Filmed at Pinewood Studios in England and on-location in SR Croatia, Fiddler on the Roof was theatrically released on November 3, 1971, by United Artists to critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised Jewison's direction, the screenplay, and the performances of the cast, while the film grossed $83.3million worldwide on a $9million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1971.
The film has continued to receive acclaim since its release and is often considered to be one of the greatest musical films of all time.[4][5][6][7][8] An independently produced documentary about the making of the film, titled Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen, was released in 2022.[9][10][11] A remake of the film, directed by Thomas Kail, is currently in development.[12]
Plot
The film centers on Tevye, a Jewish milkman, and his family, who live in the small (fictional) village of Anatevka in TsaristRussia. Tevye occasionally breaks the fourth wall by talking to the audience or to the heavens for the audience's benefit. Tevye is poor despite working hard, like most other Jews in Anatevka. He and his wife, Golde, have five daughters, and cannot afford a dowry to marry them off.
Life in the shtetl of Anatevka is very hard, and Tevye speaks not only of the hardships of poverty but also of the Jewish community's constant fear of harassment from their non-Jewish neighbors. Tevye explains that the lot of the Jews in Russia is as precarious as a fiddler on a roof, trying to eke out a pleasant tune while not breaking their necks. What keeps them alive is the balance they achieve through obedience to their ancient traditions. The fiddler appears throughout the film as a metaphoric reminder of the Jews' ever-present fears and danger.
While in town, Tevye meets Perchik, a student with modern religious and political ideas. Tevye invites Perchik to stay with him and his family in exchange for Perchik tutoring his daughters. Through Yente the matchmaker, Tevye arranges for his eldest daughter, Tzeitel, to marry widower Lazar Wolf, an affluent butcher, many years older than she. However, Tzeitel is in love with her childhood sweetheart, Motel the tailor, and begs her father not to make her marry Lazar. Tevye reluctantly agrees, and despite Lazar Wolf's humiliation, Tzeitel and Motel arrange to be married. Tevye persuades Golde to accept the marriage by claiming that a prophetic dream told him that Tzeitel is fated to marry Motel, and Lazar's dead wife will haunt her if she marries the butcher. Tevya, tipsy from celebrating the proposal, is warned by the Constable that the locals would attack (calling it a "demonstration"), and the milkman wonders why God would allow this to happen.
At the wedding, an argument erupts among the guests over whether a girl should be able to choose her own husband. Perchik addresses the crowd and says it should be left for the couple to decide. He creates further controversy when he asks Tevye's daughter Hodel to dance with him, crossing the barrier between the men and women. Eventually, the crowd warms to the idea, and the wedding proceeds with great joy. Suddenly, a mob of local peasants arrive and begin a pogrom, attacking the Jews and their property. Perchik tries to intervene, but is subdued by the Czar's men with a candlestick holder, resulting in a concussion.
Later, as Perchik prepares to leave Anatevka to work for the revolution, he tells Hodel that he loves her, and she agrees to marry him. Tevye is furious to learn they want to marry without his permission and with Perchik leaving Anatevka, but he eventually relents because they love each other. Weeks later, when Perchik is arrested in Kiev and exiled to Siberia, Hodel leaves to join him there.
Meanwhile, Tevye's third daughter, Chava, has fallen in love with a young Russian man, Fyedka. She eventually works up the courage to ask Tevye to allow her to marry him. In a soliloquy, Tevye concludes that while he could accept his older daughters' choosing their own husbands, he cannot countenance Chava marrying a non-Jew, in effect abandoning the Jewish faith. He forbids her to associate with him. Chava and Fyedka elope and marry in a Russian Orthodox Church. Tevye rejects and disowns Chava when she tries to beg forgiveness and acceptance from him.
Finally, the Jews of Anatevka are notified that the Russian government will force the Jews to leave the village; they have three days to leave. Tevye and his family and friends pack and head variously for New York, Chicago, Jerusalem, and other places they know nothing about. Just before the credits, Tevye spots the fiddler and motions to him to come along, and the film ends with the fiddler following Tevye down the road.
"Chava Ballet Sequence (Little Bird, Little Chavaleh)" – Tevye
"Tevye's Monologue (Chava and Fyedka)" – Tevye
"Anatevka" – Tevye, Golde, Lazar Wolf, Yente, Mendel, Mordcha and Full company
"Exit Music"
Differences from Broadway
The film follows the plot of the stage play very closely, retaining nearly all of the play's dialogue, although it omits the songs "Now I Have Everything" and "The Rumor (I Just Heard)".[14][13] Lyrical portions of "Tevye's Dream (tailor Motel Kamzoil)" were omitted to avoid repetition. The film's soundtrack release contained some of these omissions. These include Golde blessing herself before going back to sleep.
Changes were also made in the song "Tradition", with the film omitting the dialogue between Reb Nachum the beggar (who, in the film, seems unable to speak, at least clearly) and Lazar Wolf as well as dialogue spoken by Yente and Avram. In addition, in the film, two men argue about whether a horse claimed to be six years old was actually twelve, rather than whether the horse was actually a mule. The LP film soundtrack retained their names, Yitzhak and Avram, however this was also omitted in the film's release. Instead, an on-set, improvised take of Topol (saying "he sold him"), rather than the recorded dubbing, was used.
Six additional scenes were added to the film:
The Constable gets orders from his superior for a "demonstration" against the Jews (referred to by the superior as "Christ-killers") in Anatevka.
Perchik is arrested at a workers' rally in Kyiv.
Golde goes to the priest to look for Chava (described by her in the stage production). She is confronted there with Christian images (of historically Jewish individuals) in a juxtaposition with the synagogue montage at the start of the film.
The rabbi and his students inside the synagogue receive news of the arrival of Motel's new sewing machine.
The rabbi takes the Torah out of the ark inside the synagogue for the last time. He weeps and chants quietly about having to abandon the synagogue.
Tevye feeds his animals in the barn for the final time. He tells his lame horse to take care of his leg and to treat his new owner and master well.
The scene with Hodel and Perchik, where he plans to leave to start a revolution, was extended in the film. A new song sung by Perchik was recorded ("Any Day Now"), but was omitted from the final print; however, it was included in the 2004 reissue of the soundtrack. The song was later implemented in the 2018 Yiddish production as a song sung by Perchik to Shprintze and Bielke. When the film was re-released to theaters in 1979, 32 minutes were cut, including the songs "Far from the Home I Love" and "Anatevka".
In the film, Tevye and Lazar Wolf discuss Wolf's proposed marriage to Tzeitel in Wolf's home, then go to the tavern for a celebration drink. In the stage version, the two meet directly in the tavern. The film shows Wolf's home as filled with golden artifacts. Prior to Lazar Wolf entering the scene, Tevye speaks to a female servant, who tells him not to touch anything.
Although a faithful adaptation of the original stage version, Fiddler scholar Jan Lisa Huttner has noted several differences between stage and screen.[14][15] She argues that changes in American culture and politics and developments in Israel led the filmmakers to portray certain characters differently and to offer a different version of Anatevka.[14] Huttner also notes that the "Chagall color palette" of the original Broadway production was exchanged for a grittier, more realistic depiction of the village of Anatevka.[14]
Production
Principal photography was done on-location in Yugoslavia and at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. Most of the exterior shots were done in Mala Gorica, Lekenik, and Zagreb within the Yugoslav constituent republic of Croatia. Though the area was under heavy snow during location scouting in 1969, during the filming the producers had to ship in marble dust to stand in for snow.[16] Additional scenes were shot at the Jadran Film studios.[13] 300 extras conversant in various foreign languages were used, as were flocks of geese and pigs and their handlers.[17]
Casting
The decision to cast Topol, instead of Zero Mostel, as Tevye was a somewhat controversial one, as the role had originated with Mostel and he had made it famous. Years later, Jewison said he felt Mostel's larger-than-life personality, while fine on stage, would cause film audiences to see him as Mostel, rather than the character of Tevye.[18] Before Topol was cast, Orson Welles, Anthony Quinn and Marlon Brando were all considered.
Rosalind Harris, who played Tzeitel, was previously Bette Midler's understudy in the role during the original Broadway production.[13]
Assi Dayan, a well-known Israeli actor and filmmaker, was originally cast as Perchik, but couldn't handle the English dialogue and was replaced by Paul Michael Glaser.[19]Rob Reiner auditioned for the role of Motel.[20]Richard Thomas was Jewison's choice to play Fyedka, but ultimately Italian actor Ray Lovelock was cast in the part. Though Lovelock was a singer who released several singles,[21] he did not appear in any of the film’s musical numbers.
Norman Jewison makes two cameo appearances, first as the voice of the rabbi the "Tevye's Dream" number, and later as a wedding guest.
Fiddler on the Roof was the final film of Norma Crane, who died of breast cancer two years after its release.
Music
The music for the film was conducted and adapted by John Williams from the original score by Jerry Bock. Williams also composed additional music and an original cadenza for Isaac Stern, who performed the various violin solos in the film.[16]
Because the film follows the stage musical so closely, and the musical did not have an overture, the filmmakers chose to eliminate the customary film overture played before the beginning of most motion pictures shown in a roadshow-style presentation. However, there is a solo by the Fiddler played over the opening credits (after the conclusion of "Tradition"), an intermission featuring entr'acte music, and exit music played at the end after the closing credits.
Reception
The film was a success, earning United Artists profits of $6.1million, plus distribution profits of $8million.[22]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 81% rating based on 77 reviews, with an average of 7.90/10. The consensus summarizes: "A bird may love a fish - and musical fans will love this adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof, even if it is not quite as transcendent as the long-running stage version."[23]
Roger Ebert thought the storyline of the musical was "quite simply boring", but still gave the screen version three stars out of four, explaining that Jewison "has made as good a film as can be made" from the material.[24]Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing that the musical numbers were "better staged and choreographed than in any recent Broadway film adaptation".[25]Vincent Canby of The New York Times thought the film version was inferior, explaining that by "literalizing" the show with real landscapes and houses, Jewison and Stein "have effectively overwhelmed not only Aleichem, but the best things about the stage production ... pushed beyond its limits, the music goes flat and renders banal moments that, on the stage, are immensely moving."[26]Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "has been done not only with such artistry, but also with such evident love, devotion, integrity and high aspiration that watching it is a kind of duplex pleasure."[27] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post stated, "Jewison's Fiddler is a great film, by which I mean great in the sense that matters most – greatly moving, an extraordinarily powerful, emotional experience."[28]Pauline Kael of The New Yorker called it "an absolutely smashing movie; it is not especially sensitive, it is far from delicate, and it isn't even particularly imaginative, but it seems to me the most powerful movie musical ever made."[29]
Retrospective reception
The film continues to receive acclaim since its original release and it is often seen as one of the best musical films ever made. When the film celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021, The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship collaborated on a retrospective celebrating the film and its legacy, including a virtual roundtable discussion with film critics, scholars and historians regarding the film's relevance in modern times and how it would be remembered in years time. One of the participants, Matthew Kennedy, called it "a very fine and enduring work of popular entertainment. Of all the big musicals at the end of the roadshow era, this one ages the best. If anything, it looks and sounds better today than it did fifty years ago. The music, the visuals, the story that's so specific yet moves people throughout the world. Humor, heartbreak, memorable songs, big themes, and moral lessons - Fiddler has it all."[4] In his 2021 retrospective, Devin McGrath-Conwell of Cinema Scholars wrote "This film may take place in 1905, but you can easily compare the themes of family, faith, and rebellion with more contemporary films like Rebel Without a Cause or Splendor in the Grass and find that they synch up." In conclusion, he wrote that it "remains beloved," and that "As Tevye told us, we are all fiddlers on the roof, fighting to maintain balance in a tumultuous and unpredictable world. And so, we must always seek to treat ourselves and our neighbors with the love and care of the citizens of Anatevka, and make that our "tradition."[30]
In 2023, the film ranked number 15 on IndieWire's list of "The 60 Best Movie Musicals of All Time," with Jude Dry writing "It's hard to go wrong with such great material, yet many have failed in their attempts to translate the epic nature of a live Broadway show to the comparatively flat screen. Led by Israeli actor Chaim Topol as the indefatigable narrator Tevye (though the decision not to cast Zero Mostel was controversial at the time), the movie delivers all of the laughs, tears, and chills of the musical ... From its rousing opening to its plaintive final notes, Fiddler on the Roof is nothing less than a cinematic tradition."[5] It also ranked number 9 on Screen Rant's list of "The 35 Best Musicals of All Time" and number 22 on Parade's list of the "67 Best Movie Musicals of All Time."[6] In a 2021 piece for Collider, Gregory Lawrence believed modern filmmakers looking to make their own musical films should look to this film for inspiration, mainly for Norman Jewison's direction, the cinematography and the staging and handling of the musical numbers, writing "By examining the traditional filmmaking of Fiddler on the Roof and carrying the most useful techniques with them, perhaps our future musical movies can sing even brighter."[31]
A 2-LP soundtrack album was issued by United Artists Records in 1971. A cassette release shortly followed which featured two instrumental tracks not on the original LP release: "Entr'acte" and "The Pogrom" (tracked as "First Act Finale" on later CD releases).
In 2001, EMI Records released a remastered soundtrack CD to commemorate the film's 30th anniversary. This was the first time the "First Act Finale" and "Entr'acte" were featured on CD. This release also included the previously unreleased "Wedding Procession" track. It also featured the demo of "Any Day Now", a song that was cut from the final film.
On December 7, 2021, La-La Land Records released a 3-disc limited edition soundtrack which featured alternate versions of songs, as well as unreleased instrumental score composed by Williams.
An independently produced documentary about the making of the film, Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen, was made by Adama Films in 2021. Produced, directed and edited by Daniel Raim and featuring interviews with the surviving cast and crew members, as well as behind-the-scenes footage, it premiered at the Miami Jewish Film Festival on January 26, 2022, and was released theatrically by Kino Lorber and Zeitgeist Films that Spring. It was later made available to stream on Paramount+.[9][10][11]
Chaim Topol, mononymously known as Topol, was an Israeli actor and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of Tevye, the lead role in the stage musical Fiddler on the Roof and the 1971 film adaptation, performing this role more than 3,500 times from 1967 through 2009.
Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and their various adaptations, the most famous being the musical Fiddler on the Roof, which premiered on Broadway in 1964, and its 1971 film adaptation. Tevye is a pious Jewish dairyman living in the Russian Empire, the patriarch of a family including several troublesome daughters. The village of Boyberik, where the stories are set, is based on the town of Boyarka, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. Boyberik is a suburb of Yehupetz, where most of Tevye's customers live.
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on "Tevye the Dairyman" and other short stories by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love; their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village.
Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of comic characters including Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version of Mel Brooks' The Producers (1967). Mostel was a student of Don Richardson and he used an acting technique based on muscle memory. He was blacklisted during the 1950s; his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee was well publicized. Mostel later starred in the Hollywood Blacklist drama film The Front (1976) alongside Woody Allen, for which Mostel was nominated for the British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
"If I Were a Rich Man" is a song in the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, written by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock. It is sung by the main character, Tevye, and reflects his aspirations. Its title was inspired by a 1902 monologue by Sholem Aleichem in Yiddish, Ven ikh bin Rothschild, a reference to the wealth of the Rothschild family, although the content is different, and its words come partly from passages in Aleichem's 1899 short tale The Bubble Bursts. Monologue and tale both appeared in English in a 1949 collection of stories called Tevye's Daughters.
Rosalind Harris is an American theater and film actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Tzeitel, the eldest daughter of Tevye, in the 1971 film version of Fiddler on the Roof. She also starred as Tzeitel in the Broadway musical, having replaced Bette Midler. Nearly 20 years after the film, Harris played mother Golde in a touring stage revival of Fiddler on the Roof; Topol, the Israeli actor who played her father Tevye in the film, reprised his role, now playing her husband.
Tevya is a 1939 American Yiddish film, based on author Sholem Aleichem's stock character Tevye the Dairyman, also the subject of the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof. It was the first non-English language picture selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.
A kashket is a cap, usually made of felt, worn mainly by Hasidic Jewish children as an alternative to the kippah. It has a crown, a band and peak. From the beginning of the 20th century until World War II, many Russian Jews and Polish Jews wore this cap as part of their everyday dress.
Marcia Rodd is an American actress, singer, and director. After studying theatre at Northwestern University, she moved to New York City and began a successful career as a stage actress.
Neva Small is an American theatrical, film, and television actress and singer. She made her singing debut at the age of 10 at the New York City Opera, and her Broadway debut the following year. She has numerous acting credits on and Off-Broadway. She is best known for her portrayal of Chava, Tevye's third daughter and the one who marries a Gentile, in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof.
Tevye and His Seven Daughters is a 1968 Israeli drama film directed by Menahem Golan. Based on stories by Sholem Aleichem, which were also the basis for the stage musical and 1971 film, both titled Fiddler on the Roof.
Michele Marsh sometimes credited as Michèle Marsh, is a French-American television, theater, and film actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Hodel, the second of Tevye’s five daughters who falls in love with a student radical, in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof. She has acted mainly in television and in West Coast theatre. She resides in Idyllwild, California, where she performs with the Idyllwild Actors Theatre.
"Do You Love Me?" is a song from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof. It is performed by Tevye and his wife Golde.
"To Life" is a song from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof.
"Sunrise, Sunset" is a song from the musical Fiddler on the Roof written in 1964 by composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. The song is performed at the wedding of Tzeitel. The two parents sing about how they can't believe their daughter and her groom have grown up, while Hodel and Perchik sing about whether there may be a wedding in the near future for them.
"Matchmaker, Matchmaker" is a song from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. The play was later made into a film in 1971. The story revolves around a poor Jewish milkman, Tevye, and his five daughters, as he attempts to maintain his Jewish traditions. His three eldest daughters marry, but each daughter's choice of husband moves further and further away from their traditions.
Alexandra Silber is an American actress, singer, writer and educator. She has performed roles on Broadway, in London's West End, on television and film, and concert stages. Among other stage roles, in London, she created the role of Laura Fairlie in The Woman in White (2005), played Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof (2007) and Julie Jordan in Carousel (2008). In New York, she appeared in Hello Again (2010), Master Class (2011), created the role of Sara Jane in Arlington (2012–14) and as Tzeitel in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof (2015).
Shmuel Rodensky was a Russian-born Israeli actor whose stage, film, and television career in Israel and West Germany spanned six decades. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1924 and studied drama at the Eretz Israel Theatre in Tel Aviv. After performing with several theatre companies between 1928 and 1948, he joined Habima Theatre in 1949 and became one of its principal players. He was known as "the Israeli Laurence Olivier". In 1968 Rodensky traveled to Hamburg to join the German-language production of Fiddler on the Roof, playing the lead role of Tevye the Dairyman. He performed this role more than 1,400 times throughout West Germany and Switzerland. His notable film roles include the lead in the 1968 Israeli film Tevye and His Seven Daughters, Simon Wiesenthal in the 1974 Anglo-German film The Odessa File, and Jethro in the 1974 BBC television miniseries Moses the Lawgiver. He was the recipient of numerous honors in both Israel and West Germany, including the Federal Service Cross from the Federal Republic of Germany and the Israel Prize.
Broken Barriers, also known as Khava is a 1919 American Yiddish silent film, based on author Sholem Aleichem's stock character Tevye the Dairyman.
Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles is a 2019 American documentary film about the creation and significance of the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof. Directed by Max Lewkowicz, it features interviews with Fiddler creators such as Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Joseph Stein, and Harold Prince, as well as scholars, actors, and other musical theatre figures such as Stephen Sondheim and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The documentary includes rarely-seen footage of the original Broadway cast as well as interviews with creators, actors, theatrical figures, and scholars.
1 2 Foreman, Christian Zilko, Wilson Chapman, Alison; Zilko, Christian; Chapman, Wilson; Foreman, Alison (December 12, 2023). "The 61 Best Movie Musicals of All Time, Ranked". IndieWire. Retrieved December 19, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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