Summary
Tevya is a 1939 American Yiddish film, based on author Sholem Aleichem's stock character Tevye the Dairyman, also the subject of the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof.[2] It was the first non-English language picture selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.[3][4]
| Tevya | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster in English and Yiddish | |
| Directed by | Maurice Schwartz |
| Written by | Maurice Schwartz |
| Produced by | Henry Ziskin |
| Starring | Maurice Schwartz Miriam Riselle Rebecca Weintraub Paula Lubelski |
| Distributed by | Maymon Films Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 min |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | Yiddish Russian |
| Budget | $70,000[1][2] |
Cast edit
- Maurice Schwartz as Tevya
- Miriam Riselle as Chava
- Rebecca Weintraub as Golde
- Paula Lubelski as Tzeitel
- Leon Liebgold as Fedya
- Vicki Marcus as Shloimele
- Betty Marcus as Perele
- Julius Adler as Aleksei the Priest
Production edit
The script was adapted by Marcy Klauber and Schwartz from Sholem Aleichem's play based on his own book. Schwartz directed the film, which was based on two works by Schwartz from 1919: the silent film Broken Barriers (Khavah) and the stage production of Tevye.[5][6]
The production was filmed at Biograph Studios in New York City and on a farm in Jericho, New York. Midway through the shooting of the film, Hitler seized Danzig on August 23, 1939, and a Nazi invasion of Poland was imminent. These and other events in Europe affected the actors, many of whom had family in Poland. The filming, however, was completed.[7]
The story focuses primarily on Sholem Aleichem's stories "Chava" and "Lekh-Lekho (Get Thee Out)" but provides a definite ending rather than Sholom Aleichem's ambiguous ending. In this version of Tevya, as the Jews are expelled from their shtetl, Chava who previously converted to Christianity to marry, leaves her husband, returns to her family and to Judaism. It is felt that the antisemitism of the time influenced Schwartz to provide this ending.[7]
Rediscovery edit
Long thought to be a lost film, a print was discovered in 1978. The same story was the basis of the 1964 stage musical Fiddler on the Roof and its 1971 film version, but the fate of Chava in the ending was changed for the change in attitudes by that time.[7]
In 1991, Tevya was the first non-English language film to be named "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the U.S. Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Richard Koszarski, Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff, Rutgers University Press, 2008. p. 385.
- ^ a b Turner Classic Movies
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
- ^ "Tevye". www.jewishfilm.org. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
- ^ Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds by J Hobermann. New York, 1991, ISBN 9781584658702. p.53-54.
- ^ Laughter Through Tears: The Yiddish Cinema by Judith N Goldberg. 1983. ISBN 9780838630747. p.97-98.
- ^ a b c Frieden, Ken, "A Century in the Life of Sholem Aleichem's Tevye" (1993). Syracuse University. Paper 46.
External links edit
- Tevye essay [1] by J. Hoberman at National Film Registry
- Tevye essay by Daniel Eagan in [2] America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 ISBN 0826429777, pages 302–304.
- Tevya at IMDb
- Marat Grinberg, Rolling in Dust: Maurice Schwartz's Tevye (1939) And Its Ambiguities.
- Thomas Pryor, A Ukrainian Village Is Erected on a Long Island Farm for a Yiddish Film Drama, New York Times, 30 July 1939.
- Tevya (1939) full movie on YouTube
