Anna Appel

Moishe Oysher, the renowned cantor and star of Yiddish radio, stars in Edgar G. Ulmer’s musical version of David Pinski’s play Yankl der Shmid. Singing, dancing, and flashing his eyes, Oysher gives his most robust performance as a passionate shtetl blacksmith who must struggle against temptation to become a mensch. Recently rediscovered footage makes this the most complete extant version of Ulmer’s lively folk operetta, replete with an example of Yiddish swing.

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In this musical comedy, the comic duo Dzigan and Shumacher play two small town "entrepreneurs" who believe they have struck oil in a local field. Thus begins a comedy of errors, including millionaire investors, American schemers, and insane asylums, with a little matchmaking on the side.

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Ulmer's soulful, open-air adaptation of Peretz Hirshbein's classic play heralded the Golden Age of Yiddish cinema. When an ascetic young scholar ventures into the countryside, searching for the city of "true Jews," he learns some unexpected lessons from the Jewish peasants who take him in as a tutor for their children.

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Socialite Carol Morgan romps through the Depression and her wealth while breaking up with Bill Wade and getting back together with him.

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A young doctor escapes the slums of New York City to make his fortune as a Park Avenue doctor. When a fatal mistake results in tragedy his resolve to continue working is severely tested. Based on a novel by Fannie Hurst.

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A poor New York plumber's wife and children hope to move "uptown" from their lower East Side neighborhood after he sells his new invention.

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A Jewish writer in Czarist Russia is forced to flee when the government comes after him for his "objectionable" writings. He emigrates to the US, where he settles in New York City's Lower East Side.

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