Full Description
The great Yiddish actress Molly Picon cross-dresses to become Yidl, a fiddler in a band of musicians who roam the countryside in 1930s Poland. Yidl is sassy, independent, and hopelessly in love with a fellow band member, creating a series of hilarious and melodramatic situations. Location shooting in the shtetl Kazimierz, in the nearby countryside, and in Warsaw gives this film authenticity and atmosphere; we meet shtetl innkeepers, kidnapped brides on the run, big-time Warsaw producers, and hear some great music (including songs like "Oy Mama I'm In Love!"). Old world values and new world feminism exist side by side - in the end YidI gets her career AND her man! Made by Polish-born American Director Joseph Green in 1936, YIDL was more than a great musical comedy, it was also an act of cultural solidarity, produced at a time of growing fascism and anti-Semitism. YIDL MITN FIDL was an immediate smash hit, had worldwide distribution, and became the most successful Yiddish musical of all time.
