Breaking Home Ties (film)

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Breaking Home Ties
Breaking Home Ties (1922) - 1.jpg
Directed by George K. Rolands
Frank N. Seltzer
Written byGeorge K. Rolands
Frank N. Seltzer
Produced byE.S. Manheimer
Starring Lee Kohlmar
Rebecca Weintraub
Jane Thomas
Production
company
E.S. Manheimer Productions
Distributed by Associated Exhibitors
Release date
  • November 12, 1922 (1922-11-12)
Running time
60 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent
English intertitles

Breaking Home Ties is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by George K. Rolands and Frank N. Seltzer and starring Lee Kohlmar, Rebecca Weintraub and Jane Thomas. [1] It centers on Russian Jewish immigrants in Manhattan's Lower East Side. [2]

Contents

The film was believed to be lost, before being rediscovered in Berlin in an archive in the 1980s. The National Center for Jewish Film led the digital restoration of the film over the ensuing decades. [2] [3]

The restored version of the film, with its newly commissioned score, will premiere at the New York Jewish Film Festival on 19 January 2025. [3]

Background

Director Frank N. Seltzer was motivated to direct a film to counter rising levels of antisemitism fuelled by Henry Ford and the Ku Klux Klan. The film has Jews as central characters, and they are presented in a normative way, with their faith and practice respectfully depicted. [2]

Plot

David Bergmann is a young Russian Jew who flees to America after an unfortunate incident. He arrives in New York City on the Lower East Side, [2] where his university education in St. Petersburg enables him to become a successful lawyer. [2]

David's parents and younger sister, who immigrate separately to New York from Russia, face more hardships. [2] They struggle to find their son, who has changed his surname to Berg. [2] David's father makes a meager income as a street vendor, and he and his aging wife cannot afford lodgings in a Jewish Aged Care Home. The film then focuses on the efforts of David and his family to find one another. [2]

Cast

Release

The film originally premiered at the Hotel Astor in New York City in 1922. [2]

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References

  1. Munden p.83
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Strauss, Joseph (14 January 2025) A lost film about Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side returns to the big screen in NYC New York Jewish Week. Retrieved on 17 January 2025
  3. 1 2 Breaking Home Ties - New York Jewish Film Festival 2025 Film at Lincoln Center. Retrieved on 17 January 2025

Bibliography