|
The Jew’s Christmas
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Three reels
Directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber
Cast: Phillips Smalley [Isaac, the rabbi], Lois Weber [Leah, Isaac’s daughter], Lule Warrenton [Rachel, Isaac’s wife], Ella Hall [Eleanor, Isaac’s granddaughter]
Rex Film Company production; distributed by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated. / Scenario by Lois Weber. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Isaac and his faithful wife Rachel deplore that in America their children are forced to work on the Jewish Sabbath. Leah and Sam are not so strict as their parents and the old customs pall about their more American spirits. Sam is employed in a cloak house and secretly loves his employer’s daughter, but she refuses to recognize him. Leah is loved by the handsome gentile floorwalker, and despite her father’s objections, she marries him. Isaac orders Leah from the house. Later, the daughter of the cloak manufacturer marries an admirer and Sam is invited to the wedding. He drinks and disgraces himself; returning home, is turned out by the heartbroken rabbi. He leaves, telling the old man that he will return when the father celebrates the Christian Christmas. Two years pass. Leah presents herself at her father’s door with a baby in her arms. The old Jew refuses to see, but the mother longs to take the girl to her bosom. Julian falls under a street car; his legs are severed at the knees. Leah visits him at the hospital and is grief-stricken. Ten years later the rabbi and his wife are in poor circumstances, though he is as rigid as ever. Leah and Julian have adopted flower-making as a means of livelihood. Without knowing, the family have taken rooms above those of the rabbi. One afternoon their little girl meets the old man in the yard and assists him. An attachment springs up between the child and the old man, and the latter is impressed many times by instances of the kindness of the gentiles towards the Jews in this country. It is this child, on a Christmas night, that finally brings about reconciliation between the girl and the old father.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 20 December 1913, page ?] Phillips Smalley as Rabbi Isaac, and Lois Weber as Leah, his daughter, play the leads in this three-real drama, telling of an aged Rabbi’s change of heart toward his children, whom he drives out of his home in the first place because they fall in love with gentiles. The reconciliation occurs at Christmas time when the child of Leah, whose marriage is attended with many troubles, induces the old Rabbi to decorate a Christmas tree for her. The characterizations are all good and the film will win many friends for its admirable presentation.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Children - Christians - Christmas - Jews
Listing updated: 20 November 2022.
References: Ball-Shakespeare pp. 206, 387; Brownlow-Behind p. xxii; Tarbox-Lost p. 141 : Website-IMDb.
|
