Te'alat Blaumilch (1969)

A slapstick comedy lampooning bureaucracy and the madness of everyday life in Israel centers on an escaped lunatic who digs up the streets of Tel-Aviv with a drill.

Director:

Ephraim Kishon

Writer:

Ephraim Kishon (play)

Stars:

Bomba Tzur, Nissim Azikri, Shraga Friedman

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bomba Tzur	...	Blaumilch
Nissim Azikri	...	Yehezkel Ziegler
Shraga Friedman	...	Dr. Avigdor Kooiybishevsky
Avner Hizkiyahu	...	Menahem Ze'ev Zuckerman
Oded Teomi	...	Dentist
Rina Ganor	...	Seine Frau
Zaharira Harifai	...	Fürsorgerin
Miriam Gavrieli	...	Deborah Zuckerman
Aviva Paz	...	Secretary
Gideon Singer	...	Police Chief Akiva Levkowicz
Mosko Alkalai	...	Zelig Schultheiss
Albert Cohen	...	Dr. Gilad
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gabi Amrani	...	Police Officer
Yona Atlas
Reuven Bar-Yotam	...	Foreman

Storyline

A madman escapes from the asylum in Tel-Aviv, and starts digging a canal right in the middle of one of the main streets. Due to the bureaucratic mess in the city administration, not only does nobody try to stop him, he actually receives the help of the police, the city engineer, etc. The one city clerk who finds out what is really going on is, of course, declared insane...

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Plot Keywords:

israel | satire | jewish | based on play

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Israel USA West Germany

Language:

Hebrew German

Release Date:

10 November 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blaumilch Canal

Filming Locations:

Tel Aviv, Israel

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal Film Production Ltd., RKO Stanley-Warner Corporation, Sender Freies Berlin (SFB)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actor Bomba Tzur is best known for his portrayal of the lunatic Blaumilch in this movie, though he says only one word during the entire movie - "Blaumilch".

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Crazy Credits

In the first credit sequence: "The plot and characters in this film are totally fictional. We Hope..."

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Connections

Spin-off The Policeman (1971)

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Soundtracks

"Balada La-Ish Ha-Pashut"
Composed by Noam Sheriff
Performed by Edna Goren

User Reviews

An interesting story but the execution was a bit too slapstick for my taste.

The idea for this film is great because it's so original. However, the execution could have been better, as sometimes the film is handled a bit too broadly--subtle, it wasn't.

A mental patient escapes and soon happens upon a jackhammer. With a weird compulsion to use it, he begins tearing apart a street in Tel Aviv at 5am. And, the man continues jackhammering and disrupting life there non-stop--day and night. It's a nightmare for the residents who appeal to the government to do something. But, because the government is made up of idiot bureaucrats (now that's a stretch), nothing is done. After all, the officials reason, someone must have ordered this work to be done. Much of the film consists of these officials trying desperately to cover their butts and pretty soon they start taking credit for the mess--saying it's all part of a wonderful beautification project. They even order MORE workers to expand the project! However, one lowly official realizes the worker is insane but no one will listen.

It's a clever idea of bureaucracy gone mad--an excellent parody for any developed nation. But, all too often, the film seemed to have acting, direction and music that all worked together to try too hard to make the film kooky. I think a more serious and less slapstick approach would have worked better, as this film has almost a Sherwood Schwartz quality about it (he's the guy responsible for "Gilligan's Island"). Not bad--but it should have been better.