Yidl mitn fidl (1936)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Directors:

Joseph Green
Jan Nowina-Przybylski

Writers:

Joseph Green (writer)
Konrad Tom (novella)

Release Date:

1 January 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

A young woman posing as a man in a group of klezmer musicians in Poland.

Plot Keywords:

Poland | Musician | Yiddish Theater | Jewish | Protection

Cast

Molly Picon	...	Itke aka Judel
Simche Fostel	...	Arie - Itke's father
Leon Liebgold	...	Efraim 'Froim' Kalamutker
Max Bozyk	...	Izak 'Ajzyk' Kalamutker
Maks Brin	...	Marszelik
Dora Fakiel	...	Tajbele Lebskierówna (as D. Fakiel)
Basia Liebgold	...	Mrs. Lebskierowa
Samuel Landau	...	Zalman Gold
Chana Lewin	...	Madame Flaumbaum - the widow
Symche Natan	...	R. Singer, theater manager
Abraham Kurc	...	Theater co-manager (as A. Kurc)
Laura Glucksman

Also Known As:

Castle in the Sky (USA) (review title)
Judel gra na skrzypcach (Poland)
Yid'l mit'n Fid'l (USA: Yiddish title)
Yiddle with His Fiddle (USA) (review title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Poland | USA

Language:

Yiddish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Green-Film

Quotes:

Itke aka Yiddle: The bride is crying!
woman at wedding: You should see the bridegroom.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Almonds and Raisins (1984)

Creaky, wonderful

A young girl and her father are on their uppers in pre WWII Eastern Europe.

She plays the fiddle and he the double bass so they set off on their travels as wandering klezmorim (musicians). He's worried that she will attract the wrong kind of attention, so she dresses as a boy. (It wouldn't fool anyone, but suspend that disbelief.) They catch a lift from a passing haycart and sing and play their theme tune, Yidl mitn Fidl. "Life is a song!" (fortunately lidl rhymes with fidl), "Life is a joke!". They fall in with two other musicians: Froym, on violin, and Isaac, on clarinet. The band is a hit. Yidl falls in love with the goodlooking Froym and is particularly sent by his fiddle-playing (I know how she feels). She pours out her heart in a plaintive song (all music written by Abe Ellstein). They get booked to play at a wedding. Yidl finds out the bride doesn't want to marry her elderly fiance, so they kidnap her. "Life is a joke!" they tell her, and her voice adds something to their "philharmonie". In fact she's talent spotted in Warsaw and given a gig at a theatre, but at that moment her old love Yossl turns up and she runs off with him. I won't spoil the ending. It ends happily, but ... See it.

Yes, it's creaky and naive, and Yidl's impersonation of a boy can get a bit trying at times. The music, even through a scratchy soundtrack, is heart-stopping. In Yiddish with English subtitles. xxxxx