His Wife's Lover USA, 1931, 80 minutes,
Public Exhibition Formats: 35mm and Beta |
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"A 1931 Yiddish-language tour de force... The story’s rom-com sensibility is classic in its tropes: the invented identity, the bet gone awry, the battle of the sexes and the use of wordplay."
- Atlanta Jewish Times | Full Article
"Tough and racy.... a tour de force for Satz."
- J. Hoberman, Bridge of LIght: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds
"Ludwig Satz, the gifted tummler who prefigures such mainstream American clowns as Sid Caesar and Jerry Lewis gets to strut his gallery of oafs and rakes."
- Richard Corliss, Time
Synopsis
Billed as the "first Jewish musical comedy talking picture," His Wife’s Lover stars the popular Yiddish theater comedian Ludwig Satz in one of his only surviving film performances. This fast-paced, song-filled comedy benefits from location camerawork of New York City’s Lower East Side and solid direction from Sidney Goldin, director of East and West (1923), Uncle Moses (1932) and The Cantor’s Son (1937), features previously restored by NCJF. With a script by a female author, Sheyne Rokhl Simkoff, His Wife’s Lover revels in its role reversals and love triangles all the while exploring the gender issues of its day.
When handsome actor Eddie Wien decides to marry, his uncle Oscar Stein warns that all women are frivolous and selfish, only on the lookout for a fat pocketbook. To prove him wrong, Eddie woos shop girl Golde Blumberg while disguised as a repulsive old millionaire “Herman Weingarten.” Golde initially resists “Herman” but, forced to escape her dire financial situation, she finally accepts. A second bet is devised and the elaborate farce continues. In the end, the lovers triumph over deceptions and mistaken identities.
Selected Screenings
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (2016)
Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival (2015)
Southampton Jewish Film Festival (2015)
National Center for Jewish Film's Jewishfilm.2015
Segal Center, New York (2012)
National Yiddish Book Center (2011)
Minnesota Film Arts (2009)
Tucson Jewish Film Festival (2009)
Copenhagen Jewish Film Festival (2009)
Vienna Film Archive (2008)
Detroit Jewish Film Festival (2008)
Washington DC Jewish Film Festival (2008)
Stockholm Jewish Film Festival (2008)
Berlin Jewish Film Festival (2008)
Vienna Jewish Film Festival (2007)
UK Jewish Film Festival, London
UK Jewish Film Festival, Brighton
UK Jewish Film Festival, Leeds
US PREMIERE New York Jewish Film Festival (2008)
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Jerusalem International Film Festival (2007)
Film Credits
Director Sidney M. Goldin
Producers Nathan Hirsch, Morris Kleinerman
Story by Shin Ra-Chell (Sheyne Rokhl Simkoff)
Photography Frank Zucker
Editor Joe Silverstein
Music Ludwig Satz, Abraham Ellstein
Cast
Ludwig Satz (Edouard Wein/ Herman Weingard)
Isidore Casher (Oscar Stein)
Lucy Levin (Golde Blumberg)
Lillian Feinman (Madame Kaufman)
Also starring Zita Ma-Kar, Michael Rosenberg, Jacob Frank, Anne Shapiro
NCJF Film Restoration
Preservation and restoration of His Wife’s Lover was made possible by the family of Henry J. Everett in his honor, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Kodak Motion Picture Film, Brandeis University, The Massachusetts Cultural Council and the National Film Preservation Foundation.
2007 Restoration © The National Center for Jewish Film
Executive Director: Sharon Pucker Rivo
Technical Director: Rich Pontius
Associate Director: Lisa E. Rivo
Translator: Dr. Stephen R. Simons
Consultant: Sylvia Fuks Fried
Title Animation: Frame Shop
Laboratory: Cinema Arts, Inc.
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Also directed by Sidney M. Goldin
The Cantor's Son (Uncredited)
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