The Jewish Soul: Ten Classics of Yiddish Cinema - BLU-RAY

Five-disc set includes The Yiddish King Lear (1935)Prosperous Russian merchant David Moishele (Maurice Krohner) was ready for a retirement pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and to divide his worldly goods amongst his three daughters and their husbands-but his chosen disposition of his empire would generate nothing but heartache. Screen take on Jacob Gordin's Shakespeare transposition/Yiddish Theater staple also stars Fannie Levenstein, Jacob Bergreen, Miriam Grossman. 84 min. BW/Rtg NR The Dybbuk (1937)Noted as one of the greatest Yiddish films ever made, this story of unfulfilled love and broken promises tells of how the spirit of a dead young man (Leon Liebgold) enters the body of his beloved (Lili Liliana) after the couple are kept apart by her stern rabbi father (Mojzesz Lipman). Spellbinding Polish adaptation of the S. Ansky play co-stars Avrom Morevski, Ajzyk Samberg. 123 min. BW/Rtg NR Mir Kumen On (Children Must Laugh) (1938)Offering a rare glimpse into Polish-Jewish life prior to World War II-and sobering in retrospect-this fundraising documentary celebrated the activities of the Vladimir Medem Sanatorium, a rural Warsaw-region retreat for tubercular urban children maintained by the Labor Bund. Aleksander Ford directs. 61 min. BW/Rtg NR Tevya (1939)A generation before InchFiddler on the Roof,Inch Yiddish Theater impresario Maurice Schwartz directed, scripted and starred as Sholom Aleichem's ever-challenged milkman of Tsarist Russia. Troubled when his daughter Chava (Miriam Riselle) accepted the proposal of her gentile suitor Fedye (Leon Liebgold), he and his clan will face difficult choices when forced to flee a pogrom. Adaptation of Aleichem's stage play co-stars Rebecca Weintraub, Paula Lubelski. 92 min. BW/Rtg NR Overture To Glory (1940)The heralded voice of Vilnius cantor Yoel Strashunsky (Moyshe Oysher) attracted the notice of the Warsaw Opera, who waste