horror of war. In the Weiss household, Inga watches helplessly as her family is split apart and scattered across the war-torn country. Choosing a different path to survival, the Dorf family joins the German war effort, as Erik Dorf becomes part of Hitler's dreaded SS. 450 min. 999:2414 (3 parts)

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The Holy Land (Israel, 2001)

Directed by Eitan Gorlin. Cast: Oren Rehany, Tchelet Semel, Saul Stein. Set in Jerusalem, this is the story of Mendy, a young rabbinical student who is restless to learn about the bigger world. On the unconventional advice of his teacher, Mendy visits a brothel in order to exhaust his lust and restlessness, but instead falls in love with a Russian prostitute, Sasha. Mendy plummets further when he discovers Mike's Place, a bar on the edge of society run by an American expatriate, where Muslims, Christians and Jews all mingle to unseen ends. 101 min. DVD 2959

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Homicide (1991)

Directed and written by David Mamet. Featuring Joe Mantegna, William H. Macy, Vincent Guastaffero, J. J. Johnston. A tough cop in assigned to what appears to be a routine homicide case of an elderly shopkeeper. But the evidence points at jewish arms-smugglers and to a conspiracy that causes him to question his own motives, his identity as a Jew and his loyalty to the force. 100 min. 999:2308

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The House I Live In (1945)

Directed Mervyn LeRoy. Cast" Frank Sinatra. "Frank Sinatra didn't become a "respected" actor until almost a decade after this 1945 short, but The House I Live In was Sinatra?s first Oscar-winning film. The movie, written by future blacklistee Albert Maltz and set to a song composed by leftist songwriter Earl Robinson, opens with a gang of kids chasing a kid who is "different" [i.e., Jewish]. Frank sees the fight and reminds them of how important putting aside prejudice was to winning World War II, then he sings "The House I Live In", a heartfelt folksong (originally recorded by Josh White) about America and its ideals, and they get the message. It may seem hokey today, but in 1945 the film was strong enough to win an Oscar for Best Short Subject." [from Jackson Mississippi Jewish Film Festival festival notes] included in Unlce Sam: The Movie vol. I Video/C 7091

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Humoresque (1947)

Directed by Jean Negulesco. Cast: Joan Crawford, John Garfield, Oscar Levant, J. Carrol Naish. A glamorous but alcoholic socialite, trapped in a marriage to an older man, finds herself falling in love with a young violinist (Garfield) from the Lower East Side whose performance she is underwriting. Lester Friedman, in his "Hollywood's Image of the Jew" (NY: Ungar, 1982), p. 36) calls the film the "quintessential ghetto film." 126 min. 999:1228

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Hungry Hearts (silent, 1922)

Directed by E. Mason Hopper. Cast: E. A. Warren, Rosa Rosanova, Helen Ferguson, Bryant Washburn, A. Budin, Edwin B. Tilton, George Siegmann, Otto Lederer, Bert Sprotte. This film focuses on the trials and challenges of the Levin family who emigrate from Eastern Europe to New York City. Filmed on location on the Lower East Side, this bittersweet classic captures the hopes and hardships of Jewish immigrants in the New World. Based on the book by Anzia Yezierska. 80 min. DVD X2059; vhs 999:2341

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Brownlow, Kevin. ""Hungry Hearts": A Hollywood Social Problem Film of the 1920s." Film History, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1987), pp. 113-125

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Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust

This documentary examines how American filmmakers reacted to German scapegoating of Jews before, during, and after the war, ranging from the boldness of Confessions of a Nazi Spy and The Mortal Storm (both of which were produced before America entered the war) to more oblique statements during the war itself, and then finally leading to an honest portrayal of the full consequences of the Holocaust beginning in the '50s. This film interweaves clips from Holocaust movies and interviews with film producers and directors and survivors who work in the film industry. 2004. 90 min. DVD 5041

The Inn (Austeria) (Poland. 1982)

Directed by Jerzy Kwalerowicz. Cast: Franciszek Pieczka, Wojciech Pszoniak, Jan Szurmiej, Ewa Domanska, Wojciech Standeo. Early in World War I, a group of Orthodox Jews flee from the Cossack army. A secluded country inn becomes their temporary refuge, where emotional attachments, brief love affairs, and even a renewed faith in humankind inspire them. 110 min. DVD 5030

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Invincible (UK / Germany / Ireland / USA, 2001)

Directed by Werner Herzog. Cast: Tim Roth, Jouko Ahola, Anna Gourari, Jacob Wein, Max Raabe, Gustav Peter Woehler, Udo Kier. Based on a true story, this is the compelling tale of a simple Jewish man who leaves his humble village to become a mythical strongman in Berlin. With Hitler on the brink of power and the world on the road to war, he risks it all to fight for his people. 135 min. DVD 1715

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Jakob the Liar (France / USA / Hungary, 1999)

Directed by Peter Kassovitz. Cast: Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, Michael Jeter, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Liev Schreiber, Mark Margolis, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hannah Taylor Gordon. An uplifting tale of hope set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. When Jakob, a poor Jewish cafe owner, accidentally overhears a news bulletin signalling Soviet military successes against German forces, he whispers his secret good news to two friends. As the news spreads, so does a rumour: Jakob must have a radio, an offence punishable by death. Observing the lift in spirits, Jakob continues to relay fictitious news bulletins about Allied advances, despite the danger. When the Germans hear of the mythical radio, however, they begin a search for the resistance hero who dares to operate it... 101 min. DVD 8476; vhs 999:2735

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Jakob the Liar (Jakob der Lugner) (East Germany / Czechoslovakia, 1974)

Directed by Frank Beyer. Cast: Vlastimil Brodsky, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Erwin Geschonneck, Henry Hubchen, Blanche Kommerell, Manuela Simon, Margit Bara. Jacob Heim is stopped by the police in the Jewish ghetto for being out after curfew. As his penalty, he must report to the Commander. On the police station radio, he overhears that the Red Army is advancing. To bring new hope for himself and his fellow sufferes he secretly passes on the news to the others, pretending that he has his own well-hidden radio. Jacob becomes a hero in spite of himself and the faith of all those in the ghetto hangs on his invented news reports. 101 min. 999:2386

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Dochartaigh, P. "Americanizing the Holocaust: The Case of Jakob the Liar." Modern Language Review, vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 456-71, Spring 2006

O'Doherty, Paul "Fiddler in the Ghetto: The Film of Jurek Becker's Novel Jakob der Lügner." In: Text into image, image into text : proceedings of the interdisciplinary bicentenary conference held at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth (the National University of Ireland) in September 1995 / edited by Jeff Morrison and Florian Krobb. (Main Stack PN53.T49 1997)

The Jazz Singer(1927)

Directed by Alan Crosland. Cast: Al Jolson, Mary McAvoy, Warner Oland, William Demarest, Eugenie Besserer, Otto Lederer, Josef Rosenblatt. Jakie Rabinowitz is the son of a Jewish cantor. Turning his back on family tradition, Jakie transforms himself into cabaret-entertainer Jack Robin. When Jack comes home to visit his parents, he is warmly greeted by his mother, but is given the cold-shoulder by his father, who feels that Jack is a traitor to his heritage by singing jazz music. On the eve of his biggest show business triumph, Jack receives word that his father is dying. Out of respect, Jack foregoes his opening night to attend Atonement services at the temple and sings the Kol Nidre in his father's place. In motion picture history, this marks the first feature film to utilize synchronous sound. Actor Al Jolson's songs include "Toot, toot, tootsie", "Blue skies", and "Mammy". Special features: Disc 1: Commentary by Ron Hutchinson, founder of The Vitaphone Projects and Nighthawks Bandleader Vince Giordano; vintage Al Jolson short films: "A plantation act," "An intimate dinner in celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee," "Hollywood handicap," and "A day at Santa Anita" ; radio show adaptation and movie trailer gallery; classic homage cartoon "I love to singa" which features a jazz-singing Owl Jolson. 89 min. DVD 8594; vhs 999:790

"Since its premiere in 1927, many jazz critcs have overlooked The Jazz Singer, America's pioneer talking picture, in the history of American jazz film. Despite its title, the talkie's account of Old World vs. New World tension and Jewish assimilation has little to do with the jazz sound made famous by such artists as Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton. Yet as crtic Krin Gabbard argues, the film's appropriation of the title jazz reflects the cultural understanding of "jazz" during the American Jazz Age. In the 1920s, jazz, referring in general to up-tempo music, represented the emotional release and freedom of a generation striving to break established social conventions. While African American contributions to jazz were largely overlooked in the rise of Paul Whiteman and Al jolson's fame, blackface minstrelsy of the age represented white Americans attempt to ventriloquize blacks associated with supposed freedom of Negro primitivisim. Using jazz to represent Raboniwitz's break from Old World tradition and featuring a finale in blackface minstrelsy, The Jazz Singer (as Gabbard argues) lays the foundation for cultural representations of jazz in American cinema." [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ASI/musi212/brandi/jazz.html]

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Jew-Boy Levi (Viehjud Levi) (Germany / Switzerland / Austria, 1998)

Directed by Didi Danquart. Cast: Bruno Cathomas, Caroline Ebner, Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Noethen, Bern Michael Lade, Eva Mattes, Gerhard Olschewski. A peaceful, isolated community is engulfed by the hatred and violence of the outside world in this taut drama set in pre-war Germany. Levi, the Jewish cattle dealer, makes his annual trip to a remote farming village but things have changed since his last visit. Nazi propaganda has infected the town and Levi realizes that he has become a target. 90 min. DVD 441

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Jews In Space: or Why Is this Night Different from All Other Nights? (Judíos en el espacio [o por que es diferente esta noche a las demás noches] (Argentina, 1998)

Directed by Gabriel Lichtmann. Cast: Fernando Rubio, Luna Paiva, Veronica Llinas, Beatriz Spelzini, Gerardo Chendo, Axel Anderson. A Jewish family in Buenos Aires comes together to celebrate Passover, despite petty jealousy, mismatched romantic feelings, and a suicidal patriarch. 89 min. DVD 8147

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Joy (Muchrachim Lehiyot Same'ach) (Israel, 2005)

Directed by Julie Shles. Cast: Sigalit Fuchs, Tal Friedman, Keren Mor, Yosi Polak, Rivka Michaeli. Joy Levine, oversized but with an enormous heart, is chosen to throw a surprise party for her parents for the reality television show, "Gotta Be Happy." The theme of the show, to be aired right after Yom Kippur, is forgiveness. Joy has to get all of her parents' estranged friends to the party to achieve a reconciliation, but the price she must pay is sharing a dark secret that has hung over the Levines for 22 years. 90 min. DVD 8147

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Jud Süß (Germany, 1940)

Directed by Veit Harlan. Produced in 1938, but not released until 1940, "Jud Suss" was the film that made the wearing of the Jewish Star of David in Europe mandatory. This is the Nazi version of the novel of the same title by Lion Feuchtwanger. It is based on the real historical character of Josef Suss Oppenheimer who was tax advisor to Karl Alexander during the early 1700's and was publicly executed in Stuttgart for manipulation of state funds. In 1926 Feuchtwanger (also Jewish) wrote the novel "Jud Suss" which contained no anti-Semitic content whatsoever. In 1934 British Gaumat Studios produced the film under the title "Power". Minister of Nazi Propaganda Joseph Goebbels saw the film and felt that the film could be produced in a Nazi version to benefit National Socialism. 95 min. DVD X1808; also DVD 3856; vhs 999:338

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Judgment at Nuremburg (1961)

Directed by Stanley Kramer. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, Ed Binns, Werner Klemperer, William Shatner. American judge Daniel Haywood presides over the trial of four German jurists accused of "legalizing" Nazi atrocities. But as graphic accounts of sterilization and murder unfold in the courtroom, mounting political pressure for leniency forces Haywood into making the most harrowing and difficult decision of his career. 186 min. DVD 3162; vhs 999:1040

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Mann, Abby. Judgment at Nuremberg : the script of the film London : Cassell, 1961. (MAIN: PN1997.J77 M36 1961)

Kadosh (Sacred) (Israel / France, 1999)

Directed by Amos Gitai. Cast: Yael Abecassis, Yoram Hattab, Meital Barda, Uri Klauzner, Yussef Abu Warda, Lea Koenig, Sami Hori, Rivka Michaeli. The story of two Hasidic sisters living in the Mea Shearim area of Jerusalem. Rivka and her husband are deeply in love, but he obeys his rabbi father and divorces her after 10 childless years of marriage. Rivka's sister Malka loves a man who has left Hasidism after joining the army, but accepts the marriage her parents have arranged to the rabbi's assistant. 117 min. DVD 401

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Biale, David. "Israeli Secularists' Revenge.(Review)." Tikkun 15.4 (July 2000): 69.

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Cardullo, Robert James. "Kadosh." (Review). The Hudson Review 53.4 (Wntr 2001): p640(5).

James, Nick. "In a Harsh Light." Sight and Sound, vol. 10, no. 8, pp. 28-30, August 2000.

Kapo (Yugoslavia / France / Italy, 1959)

Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. Cast: Susan Strasberg, Laurent Terzieff, Emmanuele Riva, Didi Perego. The story of a Jewish girl from Paris sent to a concentration camp during World War II and her struggle to survive by becoming a collaborator. 92 min. 999:2383

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Keeping Up with the Steins (2006)

Directed by Scott Marshall. Cast: Jami Gertz, Daryl Hannah, Garry Marshall, Jeremy Piven, Doris Roberts, Daryl Sabara, Larry Miller, Richard Benjamin, Cheryl Hines. Adam Fiedler is a Hollywood agent who wants nothing more than to give his son Ben the lavish bar mitzvah he rightly deserves. Trouble is, Adam's archrival and former business partner Arnie Stein has already thrown a spectacular bar mitzvah for his own son. Now Adam feels intense pressure to keep up with the Steins. Adam's estranged father Irwin has been living on an Indian reservation with his younger girlfriend Sacred Feather. Ben wants to use his upcoming bar mitzvah to reconcile the strained relationship between his father and grandfather. Special features: Deleted scenes; "'Keeping up the Steins'": behind the scenes; Feature commentary with director Scott Marshall and writer/producer Mark Zakarin; Father and son feature commentary with director Scott Marshall and actor Garry Marshall. 99 min. DVD 7854

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Korczak (Poland / Germany / UK, 1990)

Directed by Andrzej Wajda. Cast: Wojtek Pszoniak, Ewa Dalkowska. Tells the true story of Janusz Korczak, a renowned physician and author, who ran a home for Jewish orphans in 1930's Warsaw. Urged by friends to flee the country, he chose to remain with his orphans, but as the war continued it became plain that, depite Krczak's tireless efforts, the children would be deported to concentration camps. 118 min. 999:3652

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Lacombe Lucien (France / West Germany / Italy, 1974)

Directed by Louis Malle. Cast: Pierre Blaise, Aurore Clement, Holger Lowenadler, Therese Giehse. Louis Malle's film brilliantly relates the story of a young opportunist French peasant who joins the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation. Despite being a collaborator he falls in love with the daughter of a Jewish tailor, with profound effects on her family. A subtle, complex tale of guilt, innocence and the amorality of power. 132 min. DVD 5381; vhs 999:3071

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The Last Butterfly (Poslední motýl) (Czechoslovakia / France / UK, 1991)

Director, Karel Kachyna. Cast: Tom Courtenay, Brigitte Fossey, Freddie Jones, Ingrid Held, Milan Kazko, Josef Kemr, Linda Jablonska, Daniel Margolius. A French actor is taken prisoner by the Gestapo and sentenced to perform in the "model city" of Terezin, a concentration camp filled with artists and children to prove to the world how well the Nazis treat the imprisoned Jews. But the actor discovers the horrifying truth and as he rehearses with a group of children in what is to be the last performance of their lives, he refuses to play a role in the Nazi's charade. 106 min. 999:3513

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Le Dernier métro (Last Metro) (1980)

Directed by François Truffaut. Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Poiret, Heinz Bennent. In Nazi-occupied Paris the jewish director of the Montmartre theatre is in hiding. In his absence, the theatre is run by his wife who is determined to protect her husband. Special features DVD X1689: Disc one: New audio commentary by Annette Insdorf, author of François Truffaut; audio commentary by actor Gérard Depardieu, historian Jean-Pierre Az�ma, and Truffaut biographer Serge Toubiana. Disc two: Deleted scene; French television excerpts featuring interviews with Truffaut and actors Catherine Deneuve, Depardieu, and Jean Poiret; new video interviews with actors Andréa Ferréol, Sabine Haudepin, and Paulette Dubost, second assistant director Alain Tasma, and camera assistants Florent Bazin and Tessa Racine, in which they discuss The last metro's ensemble performances and visual style; a video interview with the celebrated cinematographer Nestor Almendros, detailing his collaborations with Truffaut; "Une histoire d'eau," a 1958 short film by Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard; theatrical trailer.131 min. DVD X1689; also DVD 1216; vhs 999:1095

Levi and Cohen, the Irish Comedians(Biograph, 1903)

Clips from this early short feature are included in What Do Those Old Films Mean? Video/C 1406:2; Pt. 2

Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella ) (Italy, 1964)

Directed by Roberto Benigni. Cast: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giustino Durano, Sergio Bustric, Lydia Alfonsi, Giorgio Cantarini, Horst Buchholz, Marisa Paredes. A charming but bumbling Jewish waiter who's gifted with a colorful imagination and an irresistible sense of humor has won the heart of the woman he loves and has created a beautiful life for his young family. Then that life is threatened by World War II. 116 min. DVD 124; VHS 999:2503

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Little Jerusalem (La Petite Jerusalem) (France, 2005)

Directed by Karin Albou. Cast: Fanny Valette, Elsa Zylberstein, Bruno Todeschini, Hedi Tillette de Clermont-Tonnerre, Sonia Tahar, Michael Cohen, Aurore Clement. In a Paris suburb nicknamed Little Jerusalem, a family of Sephardic Orthodox immigrants shares a low-income apartment. Beautiful, teenaged Laura distances herself from her family's religion and her own burgeoning desire by devoting every waking moment to intellectual discipline and secular philosophy. Mathilde, Laura's married older sister, worries that strict observance of the Torah's marital codes has driven her husband Ariel into the bed of another. When Laura falls under the spell of Djamel, a handsome Muslim journalist, and Mathilde discovers that her worst fears are true, the two very different sisters find themselves in very similar crises. 94 min. DVD 6159

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Long is the Road (Lang ist der Weg)(Germany / USA, 1946)

Directed by Herbert B. Fredersdorf and Marek Goldstein. Cast: Israel Becker, Bettina Moissi, Bertha Litwina, Jacob Fischer, Otto Wernicke, Paul Dahlke, Alex Bardini, David Hart, Mischa Nathan, H.L. Fischer. A forgotten classic and a film of passionate restraint, made by and about Jewish Displaced Persons. Produced in the American zone of occupied Germany in the aftermath of World War II, this first feature film to represent the Holocaust from a Jewish point of view has the power of a collective self-portrait. The young hero is deported in the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, jumps an Auschwitz-bound transport to take his chances in the countryside, and ultimately survives the war with a band of Jewish partisans to search for his family in the ruins of liberated Poland. 77 min. 999:3757

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Lost Embrace (El abrazo partido) (Argentina / France / Italy / Spain, 2004)

Directed by Daniel Burman. Cast: Daniel Hendler, Adriana Aizenberg, Jorge D'Elia, Sergio Boris, Diego Korol, Atilio Pozzobon, Silvina Bosco, Isaac Fajn, Norman Erlich, Rosita Londner. Ariel is a young man who lives in a Jewish working-class section of Buenos Aires. Since his father went missing in the war, his mother Sonia and brother Joseph work in the shopping and business district. With no interest in school or work, Ariel just ends up hanging out. He finally gets motivated by the idea of moving to Poland, so asks his grandmother, an ex-girlfriend, and Rabbi Benderson for help. 96 min. DVD X161

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Luna Park (France / Russia, 1991)

Director, Pavel Lounguine. Cast: Oleg Borisov, Andrei Goutine, Natalie Egorova. Andrei is the leader of a gang of right-wing skinheads in post-Communist Russia who are determined to "clean up" Russia by beating up Jews, foreigners, and anyone else they disapprove of. When, to his shock, the anti-Semitic Andrei learns that his father is actually a celebrated Jewish composer, he sets off on a frantic search through Moscow to find him. 105 min. 999:2254

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The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob) (France / Italy, 1973)

Director, Gerard Oury. Cast: Louis De Funès, Marcel Dalio, Suzy Delair. Victor Pivert, a blustering, anti-Semitic French factory owner en route to his daughter's wedding, unwittingly stumbles on a group of Arab terrorists. After Victor is captured and escapes, he hides himself by dressing up as a rabbi, leading to one madcap situation after another. 100 min. DVD 2478

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The Man in the Glass Booth (1974)

Director, Arthur Hiller. Cast: Maximilian Schell, Lois Nettleton, Lawrence Pressman, Luther Adler. Millionaire Jewish entrepreneur Arthur Goldman, who rules a financial empire from his Manhattan penthouse, is given to passionate and capricious ravings on a variety of subjects. His growing paranoia, dismissed by those close to him, is confirmed when he is kidnapped by Israeli agents and brought to trial in Israel for crimes against humanity. Is he Arthur Goldman or is he Adolph Dorf, former SS colonel who headed a Nazi concentration camp? As the trial progresses, the question becomes more confusing. 117 min. DVD 1788

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The Man Who Cried(UK / France, 2000)

Directed by Sally Potter. Cast: Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Johnny Depp, Harry Dean Stanton. "A Russian Jewish father emigrates to America in 1923, with a promise to send for his mother and young daughter when he is settled. When his village is burned in a pogrom, his mother is killed and his daughter is separated from other youngsters who make it to the port to emigrate. She ends up on a ship bound for England, where she is renamed Suzie and raised by a British family. Many years later, Suzie's talent for singing and dancing sees her accepted into a Paris dance troupe where she is befriended by Lola, a fellow dancer from Moscow. Cesar, a handsome brooding gypsy who works with the troupe later becomes her lover. Lola pursues Dante, an egotistical tenor who is performing in the area. All is well until the Nazis march into Paris, and Suzie's Russian Jewish background places her in danger. She must decide whether to leave Cesar and her friends and continue the search for her father in America" [IMDB] 100 min. DVD X359

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Marjorie Morningstar (1958)

Directed by Irving Rapper. Cast Gene Kelly, Natalie Wood, Claire Trevor, Everett Sloane, Marty Milner, Carolyn Jones, George Tobias, Martin Balsam, Jesse White, Edward Byrnes, Paul Picerni, Alan Reed, Ruta Lee, Ed Wynn. "While working as a counselor at a summer camp, college-student Marjorie Morgenstern falls for 32-year-old Noel Airman, a would-be dramatist working at a nearby summer theater. Like Marjorie, he is an upper-middle-class New York Jew (born 'Ehrman'), but has fallen away from his roots, and Marjorie's parents object among other things to his lack of a suitable profession, such as medicine or law. Noel himself warns Marjorie repeatedly that she's much too naive and conventional for him, but they nonetheless fall in love. As they pursue an on-again-off-again relationship, Marjorie completes her studies at Hunter College, and works to establish an acting career, while Noel first leaves the theater for a job with an advertising agency, but later completes a musical he'd started writing before he and Marjorie had first met. Meanwhile, their relationship deepens (though, consistent with '50s Hollywood mores, the more full-fledged sexuality in their relationship is never explicitly communicated). They plan to marry, but after the musical's critical failure on Broadway, Noel runs away. Marjorie finally tracks him down at the summer theater where they first met--and, realizing that this is probably where he belongs, finally gives up on the relationship. Helping her to move on with her life is Wally, once Noel's assistant, now a very successful Broadway playwright, and all along, Marjorie's unrequited lover. The movie ends with a clear implication Wally and Marjorie will finally be a couple." [IMDB] Based on the novel: Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk. 128 min. DVD X1072; vhs 999:1202

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Marathon Man (1976)

Directed by John Schlesinger. Featuring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller. Hoffman plays the likeable Columbia graduate student and marathon runner of the title, unwittingly trapped in a terrifying drama revolving around a murderous Nazi fugitive. 125 min. DVD 4818

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Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers particularly anarchic comedy, with its elements of vaudeville and Yiddish theater schtick, can be read as a goofy metaphor for the "messy" entry of early century immigrants into established American culture.

MRC's Comedy videography for other Marx Brothers titles.

See separate Bibliography of books and articles about the Marx Brothers

Maus: A Survivor's Tale. (CD-ROM/Macintosh)

Presents Art Spiegelman's novel entitled Maus which describes the Holocaust experiences of his father, Vladek Spiegelman. Includes interviews with the Spiegelmans, audio and video commentary by Art Spiegelman, sketches and family photographs, and artwork by Art Spiegelman. Compu/D 318

Mendy (Mendeleh) (2003)

Directed by Adam Vardy. Cast: Margaret Ivan Sandomire, Gabriela Dias, Spencer Chandler. The story of a young Brooklyn Hasid, a devout member of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect, as he struggles to adapt and find his place in modern secular society. Special features: Director commentary; theatrical trailer; interview with co-writer, Heshey Schnitzler; 2 music videos by The Say Machinery. 90 min. DVD 7973

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Merchant of Venice

See MRC Shakespeare videography for various versions

Armstrong, Gareth. A case for Shylock : around the world with Shakespeare's Jew London : Nick Hern, 2004. (MAIN: PN2598.A823 A3 2004)

Greenberg, Harvey Roy. "The Thing Itself." (history of Shylock portrayals in theatre and film).Psychiatric Times (July 1, 2005): 61.

Halio, Jay L. "Shylock: Shakespeare's Bad Jew." In: Images of matter : essays on British literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance : proceedings of the Eighth Citadel Conference on Literature, Charleston, South Carolina, 2002 / edited by Yvonne Bruce. Newark : University of Delaware Press ; Cranbury, NJ : Associated Unversity Presses, c2005. (Main Stack PR423.C58 2002)

Hirschfeld, Heather. "'We All Expect a Gentle Answer, Jew': The Merchant of Venice and the Psychotheology of Conversion." ELH, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 61-81, Spring 2006

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Shapiro, James S. Shakespeare and the Jews New York : Columbia University Press, c1996. (MAIN: PR2825 .S44 1996; MOFF: PR2825 .S44 1996)

Shapiro, Michael. "The Merchant of Venice after the Holocaust, or Shakespearean Romantic Comedy Meets Auschwitz." Cithara: Essays in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 3-23, November 2006

Yaffe, Martin D. Shylock and the Jewish question Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, c1997. New York : Columbia University Press, c1996. (MAIN: PR2825 .Y34 1997)

The Mortal Storm (1940)

Directed by Frand Borzage. Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan. On the same day that Prof. Roth celebrates his birthday, Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. This causes a tragic rift among the guests at the professor's party as loyalties are questioned, innocent people are brutalized and politics come between Roth's daughter, Freya, and her fiance. With all else lost, Freya finds herself falling in love with an old friend, but their only hope for a future together is a perilous escape to freedom across the Austrian border. 100 min. 999:2385

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Mother Night (1996)

Directed by Keith Gordon. Cast: Nick Nolte, Sheryl Lee, Alan Arkin, Kirsten Dunst, John Goodman, Henry Gibson. An American playwright living in Germany is persuaded to become an Allied spy within the Nazi Party. He becomes a notorious spokesman for the Nazi's anti-American and anti-semitic agenda, gaining celebrity in Germany and infamy in the States. Not even his wife knows of his clandestine spying, but as the Reich crumbles, so does his life. Escaping capture and living back in the U.S., he struggles with his past as he is confronted by Nazi haters and sympathizers. Based on the book by Kurt Vonnegut. 113 min. DVD X1064

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Mr. Skeffington (1944)

Directed by Vincent Sherman. Cast: Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel, Richard Waring, George Coulouris, Marjorie Riordan. Dealing openly with anti-Semitism and Nazi atrocities, the story spans World War I, Prohibition and the preliminary volley of World War II. Fanny thrives on the adulation of countless suiters before and after she marries Job Skeffington. Ravaged by age and illness, Fanny clings to Job's promise that "a woman is beautiful only when she is loved." 144 min. DVD 4064

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Murderers Are Amongst Us (Die Mörder sind unter uns) (Germany, 1946)

Directed by Wolfgang Staudte. Cast: Hildegard Knef, Ernst Wilhelm Borchert, Erna Sellmer, Arno Paulsen, Wolfgang Dohnberg. In the aftermath of World War II, Susanne Wallner returns from a concentration camp to find that her apartment is occupied by Dr. Martens, a former officer in the German army who has been severely traumatized by the atrocities perpetrated by his superiors. The unlikely pair form a delicate friendship as they struggle to restore some normalcy to their hellishly bleak existence. By chance Martens one day encounters Bruckner, his former Nazi commander who has not only readjusted to civilian life but seems to have economically benefited from his wartime command. 84 min. 999:1569

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Description of film from IceStorm catalog

My Mother's Courage (Mutters Courage) (Germany / UK / Austria / Ireland, 1995)

Directed by Michael Verhoeven. Cast: Pauline Collins, Ulrich Tukur, Heribert Sasse, Natalie Morse, Robert Giggenbach, G�nter Bothur, Simon Verhoeven, Jens Harzer, Buddy Elias, Peter Radtke, Otto Gr�nmandl, Hana Frejkova. Based on the true story of Elsa Tabori, whose dramatist son George Tabaria also wrote a stage version of it. During the German occupation in summer 1944, a woman who has been deported by the Nazis escapes annihilation in a concentration camp through her courage. Based on the novel by George Tabori. 89 min. DVD X1063; vhs 999:2794 (PAL format)

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Naked Among Wolves(Nackt unter Wölfen)(East Germany, 1962)

Directed by Frank Beyer; Cast: Erwin Geschonneck, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Krystyn Wojcik, Fred Delmare, Viktor Awdjuschko, Gerry Wolf, Erik S. Klein. Based on true events, this is the first German film devoted to life and death in a concentration camp. It tells the story of organized resistance by political prisoners in the Buchenwald concentration camp. When one of the prisoners smuggles a child into a camp, the men are faced with the question of how many lives may be endangered in order to save the life of the child. 124 min. 999:3160

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The Nasty Girl (Das Schreckliche Mädchen) (West Germany, 1989)

Directed by Michael Verhoeven. Cast: Lena Stolze, Hans-Reinhard Muller, Monika Baumgartner, Michael Gahr, Fred Stillkrauth, Elisabeth Bertram, Robert Giggenbach. Sonja undertakes a school project to investigate her town's past entitled "My home town during the Third Reich." She begins to search for facts, but those people who have personal experiences of that time are unwilling to provide her with information. The local archives produce contradictory evidence and she is denied access to local newspaper files. She quickly becomes the object of scorn and threats from the townspeople who have a surprising lot to conceal. Based on the true story of Anja Rosmus who still lives in her home town in Germany where the story is based. 94 in. 999:2843

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The Ninth Day (Der neunte Tag) (Germany / Luxembourg / Czech Republic, 2004)

Directed by Volker Schlöndorff. Cast: Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, Bibiana Beglau, Germain Wagner, Hilmar Thate, Jean-Paul Raths. Inspired by the true story of a dissident priest's temporary furlough from Dachau, The Ninth Day transforms an ethical crisis into a nail biting showdown and unspeakable guilt into transcendent redemption. 93 min. DVD 7803

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Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika) (Germany, 2001)

Directed by Caroline Link. Cast: Juliane Kohler, Merab Ninidze, Matthias Habich, Sidede Onyulo, Lea Kurka, Karoline Eckertz. Critically acclaimed, this film is based on the true life story of a Jewish family who fled the Nazi regime in 1938 and learned to cope with their new life, and each other, on a remote farm in Kenya. 142 min. DVD 1997

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Old Isaac, the Pawnbroker (silent, 1908)

Directed by Wallace McCutcheon; script: D. W. Griffith. This is the story of a little girl living in an urban slum who tries to sell her doll to get money for her sick and starving mother. Isaac, the pawnbroker, takes pity on the girl, goes to her apartment, stops the men who are trying to evict the sick woman, pays the rent, provides food and medical care, and even gives the girl a new doll. 14 min. 999:2339

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Oliver Twist.

Featuring that old semitic boogyman, Fagin.

Oliver Twist(1922)

Directed by Frank Lloyd. Silent. Lonn Chaney as Fagen. 999:1543

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Oliver Twist(1933)

Directed by William J. Cowen. Irving Pichel as Fagen. 999:1543

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Oliver Twist(1948)

Directed by David Lean. Alec Guinness as Fagen. 999:1288

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Oliver! (1968)

Directed by Carol Reed. Ron Moody as Fagin. 999:1287

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Oliver Twist(1985)

Directed by Gareth Davies. Eric Porter as Fagin. BBC Production. Video/C 1255

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John, Juliet.: "Fagin, the Holocaust and mass culture; or, Oliver Twist on screen." Dickens Quarterly (22:4) 2005, 204-23. (2005)

McKee, Alan. "Art or outrage? Oliver Twist and the flap over Fagin." Film Comment; Vol.XXXVI nr.1 (Jan-Feb 2000); p.40-41. On the controversy surrounding the portrayel of Fagin in David Lean's film "Oliver Twist".

Schappes, Morris. U. "Oliver Twist and Anti-Semitism" In Celluloid Power: Social film Criticism from 'The Birth of a Nation' to 'Judgment at Nuremberg." Edited by David Platt, pp. 453-456. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1992. (Main Stack PN1995.9.P6.C44 1992)

Once Upon a Time in America (Italy / USA, 1983)

Director, Sergio Leone. Cast: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Burt Young, Tuesday Weld, Treat Williams. "Epic, episodic, tale of the lives of a small group of New York City Jewish gangsters spanning over 40 years. Told mostly in flashbacks and flash-forwards, the movie centers on small-time hood David 'Noodles' Aaronson (Robert De Nero) and his lifelong partners in crime; Max (James Woods), Cockeye (William Forsythe) and Patsy (James Hayden) and their friends from growing up in the rough Jewish neighborhood of New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s, to the last years of Prohibition in the early 1930s, and then to the late 1960s where an elderly Noodles returns to New York after many years in hiding to look into the past." [Internet Movie Database] 226 min. DVD 1682; vhs 999:3099

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One Day You'll Understand (Plus tard) (France / Germany / Israel, 2008)

Director, Amos Gitai. Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Hippolyte Girardot, Emmanuelle Devos, Dominique Blanc, Daniel Duval, Denise Aron-Schropfer. As the 1987 trial of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie unfolds on television, Victor Bastien reviews old family documents and finds a distressing "Aryan declaration" authored by his late father. This new discovery throws Victor's conception of his family's history into darkness. His mother, Rivka, keeps a stubborn silence about the past, while Tania, his sister, defends their father's declaration. Burning with the need to unearth the truth, Victor takes his family to the tiny village where Rivka's parents were forced to hide during the war. Based on the novel Plus tard tu comprendras by Jérôme Clément. 90 min. DVD X2031

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Only Human (Seres queridos) (Spain / Argentina / Portugal / UK, 2004)

Directors, Teresa de Pelegri & Dominic Harari. Cast: Norma Aleandro, Guillermo Toledo, Maria Botto, Marian Aguilera, Fernando Ramallo. When Leni comes home to introduce her fiance Rafi to her idiosyncratic Jewish family, everything goes smoothly until the lovers belatedly reveal that Rafi is Palestinian. 86 min. DVD 6585

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The Only Way (USA / Denmark / Panama / UK, 1970)

Director, Bent Christensen. Cast: Martin Potter, Ebbe Rode, Jane Seymour, Helle Virkner, Ove Sprogoe. Produced on location in Denmark, this is a faithful recounting of Denmark's valorous actions, while under the German occupation of 1940-1945, to save its Jewish citizens from extermination by the Nazis in October 1943. 86 min. 999:2961

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The Oppermanns (Die Geschwister Oppermann) (West Germany / Sweden / Italy / UK / Austria / Switzerland, 1983)

Director, Egon Monk. The story of a Jewish family in Berlin during the period 1932-1933, after Hitler has become the leader of Germany's strongest political party. Martin Oppermann must find a non-Jewish frontman to shield the family business in this dramatization of the fear and oppression experienced by Jewish businessman and professionals at the onset of the Nazi regime. 235 min. 999:3024

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The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Directed by Mel Gibson. Cast: Jim Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, Claudia Gerini, Maia Morgenstern, Sergio Rubini, Toni Bertorelli, Roberto Bestatazzoni, Francesco Cabras, Giovanni Capalbo. A visually stunning portrayal, including scenes of graphic violence, of the last twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In the Garden of Gethsemane near the Mount of Olives, Jesus is betrayed by Judas Iscariot, arrested and condemned to death for blasphemy and brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, for sentencing. The roaring crowd demands his death, so Pilate orders his crucifixion. Jesus is severely beaten and made to carry his cross up to Golgotha, the hill outside Jerusalem, where he is nailed to the cross. With his mother looking on, he dies. 127 min. DVD 2897

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Mel Gibson's Passion: an Interview with Mel Gibson

"In this special edition of "Primetime", ABC News' Diane Sawyer interviews filmmaker Mel Gibson about his highly controversial movie, "The Passion of the Christ." Gibson discusses his own religious beliefs with Sawyer and explains how his faith helped him overcome struggles with addiction and other personal problems at a spiritual low point in his life. He responds to charges that the movie's portrayal of the Jewish role in the death of Christ will encourage anti-Semitism. In addition, he explains why he felt it necessary to exhibit such a graphic depiction of Christ's crucifixion on film and discusses his decision to tell the story in both Aramaic and Latin. Sawyer also interviews Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League. Religious scholars, members of the clergy and others assess the film's potential impact." 2004. 40 min. DVD 2679

Partir, revenir (Happy New Year) (France, 1985)

Directed by Claude Lelouch. Cast: Annie Giradot, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Françoise Fabian, Erik Berchot, Michel Piccoli, Evelyne Bouix, Richard Anconina, Charles Gérard. A WWII melodrama involving a Jewish family who takes refuge from the Nazis by escaping to a country home owned by aristocrats, combined with a modern story of reincarnation and artistic creation featuring the descendants of the main characters of the first narrative. 113 min. DVD X2055

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The Pawnbroker (1965)

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Cast: Rod Steiger, Brock Peters, Jaime Sanchez, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Raymond St. Jacques. Sol Nazerman is a WWII Nazi deathcamp survivor. Now, he runs a pawnshop in Harlem and takes refuge in misery and a bitter condemnation of humanity. When his assistant sacrifices his own life for the pawnbroker during a robbery, Sol is finally confronted with the inherent goodness of the human spirit. 120 min. 999:819

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The Pianist (France / Germany / UK / Poland, 2002)

Directed by Roman Polanski. Cast: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, Jessica Kate Meyer. Based on the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew and a brilliant pianist who watched as his family was shipped off to Nazi labor camps. Tells of his heroic and inspirational journey of survival with the unlikely help of a sympathetic German officer, as he lived for years in the ruins of Warsaw, hiding from the Nazis. 149 min. DVD 1632

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A Price Above Rubies (UK / USA, 1998)

Written and directed by Boaz Yakin. Featuring Renee Zellweger, Julianna Margules, Christopher Eccleston. Sonia is a young woman who always did just what was expected: she married the right man, moved to the right neighborhood and had a beautiful baby. And yet, when she discovers an exciting world beyond her tightly knit community, it sparks a growing desire for independence that threatens the security of the life she knows. 119 min. 999:3022

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Prince of Egypt (Dreamworks, 1998)

Directed by Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, Simon Wells. Voices: Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Patrick Stewart. A musical animated adaptation of the story of Moses. Two brothers, one born of royal blood, one an orphan with a secret past grow up the best of friends. But the truth will ultimately set them apart, as one becomes the ruler of a powerful empire, while the other is revealed as the chosen leader of the Jewish people, destined to free them from bondage. 99 min. DVD 1408

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The Producers (1968)

Directed by Mel Brooks. Down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Biyalistok is forced to romance rich old ladies to finance his efforts. When timid accountant Leo Bloom reviews Max's books, the two hit upon a way to make a fortune by producing a sure-fire flop. The play which is to be their gold mine? "Springtime for Hitler." [Internet Movie Database] 89 min. DVD 1913; Video Disc 178; vhs 999:3221

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Prudence (aka Jewish Prudence) (1927)

Directed by Leo McCarey. Cast: Max Davidson, Johnny Fox, Martha Sleeper, Jesse De Vorska, Gaston Glass (Prudence) Max is a father saddled with three grown children who will never amount to anything. His daughter is bone-idle. Max's older son is an incompetent schlemiehl whom Max pressures into taking a job as a lorry driver. The younger son is an idiot who wants to be a professional Charleston dancer. A handsome young lawyer, newly admitted to the bar, wants to marry Max's daughter, but Max refuses to consent until lawyer Gaston wins his first court case. The title of the film 'Jewish Prudence' is a pun on 'jurisprudence', 20 min. DVD X326

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The Reader (USA / Germany, 2008)

Directed by Stephen Daldry. Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, David Kross, Lena Olin, Bruno Ganz. Set in Post-WWII, Germany teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair. Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens. Hanna is enthralled as Michael reads to her from different works of literature. Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears one day and Michael is left confused and heartbroken. Eight years later, while Michael is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he is stunned to find Hanna back in his life, only this time as a defendant in the courtroom. As Hanna's past is revealed, Michael uncovers a deep secret that will impact both of their lives. Based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink. Special features: Deleted scenes ; Adapting a timeless masterpiece : making 'The reader' ; A conversation with David Kross & Stephen Daldry ; Kate Winslet on the art of aging Hanna Schmitz ; A new voice : a look at composer Nico Muhly ; Coming to grips with the past : production designer Brigitte Broch ; Theatrical trailer. 124 min. DVD X1651

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Robert und Bertram (Germany, 1939)

Directed by Hans H. Zerlett. Cast: Rudi Godden, Kurt Seifert, Carla Rust. In this musical farce, the first major Nazi Germany anti-semitic film, two 19th century vagabonds rob a Jewish banker and his friend to help a girl being forced to marry another Jew. Jews are portrayed here as clumsy, dull, greedy, and lecherous. In German 90 min. DVD 3859

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Romance of a Jewess (1908)

Directed by D. W. Griffith. Cast: Florence Lawrence, John R. Cumpson, Gladys Egan, George Gebhardt, Guy Hedlund, Charles Inslee, Alfred Paget, Mack Sennett. In this early silent melodrama, Ruth tries to survive amidst tragedy and toil on New York's Lower East Side. her husband dies in an accident and she and her child are left destitute. When she falls ill, her little daughter wanders into a pawn shop owned by her estranged grandfather, whom she's never met. He has a change of heart and runs to help his daughter, but he is too late and decides to raise his granddaughter himself. 15 min. DVD X2073; vhs 999:2129

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Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (Romeo, Julia a tma) (Czechoslovakia, 1959)

Directed by Jiri Weiss. Pavel, a young student living in Prague in 1942, hides a Jewish girl Hana in his apartment building's attic. He is her only link to the outside world and their growing trust develops into love, until the two are discovered by Pavel's mother who forces the residents of the building to decide whether Hana can remain. 96 min. 999:3510

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Rotation (East Germany, 1949)

Directed by Wolfgang Staudte. Cast: Paul Esser, Irene Korb, Karl-Heinz Deickert, Brigitte Krause, Reinhold Bernt, Reinhard Kolldehoff. Film portrays the petty bourgeois and their support for Hitler during the Nazi period. The main character wants to join the Nazi Party to secure a good living, but after his Jewish neighbors are taken away, he changes his views. Trying to remain "a non-political man," he becomes a Nazi laborer. In 1949, when the film came to the theaters in the Soviet occupation zone, the film director was forced to change the ending of the film which shows a father and son both burning their military uniforms. Such pacifist images were taboo. The new ending shows citizens optimistically pondering the future. 80 min. 999:2557

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Description of film from IceStorm catalog

Die Rothschilds: die Aktien von auf Waterloo (Germany, 1940)

Director, Erich Waschneck. Cast: Carl Kuhlmann, Albert Lippert, Hilde Weissner, Gisela Uhlen. In this second anti-Semitic feature film produced during the Third Reich, a Jewish banking family makes a fortune from the Napoleonic wars by exploiting and swindling the British. In German. 92 min. DVD 3860

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Samson (Poland, 1961)

Directed by Andrzej Wajda. Cast: Kowalski, Irena Netto, Beata Tyszkiewicz, Jan Ibel. This Polish drama presents a psychological study of Jakub Gold, a Polish Jew imprisoned for killing a schoolmate in a brawl. He is released from prison at the outbreak of World War II, only to be confined to the Warsaw ghetto. Escaping the ghetto, he is still confined--by the fear of being Jewish in a world hostile to Jews. 115 min. DVD 9886

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Schindler's List (1993)

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall. The story of a Catholic war profiteer, Oskar Schindler, who risked his life and went bankrupt in order to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps. He employed Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods for the German army. At the same time he tries to stay solvent with the help of a Jewish accountant and negotiates business with a vicious Nazi commandant who enjoys shooting Jews as target practice from the balcony of his villa that overlooks the prison camp he commands. DVD special features: Special feature: "Voices from the list" featurette; behind "The Shoah Foundation story with Steven Spielberg" featurette; cast and filmmakers; about Oskar Schindler. 197 min. DVD 2373; VHS 999:1120:1&2

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Shem(Israel / UK, 2004)

Directed by Caroline Roboh. Cast: Ash Newman, Geraldine de Bastion, Hadassah Hungar Diamant, Istvan Szabo, Ferrante Ferranti, Cyrielle Claire, Arturo Brachetti. Daniel, a young and arrogant Londoner, is bored to death with his life. His jewish grandmother asks him to go through Europe in order to find his grandfather's grave. Not only will Daniel find his long lost grandfather's trace, but he will also come to understand his deep-rooted jewish culture. 93 min. DVD 6586

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Ship of Fools(1965)

Directed by Stanley Kramer. Cast: Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, Jose Ferrer, Lee Marvin, Oskar Werner, Elizabeth Ashley, George Segal, Jose Greco, Michael Dunn, Charles Korvin, Heinz Ruehmann, Lilia Skala. Set in 1933, this portrays the separate yet interlocking lives of several passengers aboard a luxury liner sailing from Mexico to Germany, showing us a cross-section of humanity in a world on the verge of war. 149 min. 999:1017

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The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na Korze) (Czechoslovakia, 1965)

Directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos. Cast: Jozef Kroner, Ida Kaminska, Hana Slivkova. In 1942, Tono and his wife are struggling because of his antipathy towards the fascist regime. His brother-in-law, the local fuehrer, chooses Tono to oversee a button shop owned by a sweet, harmless Jewish widow, Mrs. Lautman. When the Jews are ordered deported, the well-meaning Tono decides to shield her from the Nazis. 128 min. DVD 5514; vhs 999:864

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Saperstein, Jeffrey. "'All men are Jews': tragic transcendence in Kadar's The shop on Main Street. Literature/Film Quarterly; Vol.XIX nr.4 (Oct 1991); p.247-251

Sofie (Sophie)(Denmark / Norway / Sweden, 1987)

Directed by Liv Ullmann. Cast: Karen-Lise Mynster, Erland Josephson, Ghita Norby, Jesper Christensen, Torben Zeller, Stig Hoffmeyer. Sofie is the only daughter of a late 19th century Jewish family in Denmark who finds herself bound to traditions that clash with the temptations of her heart. The film celebrates Sofie's life as she strives for happiness in an arranged marriage, grows to understand her family and finds the strength to accept her only child's decision to pursue a more modern way of life. 145 min. 999:1730

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Sol de Otoño (Autumn Sun) (Argentina, 1996)

Directed by Eduardo Mignogna. A love story set in Buenos Aires in which a Jewish woman and her gentile boyfriend conspire to pass him off as a Jew in order to avoid conflict with her relatives. Spanish without titles. PAL. 103 min. 999:1852

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Sophie's Choice (1982)

Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Cast: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol. Sophie Zawistowska, a tragic Polish Catholic beauty who survived Auschwitz, has settled in America after World War II. Stingo, a 22 year-old aspiring writer from rural Virginia, is drawn to Sophie and Nathan--a madly romantic couple whose instability and flamboyance utterly capture this young man's imagination. The deeper Stingo sinks into these people's lives, the more he learns that each harbors terrible and terrifying secrets. 152 min. DVD 9179; vhs 999:995

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South Park. The Passion of the Jew (TV, 2004)

Based on the characters created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Passion of the Jew: After finally seeing "The Passion of the Christ", Kyle has to admit that Cartman has been right all along about the Jews' role in history. Inspired by Kyle's change of heart and a powerful love for Mel Gibson, Cartman incites many of the film's hardcore fans to band together and carry out its message. Meanwhile, Stan and Kenny also see the movie and embark upon a quest to find Mel Gibson and get their money back. Christian rock hard: When the other boys kick Cartman out of their band, he pulls his own group together to make music for Jesus. While Cartman's "Faith + 1" rockets to the top of the Christian charts, Stan, Kyle and Kenny are arrested for downloading music from the Internet. Red hot Catholic love: When the Catholic Church sex scandal negatively impacts church attendance in South Park, Priest Maxi travels to Rome to confront religious leaders about a solution. 66 min. DVD 2898

Winokur, Mark. "Costume Jewry: South Park's holocaust of The Passion." English Language Notes 44.1 (Spring 2006): 253-257.

Street Scene (1931)

Directed by King Vidor. Cast: Sylvia Sidney, William Collier Jr., Estelle Taylor, Beulah Bondi, Max Montor, David Landau. Lives of New York City residents are explored when a young girl's life is torn apart as her father returns home unexpectedly to find her mother with another man in this bold exploration of Jewish immigrant life in the early 20th century. Adapted from the play by Elmer Rice. 79 min. DVD 326

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Sunshine (Germany / Austria / Canada / Hungary, 2000)

Directed by István Szabó Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle, Deborah Kara Unger, William Hurt. Ralph Fiennes plays not one, but three roles in this compelling and acclaimed epic about generations of a Hungarian Jewish family caught up in the upheavals and false hopes of the war-swept 20th century. 180 min. DVD 1068

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Suleiman, Susan. "Jewish assimilation in Hungary, the Holocaust, and epic film: reflections on Istvan Szabo's 'Sunshine'." (Interpretation and the Holocaust) Rubin The Yale Journal of Criticism Spring 2001 v14 i1 p233(20)

Supertex: eine stunde im paradies (Super Tex) (Germany / Netherlands, 2003)

Directed by Jan Schutte. Cast: Stephen Mangan, Jan Decleir, Maureen Lipman, Elliot Levey, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Ana Geislerova, Meital Berdah, Otto Tausig. A film about Max, a "Jew in a Porsche," who needs to come to terms with his Jewish background, his love-life, his father's company where he works, but most of all his father himself, a stern man he hardly knows. PAL, Region 2 DVD. 92 min. DVD 5728

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Taking Sides (France / UK / Germany / Austria, 2001)

Directed by Istvan Szabo. Cast: Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgard, Moritz Bleibtreu, Birgit Minichmayr, Ulrich Tukur, Hans Zischler, Armin Rohde, Augush Zirner, Thomas Thieme. After Hitler took over power in 1933, many Jewish artists were forced to leave Germany. Based on true events this is the story of Wilhelm Furtwangler who choose to stay. Though never a member of the party, he was a receipient of honors associated with party membership. However, the conductor often used his position and contacts to save hundreds of Jewish musicians from concentration camps. When U.S. Major Steve Arnold is tasked with the pre-trial investigations, his aim is to prove that the conductor's genius contributed to the Nazi propaganda, while Furtwangler insisted he stayed to bring comfort to the German people with his music. Based upon the play by Ronald Harwood. 105 min. DVD 5328; vhs 999:3395

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The Ten Commandments (1923)

Directed by Cecil B. De Mille. Cast: Theodore Roberts, Charles De Roche, Estelle Taylor, Julia Faye, Terence Moore, James Neill, Edythe Chapman, Richard Dix, Rod La Rocque. This early silent Cecil B. Demille production tells the story of how the Israelites left Egypt and acquired the Ten Commandments, as told in the context of a mother trying to bring up her children to believe in God. 146 min. DVD 5328; vhs 999:3395

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The Ten Commandments (1956)

Directed by Cecil B. De Mille. Cast: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, John Derek, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, Martha Scott, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, John Carradine. The epic story of Moses, the prophet who led his people, the Israelites, out of bondage in the land of Egypt to the Promised Land. 219 min. 999:852

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The Wandering Jew, or, The Life of Theodor Herzl (Theodor Herzl, der Bannerträger des jüdischen Volkes) (Austria, 1921)

Directed by Otto Kreisler. Cast: Rudolph Schildkraut, Joseph Schildkraut, H. [i.e. Ernst] Bath, Josef Schreiter; Rudolf Dietz; Else Osterheim; Gita Lenart-Vago; Axel Plessen; Pippa Gettke. This early film biography of the founder of modern Zionism depicts a young Herzl learning about Jewish persecution throughout the ages, and developing his theory of political Zionism, which he saw as the only solution to anti-semitism. The film then follows Herzl's efforts to implement his ideas by converting European leaders and Jews to his cause. 59 min. DVD X1807

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The Three Little Pigs. (Walt Disney, 1933)

"When first released, The Three Little Pigs contained a scene of the Wolf disguised as the "Fuller Brush Man": an outrageous Jewish peddler ethnic stereotype complete with long beard and a huge, hooked nose. Quickly, Disney relooped the ethnic-sounding voice track, and in the 1940's actually re-animated the scene without the Jewish peddler diguise." This version includes the original animation with the relooped voice. [description from Whole Toon Catalog] Video Disc 176

To Be or Not To Be (1942)

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges, Sig Ruman, Tom Dugan. This comedy centers on a Warsaw theatrical troupe that outwits Nazi occupation troops by playing the roles of (and for) their lives. The actors impersonate German officers to pull the swastikas over their captor's eyes. DVD 3634; vhs 999:1315

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To Be or Not To Be (1983)

Directed by Alan Johnson. Cast: Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Tim Matheson, Charles Durning, Jose Ferrer, George Gaynes, Christopher Lloyd, George Wyner, Lewis J. Stadlen, Jack Riley. A comedy film of wartime Poland in which two Polish actors, Frederick and Anna Bronski, eventually caught up in Germany's invasion of Poland, a leaking of top secret information and an incredible plot to thwart the Nazis. Based on the film directed by Ernst Lubitsch [1942]. 107 min. DVD X808; vhs 999:3222

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Trailers Schmailers (1997)

Curated by Jenni Olson. From the Marx Brothers to Schindler's list and everything in between, this film offers a compact glimpse of the history of Jews in mainstream American cinema. Original coming attraction trailers provide unique insight into the relationship between the marketing departments of Hollywood studios and the growing visibility of Jews in American life. With spotlights on Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand, an overview of films about New York Jewish life, a look at the evolution of films about the holocaust, and much, much more, Trailers schmailers mixes humor and powerful drama with acute social commentary. 82 min. DVD 7253

Transport From Paradise (Transport z raje) (Czechoslovakia, 1963)

Directed by Zbynek Brynych. Cast: Vlastimil Brodsky, Juraj Herz, Vaclav Lohnisky, Ladislav Pesek, Ladislav Potmesil, Ilja Prachar, Zdenek Stepanek, Walter Taub, Josef Vinklar. Depicts life in the Terezin Ghetto, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia during World War II, where the Nazi guards permit their Jewish prisoners to roam freely about the camp and conduct their own business and social affairs but the prisoners' main fear is that they may at any moment be shipped off to one of the death camps. Based on the book: Night and hope / by Arnost Lustig. 94 min. VHS 999:2392

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Triumph of the Spirit (USA, 1989)

Directed by Robert M. Young. Cast: Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia. Based on a true story that took place in 1939 about one man's attempt to save himself and his family when the Nazis occupy Greece and they are sent to the Auschwitz death camp. Each boxing match this middleweight champ fights sends the loser to the gas chamber, and he wonders how he can continue to save himself, his family, and his sanity. 120 min. DVD 3051

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The Truce (La Tregua) (Italy / France / Germany / Switzerland, 1996)

Directed by Francesco Rosi. Cast: John Turturro, Rade Serbedzija, Massimo Ghini, Teco Celio, Roberto Citran, Claudio Bisio, Andy Luotto, Agnieszka Wagner and Stefano Dionisi. Tells the true story of humanist Primo Levi and other Italian prisoners liberated from Auschwitz after WWII as they embark on a thousand-mile journey back home to Italy. Along the way, they face great odds but as Primo travels he rediscovers the simply joys of life that the war threatened to destroy forever -- friendship, love, laughter, and most of important of all, a sense of hope. 118 min. DVD 3108

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The Two of Us (Le vieil homme et l'enfant) (France, 1967)

Directed by Claude Berri. Cast: Michel Simon, Roger Carel, Paul Preboist, Luce Fabiole, Alain Cohen, Charles Denner, Jacqueline Rouillard, Marco Perrin, Aline Bertrand, Sylvine Delannoy, Zorica Lozic, Elisabeth Rey, Didier Perret, and featuring the children of Biviers and St.-Vincent-de-Mercuze. A Jewish boy living in Nazi-occupied Paris is sent by his parents to the countryside to live with an elderly Catholic couple until France's liberation. Forced to hide his identity, eight-year-old Claude bonds with the irascible, staunchly anti-Semitic Grampa, who improbably becomes his friend and confidant. Special features: "Le poulet" (1962), director Claude Berri's Oscar-winning short film; new video interviews with Berri and actor Alain Cohen; interviews from 1967 with Berri and Michel Simon; excerpt from "The Jewish children of occupied France," a 1975 French talk-show segment featuring Berri and the woman who helped secure his family's safety during World War II; original theatrical trailer; plus a booklet featuring a new essay by critic David Sterritt, an appreciation of the film by Francois Truffaut, and excerpts from Berri's memoir. 87 min. DVD 8264

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The Wandering Jew (UK, 1933)

Director, Maurice Elvey. Cast: Conrad Veidt, Marie Ney, Anne Crey, Joan Maude, Peggy Ashcroft, Basil Gill. Tells the story, from Jewish folklore, of a mythical Jewish man who lived for sixteen centuries because he was condemned to walk the earth until Judgment Day for urging the Romans to crucify Jesus. 83 min. 999:3312

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The Wannsee Conference (Wannseekonferenz) (TV, Austria / West Germany, 1984)

Directed by Heinz Schirk. Dramatic recreation of the infamous meeting held in a Berlin suburb in January 1942, in which members of the SS, the Nazi Party, and the government bureaucracy discussed the ways and means of systematically exterminating 11 million Jews. 85 min. 999:1111

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What Makes Sammy Run? (TV, NBC's Sunday Showcase)

Cast: Larry Blyden, John Forsythe, Barbara Rush, Dina Merrill, Norman Fell. Sammy Glick is a Jewish boy born in New York's Lower East Side who decides to climb the ladder of success by any means necessary. Through backstabbing and double-crossing, Sammy fights to become the motion picture industry's top screenwriter. A rags to riches story about the world of 1930s Hollywood based on the controversial novel by Budd Schulberg. Original 2-part broadcast on NBC's Sunday Showcase in 1959. 105 min. DVD X1117

When Do We Eat? (2005)

Directed by Salvador Litvak. Cast: Ben Feldman, Michael Lerner, Shiri Appleby, Max Greenfield, Adam Lamberg, Cynda Williams, Jack Klugman, Lesley Ann Warren. On the night of the Seder, an old school dad that's tough on his sons is slipped Ecstasy in order to give him a new perspective on life. When the mother brings a handsome stranger to dinner and the kids take sides, a disaster is in the making! Special features: The Rabbis' mystical Seder; Deleted scenes; Behind the scenes; Actor auditions; Director's commentary; Visual inspiration: the Szyk Haggadah. 93 min. DVD 9448

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Where Are You Going Moishe? (Où vas-tu Moshé?) (Morocco / Canada, 2002)

Director, Hassan Ben Jalloun. Cast: Simon Elbaz, Abdelkader Lotfi, Hassan Essakalli, Mohamed Tsouli. When all of the Jews in the village of Bejjad plan to emigrate as part of a 1963 mass-exodus from Morocco, the local barkeep worries that he will lose his business. 95 min. DVD X1263

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Yentl (1983)

Directed by Barbra Steisand. Cast: Barbra Streisand, Mandy Patinkin, Amy Irving. Set in Eastern Europe in the early 1900's, Yentl tells the story of a young woman who wishes desperately to learn. Because of the prejudice against women studying, she disguises herself as a man. 134 min. 999:2451

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Zebrahead (1992)

Directed by Anthony Drazan. A young Jewish white man begins dating the cousin of his best friend, both of whom are black, igniting long simmering racial tensions at their high school. 102 min. 999:1164

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Zug des lebens(Train of Life) (France / Belgium / Netherlands / Israel / Romania, 1998)

Directed by Radu Mihaileanu. Cast: Lionel Abelanski, Rufus, Clement Harari, Michel Muller, Agathe de la Fontaine, Johan Leysen, Bruno Abraham-Kremer. Set in Central Europe during WWII. The village fool of a small Jewish community warns the townsfolk that the Nazis are coming, and advises them to build a fake deportation train to cross the Russian border and get to Palestine. Some Jews are dressed up with German uniforms, and soon they start getting strange ideas about how it feels to be a Nazi; others are infected with the fast-spreading germ of communism. Meanwhile, the Russian border gets closer and closer. 103 min. DVD 6452

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Yiddish Film Bibliography of books/articles about Yiddish film Yiddish Film & Radio (Jewish Museum exhibit)

Almonds and Raisins: A History of the Yiddish Cinema.

A documentary on the Yiddish cinema in America, primarily in New York City from 1927 to the 1940's. Features extensive excerpts from Yiddish films (most subtitled in English) including The cantor's son, Overture to glory with Moishe Oysher, Yidl mitn Fidl with Molly Picon and Tevye with Maurice Schwartz. Has contemporary footage of New York City and Eastern European village life. Includes interviews with those who have participated in the Yiddish cinema. 90 min. Video/C 1881

American Matchmaker (Americaner Schadchen) (USA, 1940)

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Cast: Leo Fuchs, Judith Abarbanel, Judel Dubinsky, Anna Guskin, Celia Bodkin, Abraham Lax. In this comedy of second-generation American Jewish immigrants, Nat, who has been unhappily married several times, decides that if he cannot have happiness he can at least bring joy to others by becoming a modern day matchmaker. But life becomes complicated when he realizes that one of his female clients is better suited for him, than the man he originally chose for her. In Yiddish with English subtitles. 87 min. DVD 5370; vhs 999:1135

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Description from National Center for Jewish Film catalog

Edgar G. Ulmer bibliography

The Cantor's Son (Dem khazn's zindl) (USA, 1937)

Directe by Ilya Motyleff. Cast: Moishe Oysher, Florence Weiss, Michael Rosenberg. A young man, cafe singer by day and synagogue cantor at night, rejoins his elderly parents in his European birthplace to participate in their golden wedding anniversary festivities. Complications frustrate a budding romance with his childhood sweetheart. Film is loosely based on the life of its star, Moishe Oysher. 90 min. 999:3449

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Description from National Center for Jewish Film catalog

Catskill Honeymoon (USA, 1950)

Directed by Joe Berne. Cast: Al Murray, Max Bozhyk, Rose Bozhyk, Bobby Colt, Feder Sisters, Julius Adler. A Jewish resort hotel celebrates a pair of longtime customers' fiftieth wedding anniversary by staging an old-fashioned Borscht Belt show replete with singers, dancers, comedians, and impressionists. The show concludes with a fervent musical tribute to the year-old State of Israel. Filmed on location at Young's Gap Hotel in Parksville, New York. 94 min. 999:3763

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Description from National Center for Jewish Film catalog

The Cowboy (USA, 1968)

Directed by Abe Wexler. (Director of "Son of Oklahoma" is Robert North Bradbury.) Cast: Bob Steele, Josie Sedgwick, Carmen Laroux, Julian Rivero, Robert Homans. A spoof produced in 1968 by adding Yiddish dialogue to a shortened version of the film "Son of Oklahama", a 1932 Hollywood western. The plot centers around a cowboy new to town unjustly accused of theft, who helps to solve the crime and discovers the identity of his parents. Dubbed into Yiddish. 12 min. 999:3765

Description from National Center for Jewish Film catalog

The Dybbuk (Poland, 1937)

Directed by Michael Waszynski. Cast: Avrom Marevsky, Isaac Semberg, Lili Liliana, Leon Liebgold, Moyshe Lipman, Dina Halpern, Max Bozyk, Shmuel Landau. Years after their parents had made a pledge that they would marry, a young couple meet and fall in love. The father of the young man had long before perished and the young woman's father, forgetting his vow, keeps the two apart. The film concerns unfullfilled love, broken promises, and the supernatural, as the persona of the youth enters his beloved's body and possesses her. "Considered by some to be the greatest of Yiddish films, it was certainly the boldest undertaking, requiring special sets and unusual lighting. In Der Dibuk, as in mysticism and love, the past has a magnetic pull on the present, and the dead are as alluring as the living. Khonnon (Leon Liebgold) and Leah (Lili Liliana), betrothed before birth, meet, knowing nothing of the vows. Khonnon becomes obsessed with Leah and begins to dabble in the kabbala. Leah is betrothed to a wealthy man, and Khonnon offers her his body, soul and intelligence--via Satan--and dies. Leah's father invites the spirit of her dead mother to the wedding; Leah invites Khonnon from the grave. The film is filled with haunting, unforgettable scenes that verge on the surreal, set to choreography by Judith Berg. Jewish mysticism links with expressionism--as in Nosferatu or Vampyr, man is an insubstantial presence in the cinematic ether. S. Ansky's play was written during the turbulent years of 1912-1917; Waszynski's 1937 film was made during another period of prewar unease. It was shot on location in rural Poland, and captures a rich folk heritage. Noted Warsaw historian Meyer Balaban oversaw the accuracy of the presentation." [from InfoMedia Judaica catalog] In Yiddish with English subtitles. 120 min. DVD 3578; vhs 999:843

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Konigsberg, Ira. "'The Only 'I' in the World': Religion, Psychoanalysis, and The Dybbuk." Cinema Journal, vol. 36 no. 4. 1997 Summer. pp: 22-42.

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East and West (Mizreh un Mayrev; Ost und West) (Austria, 1923)

Directed by Sidney M. Goldin. Cast: Molly Picon, Jacob Kalish, Sidney M. Goldin, Saul Nathan, Laura Glucksman, Eugen Newfeld, Johannes Roth. In this comedic film about assimilation and Jewish values, sophisticated New Yorker Morris Brown travels back to his village to attend his niece's traditional wedding. There he encounters the rambunctious Mollie, whose hijinks include boxing, and teaching other young villagers to shimmy. Mollie meets her match, however, in an engaging young yeshiva scholar who forsakes tradition and joins the secular world to win her heart. Originally produced in Austria in 1923; film restored in 1982; new musical score added in 1991. DVD 9336; vhs 999:2918

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The Feast of Passover (Seder Nacht) (USA, 1931)

Directed by Sidney M. Goldin. Cast: Cantor Lieble Waldman, Mark Schweid, Noah Nachbush and the Vilna troupe. A seder in the midst of North American prosperity recalls traditional Passover celebrations in Russia (with the same cast enacting both scenes). Then modernity returns with a knock at the door and a humorous twist. 16 min. 999:3768

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God, Man and Devil (Got, Mensh un Teyvel)(USA, 1949)

Directed by Joseph Seiden. Cast: Michal Michalesko, Berta Gersten, Lucy Gehrman, Gustav Berger. Poor, pious Torah scribe Hershalle Debrovner has a life that glorifies God until Satan, disguised as a business partner, turns him into a greedy, dishonest factory owner whose success desecrates both his religion and his community; betrayal and abandonment replace serenity and familiarity. Based on the play by Jacob Gordin. 100 min. Video/C 999:3756

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Green Fields (Grine Felder)(USA, 1937)

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. "Based on the play by Peretz Hirschbein. An ascetic-quixotic yeshiva student sets out in search of "true Jews"--those whose spirit is the more profound for their connection to the land, unadulterated by the evils of city life. He finds that and more, as he becomes the quarry of two farm families who want him for their children's tutor. Quite in spite of himself the dreamy pedant (Michael Goldstein) inspires a variety of desires including a lust for learning in the irrepressible Tsine (Helen Beverly) and her wide-eyed brother Avrem-Yankl (Herschel Bernardi). Theater director/actor Jacob Ben-Ami is credited with giving the film its "authentic flavor." On the other hand, who but Edgar G. Ulmer--Hollywood's stylish, expressionist "King of the Bs"--could have transformed New Jersey locations and a New York studio set into bucolic-rustic Old Russia, with its delicately balanced relationships? "Green Fields celebrates a vanished world of tribal wholeness and stubborn piety.... Sweet but unsentimental, the film exudes a dreamy pantheism unique in Yiddish Film." (J. Hoberman)." [from InfoMedia Judaica catalog] DVD 5222; vhs 999:1159

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His Wife's Lover (USA, 1931)

Directed by Sidney M. Goldin. Featuring Ludwig Satz, Isidore Casher, Lucy Levin, Lillian Feinman, Michael Rosenberg, Jacob Frank, Zita Ma-Kar, Anne Shapiro. "When handsome actor Eddie Wien (played by Ludwig Satz) decides to marry, his backer Oscar (Isidore Casher) offers misogyny thinly disguised as advice. But surprises confront this devilish pair as their poor target (Lucy Levine as Golde Blumberg) struggles to separate her feelings from her scruples." 80 min. 999:3749

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I Want to be a Boarder(USA, 1937)

Directed by Joseph Seiden. Cast: Leo Fuchs, Yetta Zwerling. The story of a husband and wife who pretend to be landlady and tenant. 15 min. DVD 5370

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The Jester (Purimshpiler) (Poland / USA, 1937)

Directed by Joseph Green. Cast: Miriam Kressyn, Zygmund Turkow, Hymie Jacobson. A romantic comedy about a drifer, who wanders from shtetl to shtetl. He finds brief happiness when he falls in love with a shoemaker's daughter in a small Galician town in this likable fantasy about a love triangle and man's quest for the unobtainable. ""Set in a Galician shtetl before World War II, this musical comedy focuses on three characters: the sad vagabond peasant jester, Getsel; a vaudeville performer in a traveling circus; and a shoemaker's daughter, whose father tries to marry her into a prominent family. The climax is a traditional Purim festival during which the performers drive off the rich suitor's family..." (National Center for Jewish Film) "A wistful romance that's interspersed with songs but rooted in the wisecracks and banter of oral Yiddish culture. Green's films are always part documentary... even the studio scenes are populated by an army of Old World Jewish extras." (J. Hoberman) Green created a convincing "shtetl set" on the outskirts of Warsaw, and also filmed on location in Krakow. Aside from the song lyrics, the famed Itzik Manger wrote some of the dialogue." [from InfoMedia Judaica catalog] 90 min. DVD 1536

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Pevner, Chaim. "Joseph Green, the visionary of the "golden age" In: When Joseph met Molly : a reader on Yiddish film / edited by Sylvia Paskin. Nottingham : Five Leaves, 1999. (Main Stack PN1995.9.Y54.W44 1999)

Jewish Luck (Menahem-Mendl; Yevreiskoye schastye; Menakhem Mendl; Jidische glickn) (Soviet Union, 1925)

Directed by Alexander Granovsky. Cast: Solomon Mikhoels, Tamara Edelheim, S. Epstein, M. Goldblat, I. Rogaler. "This adaptation of the Menakhem Mendel Letters by Sholem Aleichem, filtered through Isaac Babel, who wrote the original Russian intertitles, and photographed by Eduard Tiss� (before his work with Eisenstein,) is considered by many to be one of the three or four finest Yiddish films ever made. With the Moscow Yiddish State Theater; and starring Solomon Mikhoels in his screen debut, Jewish Luck represents an extraordinary meeting of Russian-Jewish talent. Sholem Aleichem made Menakhem Mendl a classic Jewish figure of tsarist Russia, the luftmensch--literally, a man who lives on air--whose schemes are only dreams, and whose dreams are of something vaguely if universally understood as Jewish luck. He slips from one doomed strike-it-rich scheme to the next, first failing as a corset salesman, then trying his luck as a "shadkhn." He falls asleep and dreams that he is outside Odessa's Grand Palace with Baron de Hirsch, preparing to export these brides to America. The dream ends after a matchmaking calamity, and Menakhem Mendl, without money or profession, leaves in search of better "luck.." Throughout, he refuses to concede to tsarist Russia's oppressive restriction of Jews. His quixotic persistence transforms Menakhem Mendel from schlemiel to hero, as Granovsky and Mikhoels uncover the tragic underpinnings of Sholem Aleichem's comic tales." [from InfoMedia Judaica catalog] 95 min. DVD 9320; vhs 999:3754

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Jolly Paupers (Freylekhe Kabtsonim; Weseli biedacy) (Poland, 1937)

Directed by Leon Jeannot. Cast: Shimon Dzigan, Yisroel Shumacher and the Warsaw Art Players. A musical comedy portraying the relentless efforts of two small town Jews to escape their misery and achieve fame and fortune. With violent antisemitism intensifying in Poland, their satirical monologues provided Jewish audiences with a rare opportunity to escape through laughter. 62 min. DVD 9338; vhs 999:3726

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Laughter Through Tears (Skvoz slyozy; Motel peisi dem chazens) (Soviet Union, 1928)

Director, Grigori Gricher-Cherikover. Cast: J. K. Kovenberg, A. D. Goritcheva, M. D. Sen-Elnikova, D. A. Cantor, S. J. Silberman, F. K. Silberman, A. J. Vabnick, F. A. Soslovsky, M. L. Liarov, F. A. Kharitonov, B. Chernov, T. Brainin. Brings to life the Jewish stetel in the early days of Tsarist Russia, and depicts Jewish family tradition, antisemitism, and economic hardship in the Soviet Union during the late 1920's. Silent with English intertitles. 92 min. 999:3762

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A Letter to Mother (A brivele der mamen) (Poland / USA, 1938)

Directed by Joseph Green. Cast: Lucy Gehrman, Misha Gehrman, Edmund Zayenda. Set in the Polish Ukraine and New York City, the film traces the break-up of a family due to stress, poverty, the chaos of war and the difficulties of immigrant life. One of the last Yiddish films to be produced in Warsaw, this moving story focuses on one Jewish mother's efforts to keep her family together. "...arguably the most artful and shameless of Yiddish weepies." (J. Hoberman) "Set in the Ukraine before World War I and in New York afterwards, this was one of the last films made in Poland (Warsaw) before the Nazi invasion. Its tale of loss, family disintegration and poverty serves director Joseph Green as a metaphor for the displacements and difficulties facing European Jews in 1939. Lucy Gehrman's performance as the storekeeper-mother, whose heroic attention to the everyday eventually rewards her travails, stands out, as do Max Bozyk and Chane Levin's comic interludes." (National Center for Jewish Film) A wonderful mix of intense melodrama and stylized comedy." 100 min. DVD 1534

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Cohen, Joseph. "Two Yiddish films : "East and West" and "A Little Letter to Mother" Jewish Quarterly 46,1 (1999) 53-56

The Light Ahead (Fishke der krumer) (USA, 1939)

Director, Edgar G. Ulmer. Cast: Isidore Cashier, Helen Beverley, David Opatoshu. Story of Fishke, a lame man who is a ward of the Jewish community and his love for the blind woman, Hodl. They are kept from marrying until a traveling bookseller turns the community's fear of the supernatural to the couple's advantage. Adapted from the work of Mendele Mokher Seforim. 94 min. DVD 5221; vhs 999:3447

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Edgar G. Ulmer bibliography

Living Orphan (aka My Son) (Der lebediker yusem; aka Mayn Zundele) (USA, 1939)

Director, Joseph Seiden. Cast: Gustav Berger, Fania Rubina, Jerry Rosenberg, Herman Rosen, Harry Feld, Jacob Zanger, Jenny Cashier. Believing his wife cares more for her theatrical career than for their son, a famous singer gives up his own career in New York and takes the boy to California, and the wife is unable to find them for many years. 90 min. DVD 9417

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Love and Sacrifice (Libe un laydnshaft) (USA, 1936)

Directed by George Roland. Cast: Lazar Freed, Rose Greenfield, Esta Salzman, Robert Bennet, Anne Loeb. A mother goes to prison for shooting a would-be suitor and her husband unwittingly marries a home-wrecking schemer. 72 min. 999:3751

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Mamele: Little Mother (Poland, 1938)

Directed by Joseph Green. Cast: Molly Picon, Edmund Zayenda, Max Bozyk. Molly Picon is Khavtshi, the youngest daughter of a widower, who is left with the responsibility of tending house for a helpless and indifferent family of seven. As such, she becomes their little mother. Filled with that special brand of humor and song that made Molly Picon the undisputed queen of Yiddish musicals. "Ten years after her stage success in Mamele, Molly Picon was still able to pull off the role of Khavtshi, who promises her dying mother she will look after her four older siblings and perpetually unemployed Papa (Max Bozyk). The "little mother" exercises her creative impulses by selecting her sisters' suitors and acting as advice-central for the tenement. Though unappreciated by all (but us), she's both vivacious and self-aware: in one of the film's high points she sings her way through the stages of a woman's life, from girlhood to old age. Transposed from the stage play's Lower East Side to Lodz, Poland, director Green's hometown, and edited just in time for its makers to leave Warsaw for friendlier ground, "Mamele embraces prewar Polish-Jewish life in all its diversity, including tenements and unemployment, nightclubs and Jewish gangsters, and religious Jews at Succoth, the harvest festival." (National Center for Jewish Film)" 90 min. DVD 1533

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The Man Without a World (USA, 1991)

Directed by Eleanor Antin. Cast: Pier Marton, Christine Berry, Anna Henriques, Eleanor Antin. A contemporary vision of an imagined 1928 Yiddish movie set in an Eastern European shtetl in pre-World War II. A young Jewish couple's romance is doomed by the arrival of a gypsy troupe and its sultry dancer. This dark comic melodrama encompasses the full cycle of life including abduction, seduction, dybbuks, exorcism, weddings and pograms. Silent with English intertities and music soundtrack. 98 min. 999:3717

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Alisa Lebow. "Strategic Sentimentality: Nostalgia and the Work of Eleanor Antin." Camera Obscura. 2007. p. 129

Skoller, Jeffrey. "The Man Without a World." Film Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 28-32

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Mirele Efros (USA, 1939)

Directed by Josef Berne. Cast: Berta Gersten, Michael Rosenberg, Ruth Elbaum, Albert Lipton, Sarah Krohner, Moishe Feder, Louis Brandt, Paula Walter, Jerry Rosenberg. Mirele, a noble, dignified widow and successful businesswoman, comes into conflict with the daughter-in-law she chose for her eldest son. Her generosity and love for her son lead to her undoing. Based on Jacob Gordin's popular Yiddish play, the film is set in turn-of-the-century Grodno. A classic study in the relations between mothers-and-daughters-in-law. 80 min. DVD 9318; vhs 999:3758

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Motel the Operator (Motel der operayter) (USA, 1940)

Directed by Joseph Seiden. Cast: Chaim Tauber, Malvina Rappel, Maurice Kroner, Bertha Hart, Seymour Rechtzeit, Jacob Zanger, Yetta Zwerling, Gertrude Krause, Herman Rosen, Izidor Frankel. Motl, a poor laborer, loving husband and new father, leads cloakmakers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strikebreakers, his wife, Esther, and infant son are left destitute. Desperate to save her starving child, Esther gives him up for adoption to a wealthy couple, and then commits suicide. 89 min. DVD 9104

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Mothers of Today (Hayntike Mames) (USA, 1939)

Directed by Henry Lynn. Featuring Esther Field, Max Rosenblatt, Simon Wolf, Leon Seidenberg, Paula Lubelska, Vera Lubow. A melodrama about a cantor's son who steals, runs off with a woman of questionable morality and even breaks his mother's heart." An important period piece, this film reflected the fears of American Jews about the erosion of the Jewish way of life and traditions, as they knew it. In Yiddish with English subtitles. 90 min. 999:2808

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Our Children (Undzer kinder) (1948)

Directors, Natan Gross and Shaul Goskind. Suppressed by the Polish Communist government as too "pro-Zionist" and lost for over thirty years, the film features the comedy duo of Dzigan and Shumacher who had recently returned from the Soviet Union, and Jewish children who had survived the Holocaust. Directed on location in 1948 at the Helenowek Colony, an orphanage/school near Lodz, this film includes Dzigan and Shumacher's performance as all the characters in Sholem Aleichem's "Kasrilevke brent (Krasrilvke is burning)," and an exchange of roles where they become the children's audience. ""Not only among the first films about the Holocaust, it is also the first to critique its representation." (J. Hoberman) Suppressed by the postwar Communist government as too "pro-Zionist," then lost for over thirty years, Unzere Kinder features the comedy duo Shimen Dzigan and Yisroel Schumacher. Recently returned to Poland from the Soviet Union, they explore the impact of the Holocaust on survivors, particularly the children of an orphanage/school near Lodz. Performing for the children, the comics are told in no uncertain terms that they have oversentimentalized the wartime conditions that these kids survived by their own wits. In the most delightful scene, the duo stage a playlet based on Sholem Aleichem's "Kasrilevke Is Burning," in which they take all the roles including the women. The children themselves perform in this film that explores the healing possibilities of song, dance, and storytelling, and the question of whether it is more therapeutic to remember or to forget." [from InfoMedia Judaica catalog] 68 min. Video/C MM321

Description from National Center for Jewish Film catalog

Konigsberg, Ira. "Our Children" and the limits of cinema : early Jewish responses to the Holocaust." Film Quarterly 52,1 (1998) 7-19

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Overture to Glory (Der Vilner Balebesl; Vilner shtot hazn; The Vilna Town Cantor) (USA, 1940)

Directed by Max Nosseck. Cast: Moishe Oysher, Helen Beverley, Florence Weiss, Lazar Freed, Jack Mylong Munz, and Leonard Elliot. The cantor of the Vilna Synagogue--played by the great, real-life cantor Moishe Oysher--leaves behind his prayers to perform in the Warsaw Opera. He struggles to balance the appeal of his newfound fame, fortune, and notoriety with his feelings of guilt and responsibility toward his family and community. While performing in the Opera, he loses his voice and is forced to return to his village. Based on the legend, The Vilna balabessel. 84 min. 999:3448

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The Singing Blacksmith (Yankl der Shmid) (USA, 1937)

Director, Edgar G. Ulmer. Cast: Moishe Oysher, Miriam Riselle, Florence Weiss. "Yankel Der Shmid was a vehicle for the rich vocal talents of cantor and matinee idol Moishe Oysher (who works a little "scat" into the repertoire). Shot on the cheap in a "shtetl" created in New Jersey, using extras from a nearby monastery (they had beards), The Singing Blacksmith looks more like Edgar Ulmer's Hollywood B films than his better-known Green Fields, but "it was probably modeled on the Soviet musicals of the period: folkloric, montage-filled, and thoroughly class-conscious" (National Film Theatre). Though set in the old world, it speaks to anxieties of the transplanted Jew in the character of Yankl, a proletarian-identified smithy who is tempted by drink and women until centered by the love of a progressive young woman. "This colorful romantic melodrama brims with stock comic characters--a matchmaker, peasants, a suspicious mother-in-law, a seductive woman, and a pious weak husband--but their activities pale before Oysher's splendid voice and presence, and Ulmer's poetic direction." (National Center for Jewish Film) 105 min. DVD 5220; vhs 999:3450

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Edgar G. Ulmer bibliography

Tevye the Milkman (Tevye der Milkhiker) (USA, 1939)

Directed by Maurice Schwartz. Cast: Maurice Schwartz, Rebecca Weintraub, Miriam Riselle, Leon Liebgold, Paula Lubelska, Julius Adler. "When the restored Tevye was re-released in 1979-1980, critics felt they had found the screen Tevye in Maurice Schwartz, the great Yiddish actor-director. Tevye the Dairyman is a kind of Jewish Everyman, struggling to hold on to that which defines him against the winds of change. The film, adapted from a stage play written by Sholem Aleichem based on his famous stories, focuses on two crises in Tevye's life: the conversion of his daughter Khave (Miriam Riselle) to Christianity in order to marry a Russian intellectual, and the expulsion of the Jews from the small Russian town that was Tevye's birthplace. Critic Rob Baker wrote, "Tevye is a pastoral gem comparable to much of the best of Pagnol [and] Renoir.... Filmed in Long Island, the film's accuracy in capturing the cultural patina of the day-to-day life of Russian Jews is striking." In 1991, this film was selected for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry." [from InfoMedia Judaica catalog] In Yiddish with subtitles. Based on the Sholom Aleichem story, Tevye the dairyman. 93 min. DVD 9337; vhs 999:178

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Frieden, Ken. "A century in the life of Sholem Aleichem?s "Tevye"." In: When Joseph met Molly : a reader on Yiddish film / edited by Sylvia Paskin. Nottingham : Five Leaves, 1999. (Main Stack PN1995.9.Y54.W44 1999)

Wolitz, Seth L. "The Americanization Of Tevye Or Boarding The Jewish Mayflower." American Quarterly 1988 40(4): 514-536.

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Two Sisters (Tsvey shvester) (USA, 1938)

Directed by Ben K. Blake. Cast: Jennie Goldstein, Sylvia Dell, Celia Boodkin, Betty Bialis, Joan Wintraub, Michel Rosenberg, Betty Jacobs, Yudel Dubinsky, Ida Adler, Anna Levine, Anetta Hoffman. Tells the story of Betty Glickstein, a young girl who promises her dying mother that she will raise her younger sister, Sally, as her own daughter. From the young age of thirteen, Betty works tirelessly to provide her sister with every advantage, and sacrifices her own happiness, including the man she loves. 82 min. 999:3760

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Uncle Moses (Onkl Mozes) (USA, 1932)

Directed by Aubrey Scotto & Sidney Goldin. Cast: Maurice Schwartz, Rubin Golberg, Judith Abarbanel, Zvee Scooler, Mark Schweid, Sally Schor, Jacob Mestel, Rebecca Weintraub, Sam Gertler. ""Maurice Schwartz, the monarch of New York's Yiddish theater, plays a sweatshop owner in Uncle Moses.... Patriarch and exploiter, cunning businessman and dazzled suitor, Moses is a symphony of contradictions, which Schwartz orchestrates brilliantly." (Richard Corliss, Time, 1992) The first Yiddish sound film to deal with a contemporary social theme, Uncle Moses is a portrayal of life on the Lower East Side, depicting transplanted Jews whose values are not so much unraveling as transmogrifying before our eyes in the sweatshops and crowded tenements. Moses--in Poland, a lowly butcher, in America, the benevolent despot of Orchard Street--would seem the apotheosis of change, but not really. He himself represents an old order, the patriarch who asserts that his workers are mishpokhe (family--but they're not buying it), whose vanity produces sundry progeny, whose deep pockets buy him a bride (or rather, her family.) Change comes only when he realizes that, as a human being, he is powerlessness in pressed pants. Then Schwartz's delightfully comic ham transforms into that thing that had him known as "the Olivier of the Yiddish stage."" [from InfoMedia Judaica catalog] Adapted from the 1932 version of the Yiddish Talking Pictures. 87 min. DVD 9319; vhs 999:2807

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Hoberman, J. "Der Ershter talkies: 'Uncle Moses' and the coming of Yiddish sound film." Film Comment Nov-Dec 1991 v27 n6 p32(8)

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A Vilna Legend (Tkies khaf) (USA / Poland, 1924)

Directed by George Roland. Cast: Joseph Buloff, Ester Rokhl-Kominska, Ida Kominska, Zygmunt Turkow, Adam Domb, Moshe Litman, Lev Molilow, Simcha Balanoff, Jacob Meistel, Leib Kadison, Benjamin Fishbein and Ben Basenko. A tale of frustrated love and destiny set in the Jewish community of Vilna before the second world war. A yeshiva student and a poor girl who are deeply in love are assisted by the prophet Elijah after it seems that fate and dishonest people have conspired to keep them apart. 60 min. 999:3761

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The Vow (Tkies Khaf) (Poland, 1937)

Directed by Henryk Szaro and Zygmunt Turkow. Cast: Zygmund Turkow, Dina Halpern, Kurt Katsch, Max Bozyk. The prophet Elijah makes a supernatural appearance whenever a wrong marriage seems about to take place; complicating the plot are a villainous rich man, his cringing stooge and an eloquent marriage broker. Portrays the orthodox practice and social life and customs of Polish Jews in the 1930's. 82 min. DVD 9103

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The Wandering Jew (Der vandernder Yid) (USA, 1933)

Directed by George Roland. Cast: Jacob Ben-Ami, Jacob Mestel, Abraham Teitelbaum, Natalie Browning, Jacob Mestel, William Epstein. Set in Berlin in 1933, the film tells of the problems facing Germany's Jews after Hitler's rise to power through the story of a Jewish artist and professor, Arthur Levi. After his new painting, The Eternal Wanderer, is rejected by the academy and he is fired from his position the figure of his father, the model for the Wanderer, steps from the painting and relates the history of Jewish perseverance in the face of such horrors as the Spanish Inquisition and the Russian Pogroms. Newsreel footage and footage from earlier period films is used to review Jewish hardship and perseverance throughout the centuries. 66 min. 999:3750

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Without a Home (On a heym) (USA, 1939)

Adapted from the stage play by Jacob Gordin. Cast: Adam Domb, Alexander Marten, Ida Kaminska, Ben Zucker, Shimen Dzigan, J. Schumacher, Dora Fakiel. The last Yiddish feature made in Poland before WWII, tells the story of the separation and hardships faced by Jewish immigrants in America at the turn of the century. 88 min. 999:3759

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Yiddish Cinema

Beginning with a brief history of Yiddish language and culture, the history of Yiddish cinema is recounted, using excerpts from Yiddish films: A Letter to Mother (1939), Tevye (1939, Jewish luck (1925), The Dybbuk (1937), Yiddle with his fiddle (1936), The Jester (1937), The Light ahead (1939), Uncle Moses (1932), Greenfields (1937), American matchmaker (1940). Video/C 3198

Yidl Mitn Fidl (Yidl With a Fiddle) (Poland / USA, 1935)

Directed by Joseph Green and Jan Nowina-Przybylski. "The first truly international Yiddish hit. Molly Picon's vaudeville antics are backed by some of the most enchanting music of any Yiddish film, in the tale of itinerant klezmorim and the girl (Molly at 37!) who disguises herself as a boy to join them. The plot takes them through countryside to town and the Warsaw stage, even to Second Avenue, New York, and is not without romance nor a feminist touch: Yid'l gets it all, her man and a musical career. The film "offers a still-fresh collection of Picon's characterizations and routines--ranging from the tipsy yeshive boy to the overexcited chatterbox to the pert gamine." (J. Hoberman) Joseph Green filmed on location in Warsaw and Kazimierz (where he employed shtetl inhabitants as extras) and the result is a wonderful folk comedy that has the authentic feel of small-town and urban Polish-Jewish life, affirming both in a period of growing anti-Semitism. Opening in New York City at the Ambassador Theater in January 1937, the film received much critical praise. The New York Times: "Miss Picon puts so much infectious gayety, not forgetting the proper modicum of sadness, into the action that the result is genuine entertainment." Its success set into motion the so-called Golden Age of Yiddish Cinema, a period which lasted from 1936 until the Nazi invasion of Poland in September, 1939." [from InfoMedia Judaica catalog] In Yiddish with subtitles. 92 min. DVD 1535; vhs 999:456

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Yizkor (Austria, 1924)

Directed by Sydney M. Goldin. Cast: Wolf Silberberg, Maurice Schwartz, Oskar Beregi, Berta Gersten, Lazar Freed. In a small Volhynian village, the local Count's daughter falls in love with Leybke, a handsome Jewish guardsman, but all her attempts to win him fail as he is in love with and betrothed to Kreyndl. The Countess desperately tries to seduce Leybke, and avenges her failure by falsely accusing him of attacking her. Yizkor dramatizes its theme of fidelity to one's self, one's community and one's religion through a plot that revolves around hostage-taking, heroism and resistance. 100 min. 999:3753

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