I'm fascinated by the history of the Yiddish theatre world that was active in Second Avenue of New York City during the early twentieth century. Some great actors -- notably Paul Muni -- got their early training in these theatres' overwrought melodramas and slapstick farces, performed in Yiddish for Jewish audiences that often spoke little or no English. Inevitably, very few of the Yiddish theatre's actors made it into the mainstream of American entertainment, as they tended to be East Europeans with thick accents and (often) defective English.
I was eager to see 'Souls in Exile', because it stars and was directed by Maurice Schwartz, who was a major figure in New York's Yiddish theatre. This being a silent film, I assumed that any problems Schwartz might have with English would be irrelevant. Perhaps I was wrong. This movie was filmed in New York, and features some interesting lower East Side locations, yet it has the feeling and appearance of a European film. In some other context, that would be a compliment; here, I mean it disparagingly. 'Souls in Exile' feels like one of those dead-slow existentialist Russian dramas in which everyone is doomed from birth. I can't help but wonder if perhaps Maurice Schwartz had difficulty with American idioms and American rhythms when he made this borscht-filled movie.
The story begins more than 20 years before the present ... in Czarist Russia, where Benjamin (Schwartz) -- an earnest young Jew -- is having problems with the local police. Straight away, I was annoyed. This story's prologue could just as easily have been set nearer the present: in post-revolutionary Russia, with Benjamin suffering at the hands of the communists ... who hated the Jews and oppressed them just as much as the Czar's soldiers did. For some reason, somebody connected with this movie (possibly Schwartz himself) didn't want to depict the communists unfavourably.
Benjamin is married, but the film quickly establishes that this is a loveless (though binding!) marriage which will blight Benjamin forever, or at least as long as he stays in Czarist Russia. After Benjamin's wife is reported dead in ambiguous circumstances, he manages a fresh start in New York City.
Benjamin meets Ruth Esterin, the beautiful young daughter of the local cantor, and soon Cupid comes kissing the mezuzah. Benjamin is young, handsome and Jewish, so I naturally assumed that Ruth's parents would approve of their romance. Surprise! Ruth's parents want her to marry an American Jew who is assimilated and established in the new world. They deem Benjamin a peasant, right off the boat from Murmansk, and they don't want him to have anything to do with her. But love gets the last word: Benjamin and Ruth elope, and set up housekeeping.
Everything is raisins and almonds (with very little money) ... until Benjamin suddenly receives word that his Russian wife might still be alive after all. Oy vey ist mir! What to do?
I found this movie turgid and badly paced. Worse luck, I didn't care about the characters. Director Maurice Schwartz favours camera set-ups which favour actor Maurice Schwartz, to the detriment of his very beautiful leading lady Lila Lee. In fact, Lee's wholesome American ingenue looks are arguably a drawback in this role. She frankly doesn't look ethnic enough to be playing a Jewish girl, and her performance here fails to convince me that she has been raised in a sheltered, restrictive kosher household. The fact that the rest of this movie feels European, rather than American, only calls more attention to Lila Lee's "WASP" personality, inappropriate to this role.
I'll rate this movie just 4 out of 10. I suppose it may have some historical interest for the descendants of Jewish-American immigrants. As entertainment, though, it's far too dreary.
I was eager to see 'Souls in Exile', because it stars and was directed by Maurice Schwartz, who was a major figure in New York's Yiddish theatre. This being a silent film, I assumed that any problems Schwartz might have with English would be irrelevant. Perhaps I was wrong. This movie was filmed in New York, and features some interesting lower East Side locations, yet it has the feeling and appearance of a European film. In some other context, that would be a compliment; here, I mean it disparagingly. 'Souls in Exile' feels like one of those dead-slow existentialist Russian dramas in which everyone is doomed from birth. I can't help but wonder if perhaps Maurice Schwartz had difficulty with American idioms and American rhythms when he made this borscht-filled movie.
The story begins more than 20 years before the present ... in Czarist Russia, where Benjamin (Schwartz) -- an earnest young Jew -- is having problems with the local police. Straight away, I was annoyed. This story's prologue could just as easily have been set nearer the present: in post-revolutionary Russia, with Benjamin suffering at the hands of the communists ... who hated the Jews and oppressed them just as much as the Czar's soldiers did. For some reason, somebody connected with this movie (possibly Schwartz himself) didn't want to depict the communists unfavourably.
Benjamin is married, but the film quickly establishes that this is a loveless (though binding!) marriage which will blight Benjamin forever, or at least as long as he stays in Czarist Russia. After Benjamin's wife is reported dead in ambiguous circumstances, he manages a fresh start in New York City.
Benjamin meets Ruth Esterin, the beautiful young daughter of the local cantor, and soon Cupid comes kissing the mezuzah. Benjamin is young, handsome and Jewish, so I naturally assumed that Ruth's parents would approve of their romance. Surprise! Ruth's parents want her to marry an American Jew who is assimilated and established in the new world. They deem Benjamin a peasant, right off the boat from Murmansk, and they don't want him to have anything to do with her. But love gets the last word: Benjamin and Ruth elope, and set up housekeeping.
Everything is raisins and almonds (with very little money) ... until Benjamin suddenly receives word that his Russian wife might still be alive after all. Oy vey ist mir! What to do?
I found this movie turgid and badly paced. Worse luck, I didn't care about the characters. Director Maurice Schwartz favours camera set-ups which favour actor Maurice Schwartz, to the detriment of his very beautiful leading lady Lila Lee. In fact, Lee's wholesome American ingenue looks are arguably a drawback in this role. She frankly doesn't look ethnic enough to be playing a Jewish girl, and her performance here fails to convince me that she has been raised in a sheltered, restrictive kosher household. The fact that the rest of this movie feels European, rather than American, only calls more attention to Lila Lee's "WASP" personality, inappropriate to this role.
I'll rate this movie just 4 out of 10. I suppose it may have some historical interest for the descendants of Jewish-American immigrants. As entertainment, though, it's far too dreary.
