The Light Ahead (1939)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Directors:

Henry Felt
Edgar G. Ulmer

Writers:

Chaver Pahver (writer)
Mendele Mocher Sforim (writer)

Release Date:

22 September 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In a small town in Russia in the 1880s, two young but poor lovers are helped by a wise old bookseller.

Plot Keywords:

Yiddish | Jewish

Cast

David Opatoshu	...	Fishke (the lame)
Helen Beverly	...	Hodel (the blind)
Isidore Cashier	...	Mendele Moicher Sforim
Rosetta Bialis	...	Drabke [alt. Dropke]
Anna Guskin	...	Gitel
Wolf Mercur	...	Getzel [alt. Getsl] (the thief)
Jenny Cashier	...	Dobe (the hunchback [alt. Dube])
Judel Dubinsky	...	Isaak (the stutterer)
Leon Seidenberg	...	Alter
Morris Shorr	...	Hershel
Leon Shachter	...	Frechman
Wolf Goldfaden	...	Wecker
Israel Mandel	...	Yisrolick
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ben Adler		(as Benny Adler)
Helena Benda
Nuchim Brind	...	Chaim Shuster
Celia Budkin	...	Chaye [alt. Hiah]
Misha Budkin
Charles Cohen
Misha Ferson	...	Reb Aaron
Abraham Fishkind
Isaac Gladstone
Zisze Kac	...	Badchen (as Zishe Katz)
Solomon Krause
Saul Nagoshiner
Tillie Rabinowitz	...	Neche
Isaak Rothblum
Ben-Zion Shoenfeld
Louis Weisberg

Also Known As:

Di klyatshe (USA: Yiddish title) (alternative title)
Die Klatsche
Fishka der Krimmer (USA) (reissue title)
Fishke der Krumer
Fishke the Crippple
The Dobbin

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Yiddish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Newton, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Collective Films

Trivia:

David Opatoshu's film debut.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Almonds and Raisins (1984)

The Lame Leading the Blind

Greatly enjoyed this Jewish produced film which contained a great deal of humor, sadness and romance. This film was produced in 1939 and most of these Yidish pictures were shown in Theatre's on the East Side of New York City. Fishke,(The Lame) young man was very poor and did everything he could to make a living and was made fun of by the local towns people. Fishke took a liking to a young girl named Hodel,(The Blind), who was completely blind and was also a sort of misfit and unable to find herself in the society. Local politics plays a great deal in this film and the upper class wants to build a hospital, however, the local middle class people want better water and sanitation facilities. It is a rather sad film, because it depicts 1939, the beginning of WW II when many Jewish people from various European countries will have to face the horrors of the Nazi tortures. Excellent film and a great Classic.