ID

FBW000041      Fiction

Country / Year

Russia, 1918

Original Title

Ven ich bin Roitschild

Other Title(s)

Wenn ich Rothschild wäre [ÜT] (German)
Ven ikh bin Roytshild / If I Were Rotschild

Directed by

Aleksandr Arkatov

Produced by

Mizrachi, Odessa

Staff

Based on: Scholem Alejchem (Monologue)

Length

(3 Akte)

Format

35mm/sw/1:1,37

Abstract

Presenting the musings of a kasrilevke melamed (teacher) whose wife is nagging him for Sabbath money he doesn't have. To escape this unpleasant reality, he lapses into daydream of infinite wealth and power. From his first law (that a wife must always have a three-rubble piece in her possesion), the narrator imagines new charitable societies for his town, then vast philantropies for all Jews. In the end, he proposes to do away with war, nationality, and money itself - which brings him back to earth. Even if there was no money, he'd still have the problem of presenting Sabbath.

Subject Terms

Yiddish cinema

Holdings

- Keine Kopie nachweisbar

Bibliography

- Goldman, Eric A.: Visions, Images, and Dreams. Yiddish Film Past and Present. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1983
- Goldberg, Judith N.: Laughter Through Tears. The Yiddish Cinema. East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1983
- Hoberman, J.: Bridge of Light. Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds. New York, NY: Schocken, 1991