Joseph Krumgold

This slim documentary commissioned by the US Information Service concerns Hispanic shepherds in New Mexico. The makeshift narrative centers on Miguel, a boy on the cusp of puberty who wants nothing more than to go to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and help tend to the sheep like his father and older siblings. It's evocatively shot with a striking sense of place and a good feel for farm life. The film was obviously shot on the cheap (voiceover narration is used in lieu of dialogue, and the film seems to have been fully post-dubbed, sometimes badly), but it's an engaging peek into a rural lifestyle few of us would otherwise experience.

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Yosef, a math student at the Hebrew University, shares his parents’ story with friends on Mount Scopus. In the 1920s, Yaakov and Chava immigrated to establish the Beit Gilboa kibbutz. They worked hard, danced the hora, and sang “Telem” after plowing. Their love disrupted the communal life, facing opposition from friends like Shmuel. Kibbutz secretary Yitzhak and shepherd Avraham supported them, allowing them to live together in a tent. They married and had a son. A puppet theatre performed “The Story of Balaam,” leading them to feel cursed and return to Germany, where they perished. Their son Joseph reached Europe with Avraham’s help and was welcomed back to the kibbutz, which funded his studies. As the country developed, Zionism turned the curse into a blessing.

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Though filmed after the British occupation troops left Palestine, Dream No More is set just before the troops' departure. The film follows the trials and tribulations of Jewish refugee Shlomo Vollmus, played by Avraham Doryon. Finally able to legally emigrate to the Holy Land, Shlomo joins a Jewish settlement and sets about to make himself a vital part of his new community. With the exception of Doryon, the cast is comprised of nonprofessionals, none of whom speak on-camera. For the benefit of English-speaking audiences, narration is provided by radio actors Mason Adams (later "Charlie Hume" on TV's Lou Grant) and Ann Shepherd.

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One of fifteen films made by beloved author Joseph Krumgold working with Norman Lourie, ISRAEL HOUSE IN THE DESERT won a medal for best documentary at the Venice Film Festival in 1948. The film was used to raise money and awareness in the United States about the plight of Jewish settlers in Palestine as part of the United Palestine Appeal of 1947-48.

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The story of the Jewish Brigade towards the end of World War II.

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A Jewish American soldier visits Eretz Yisrael after fighting on the North African front during World War II.

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Six-year-old Sweeney takes his toy elephant and runs away from home to live a life of adventure in the Bronx Zoo.

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This slim documentary commissioned by the US Information Service concerns Hispanic shepherds in New Mexico. The makeshift narrative centers on Miguel, a boy on the cusp of puberty who wants nothing more than to go to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and help tend to the sheep like his father and older siblings. It's evocatively shot with a striking sense of place and a good feel for farm life. The film was obviously shot on the cheap (voiceover narration is used in lieu of dialogue, and the film seems to have been fully post-dubbed, sometimes badly), but it's an engaging peek into a rural lifestyle few of us would otherwise experience.

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Yosef, a math student at the Hebrew University, shares his parents’ story with friends on Mount Scopus. In the 1920s, Yaakov and Chava immigrated to establish the Beit Gilboa kibbutz. They worked hard, danced the hora, and sang “Telem” after plowing. Their love disrupted the communal life, facing opposition from friends like Shmuel. Kibbutz secretary Yitzhak and shepherd Avraham supported them, allowing them to live together in a tent. They married and had a son. A puppet theatre performed “The Story of Balaam,” leading them to feel cursed and return to Germany, where they perished. Their son Joseph reached Europe with Avraham’s help and was welcomed back to the kibbutz, which funded his studies. As the country developed, Zionism turned the curse into a blessing.

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Rip Smith's opinion-poll business is a failure...until he discovers that the small town of Grandview is statistically identical to the entire country. He and his assistants go there to run polls cheaply and easily, in total secrecy (it would be fatal to let the townsfolk get self-conscious). And of course, civic crusader Mary Peterman must be kept from changing things too much. But romantic involvement with Mary complicates life for Rip; then suddenly everything changes.

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