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Download Article "Insiders as Outsiders" by Tom Gunning
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[B] [C] [E-H] [I-J] [L-N] [O-R] [S-Y]
The Bells
USA, 1926, 85 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by James Young
16mm
Lionel Barrymore stars as an Alsatian innkeeper whose political ambitions drive him to commit brutal murder in this silent melodrama. The Bells is an example of one way in which Jews have been stereotyped in theater and cinema. More
USSR, 1926, 90 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by V. Vilner
RESTORED BY NCJF
35mm DVD
The seamy Jewish underworld of Odessa is the setting for Isaac Babel's story based on the life of gangster king Mishka Yaponchik "Mike the Jap" Vinnitsky. Murder is a way of life for Benya and his gang until he finds himself ensnared in a Bolshevik trap. More
USA, 1922, 78 minutes, B&W
Silent with new English intertitles
Directed by Frank N. Seltzer & George K. Rowlands
Digital
Long thought lost, the world's only existing print of Breaking Home Ties was discovered by NCJF in a Berlin archive in 1984. Thinking he killed his friend Paul in a blind rage, David Bergmann flees pre-revolutionary Russia for America. In New York he becomes a succesful lawyer and woos the boss' daughter Rose. More
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� C
[B] [C] [E-H] [I-J] [L-N] [O-R] [S-Y]
USA, 1910, 15 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by D. W. Griffith
16mm Blu-ray DVD
This tale of New York’s Lower East Side life captures the hustle and bustle of Rivington Street through the lens of legendary Hollywood director D. W. Griffith. Ruth flees the ghetto and hides in the country, where a young farmer takes her in and they fall in love. More
USA, 1913, 10 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by Mack Sennett
16mm DVD
Cohen is a sergeant in the Union Army and the bitter rival of another officer for the attentions of Rebecca. Like most burlesque Jewish characters of this period, this caricature borders on anti-semitism. Yet Cohen is also the hero of the film. More
USA, 1904, 1 minute, B&W
Silent without intertitles
Directed by Edwin S. Porter
16mm DVD
This may be the earliest cinematic example of the Jewish stereotype known as the "scheming merchant”. Cohen, a grotesquely made-up Jewish shop owner, tricks a passerby into wearing a coat that has a sign advertising his store attached to the back. More
USA, 1907, 10 minutes, B&W
Silent without intertitles
Directed by Edwin S. Porter
16mm DVD
Cohen, made-up in grotesque vaudevillian Jewish style, pursues a trash wagon, picking up hats as they accidentally drop off. When he finds the hats are not selling, Cohen reads his insurance policy and arranges for an "accidental" fire." More
USSR, 1919, 18 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by Alexander Razumni
35mm 16mm DVD
Tne of a series of short Bolshevik propaganda films, Comrade Abram focuses on Abram Hersh, a young Jewish pogrom survivor who became a factory worker and organizer in Moscow and, eventually, a leader in the Red Army. More
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� E - I
[B] [C] [E-H] [I-J] [L-N] [O-R] [S-Y]
Austria, 1923, 85 minutes, B&W
Silent with Yiddish & English intertitles
Added original soundtrack (1991)
Directed by Sidney M. Goldin and Ivan Abramson
16mm DVD
This delightful comedy opens as Morris Brown, a New Yorker better acquainted with his checkbook than his prayerbook, returns to Galicia with his very American daughter, Mollie (Molly Picon) for a family wedding. More
Germany, 1936, 48 minutes, B&W
Silent with German and English intertitles
Produced by the German Zionist Union
16mm DVD
Made in 1936 in an effort to inspire German Jews under Nazi rule to make aliyah to Palestine, this documentary about the earliest period of Zionist history is a singular celluloid artifact. More
USSR, 1928, 76 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles (Incomplete: missing one reel)
Directed by Grigori Roshal
35mm 16mm
In the tradition of brilliant Soviet directors Eisenstein and Pudovkin, this film features stylized cinematography and stars Leonid Leonidov, a star of the Moscow Art Theater... More
USA, 1925, 91 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by Edward Sloman
16mm DVD
The two sons of a poor Russian-Jewish pushcart peddler on New York's Lower East Side are causing their father grief. As Morris and Sammy stray from traditions cherished by their parents, each generation learns to accept change to preserve the family as a source of love and respect. More
USA, 1917, 5 minutes, B&W, Silent
Produced by Conquest Pictures
16mm
This historic and rare footage of Palestine focuses on the holy Christian and Jewish sites of Jerusalem. More
USA, 1914, 10 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Produced by Crystal Films
16mm DVD
An example of Jewish characterizations in the silent film era, Moshe, a 98-pound boxer defeats his 240-pounds opponent…by cheating. More
USA, 1922, 80 minutes, B&W
Silent with new English intertitles
Added original soundtrack (2006)
16mm DVD
A Hollywood adaptation of the short stories of Anzia Yezierska, the first writer to bring stories of American Jewish women to a mainstream audience, Hungry Hearts focuses on the hopes and hardships of the Levin family, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe living on New York City's Lower East Side. More
� I - J
[B] [C] [E-H] [I-J] [L-N] [O-R] [S-Y]
USA, 1917, 20 minutes, b&w
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by Charlie Chaplin
16mm
Charlie Chaplin's hilarious portrayal of a penniless immigrant's journey to, and arrival in, America. More
USA, 1927, 90 minutes, B&W
Silent with intertitles and some sound
Directed by Alan Crosland
16mm
This landmark of modern cinema, the first “talking picture,” is also a pro-assimilationist story about a cantor's son who rejects his family's tradition for Jazz and Broadway. More
USSR, 1925, 100 minutes, B&W
Silent with new English intertitles
Directed by Alexander Granovsky
35mm 16mm DVD
Menakhem Mendl (one of Sholem Aleichem’s characters) is a daydreaming entrepreneur who specializes in doomed strike-it-rich schemes. Despite Jewish oppression in Tsarist Russia, Mendl continues to pursue his dreams and his continued persistence transforms him from schlemiel to hero. More
Spain, 1929, 13 minutes, B&W
Silent with new English intertitles
Produced by Ernesto Giménez Caballero
35mm 16mm DVD
Shot in the 1920s, this film visits Sephardic communities in Salonika, Constantinople, Yugoslavia, and Romania as well as former centers of Jewish life in Spain. More
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[B] [C] [E-H] [I-J] [L-N] [O-R] [S-Y]
USSR, 1928, 92 minutes, B&W
Silent with new English intertitles
Directed by Grigori Gricher-Cherikover
35mm 16mm DVD
Like Sholem Aleichem, on whose "Motl Peysi, the Cantor's Son" and "The Enchanted Tailor" stories Laughter Through Tears is based, director Gricher leavens pathos with humor in his earthy portrait of prerevolutionary shtetl life. More
USA, 1926, 22 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by Leo McCarey
16mm DVD
This offbeat comedy from future Hollywood screwball director McCarey is about a princess who must find a husband in 24 hours or forfeit her throne. She quickly marries a condemned man—but the man is pardoned. More
USA, 1927, 20 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by Sam Newfield
16mm
A slapstick comedy in the immigrant/vaudeville genre, Lizzie believes her necklace has been stolen, setting off a series of crazy events when Mr. O'Connor hires the "world's greatest detective," who turns out be Lunatic Louie, an escapee from an insane asylum! More
USA, 1923, 66 min, b&w, silent
Director: Burton King
16mm
None So Blind shows how gingerly American cinema in the 1920s dealt with Jewish-Gentile conflicts, yet its ending is clearly a plea for integration and assimilation. More
� O - R
[B] [C] [E-H] [I-J] [L-N] [O-R] [S-Y]
USA, 1908, 10 minutes, B&W
Silent without intertitles
Directed by Wallace McCutcheon
16mm DVD
In this film, a small girl in an urban slum seeks aid for her sick and starving mother. Trying to pawn her doll, she attracts the attention of the shop’s owner old Isaacs, who later stops the men trying to evict the sick woman. More
USA, 1928, 20 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by Les Goodwins
16mm DVD
Another in the Izzie and Lizzie series, this film continues the slapstick style which explodes from a domestic comedy into a frenzy of wild action and fast chases. More
USA, 1908, 10 minutes, B&W
Silent without intertitles
Directed by D.W. Griffith
16mm DVD
This early D. W. Griffith short shows the director's interest in Jewish ghetto life, portrayed here with sympathy and sentimentality. The melodramatic plot involves the conflict between generations in an immigrant Jewish family. More
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S - Y
[B] [C] [E-H] [I-J] [L-N] [O-R] [S-Y]
Austria, 1921, 59 minutes, B&W
Silent with English intertitles
Directed by Otto Kreisler
16mm DVD
This early film biography of the founder of modern Zionism depicts a young Herzl learning about Jewish persecution throughout the ages and developing his theory of political Zionism, which he saw as the only solution to anti-semitism. More
USA, 1909, 3 minutes, B&W
Silent without intertitles
Produced by the Lubin Company
16mm
Director Lubin (originally Lubszynski) was first Jewish-American filmmaker. In the film, Moses uses his last pennies to help a friend in need. 25 years later the men meet again. The film is remarkable in its depiction of tradition in the face of oppressive circumstances. More
Austria, 1924, 100 minutes, B&W
Silent with new English intertitles
Directed by Sidney M. Goldin
16mm DVD
Yizkor dramatizes its theme of fidelity to one's self, one's community and one's religion through a plot that revolves around hostage-taking, heroism and resistance. More
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