Otto Preminger, a Jewish import from Austria who made an enviable roster of movies, directed one of the first Hollywood film noirs. Laura, a moody and evocative picture screened recently on the Turner Classic Movies channel, stars a foursome of notable actors — Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price. Based on a […]
Since the end of communism in Poland about three decades ago, thousands of Polish Catholics have discovered their Jewish roots. Ronit Kertsner’s documentary, H.I. Jew Positive, explores this phenomenon through the lives of four Polish citizens. Now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform, it unfolds over a 15-year period from 1998 to 2013. Kertsner’s interviewees are […]
When Watch on the Rhine was released in American theatres on September 4, 1943, a tipping point in World War II had already occurred. In an unmistakable signal that Germany was losing the war, the Wehrmacht had been defeated at the momentous Battle of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Yet nearly two more years would […]
George Stevens’ Woman of the Year was praised by The New York Times as one of the top ten movies of 1942. Hailing it “triumphant,” the Times‘ critic described it as “a cheering, delightful combination of tongue-tip wit and smooth romance.” Having just seen it on the Turner Classic Movies channel, I would agree with this […]
Joseph Joffo, a French Holocaust survivor, published a best-selling memoir in 1973, but more than four decades elapsed before it was converted into a movie. Christian Duguay’s absorbing feature film, A Bag of Marbles, a joint French-Canada production, will be available on DVD, iTunes and Amazon on March 14. The Joffos, a Russian Jewish family from […]
A three-part series on some of the issues of the day in Israel, titled Into the Land and presented by the Times of Israel website, is now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform. These concise and probing documentaries deal with the lamentable state of the Dead Sea, the market in ancient archeological artifacts, and the […]
Trust is the fuel we run on and the air we breathe, Barry Avrich muses at the start of his fascinating documentary, The Talented Mr. Rosenberg. Yet, as he quickly adds, trust can be misused as a weapon by the unscrupulous. Avrich, a prolific Canadian filmmaker, was thinking of Albert Allan Rosenberg, a notorious resident […]
I first saw Chariots of Fire, the award-winning British movie, at the 1981 Toronto International Film Festival. Having been moved by it, I jumped at the chance of watching it again, this time on the Turner Classic Movies channel. As I tuned in, I wondered whether it would have the same mesmerizing effect on me. […]
Canadian human rights champion Irwin Cotler believes that one man can make a difference. As an example, he cites Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat/humanitarian who saved the lives of approximately 100,000 Hungarian Jews during the Nazi occupation of Hungary. Cotler — a former McGill University law professor, a onetime federal justice minister, and the Canadian […]
Keren Yedaya’s movie, Jaffa, is stunningly impactful and remarkably realistic. Now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform, this raw, gritty and tragic Israeli drama takes place in Jaffa, a mixed Jewish-Arab neighborhood in greater Tel Aviv. Given its locale, the main characters are Jews and Arabs. Reuven (Moni Moshonov), a middle-aged Jew, employs his two […]