Tevya (1939 film) Recommended on TCM (translation)

[Lillie767]

TCM is showing the Yiddish language "Tevya" a 1939 film about - who else- Tevye the Dairyman, starring and directed by Maurice Schwartz.

It's an interesting film to watch, especially as we are all familiar with "Fiddler on the Roof". However, even this Yiddish film was sensitive to the times and antisemitism, and doesn't follow the story as written by Sholem Aleichem. Chava's conversion to Christianity has been a recurring problem.

I couldn't follow the Yiddish (with some Ukranian) but there are subtitles.

[Coney]

Is this the same movie where Chava returns to her family? If it is, then this version closely follows Aleichmen's original story, more than the Fiddler musical.

[Lillie767]

Originally Posted by Coney

Is this the same movie where Chava returns to her family? If it is, then this version closely follows Aleichmen's original story, more than the Fiddler musical.

Yes- in "Tevye", she returns and is reconciled with her father. She sends her husband away, back to his family.

I read the stories a long time ago, but I didn't think Tevye accepted her back in Sholem Aleichem's writings. I'll have to re-read the Tevye stories. Maybe I had a bad translation?

[Coney]

I saw an interview somewhere when it was mentioned that the Fiddler Musical was Americanized. When Chava begs her father to give her his blessing, it's almost as if the audience were rooting for her and to have her true love who is a gentile. That's a modern belief. True love brings happiness. In the old days, the happy ending would be she would realize her bad decisions and go back to the fold. That's the type of happy ending from a 100+ years ago.