FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
UNITED ARTISTS, 1971 | COLOR (TECHNICOLOR)/PANAVISION, 181 MINUTES
DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER: NORMAN JEWISON SCREENPLAY: JOSEPH STEIN, BASED ON HIS MUSICAL PLAY, FROM THE WRITINGS OF SHOLOM ALEICHEM SONGS: JERRY BOCK (MUSIC) AND SHELDON HARNICK (LYRICS) CHOREOGRAPHER: TOM ABBOTT STARRING: TOPOL (TEVYE), NORMA CRANE (GOLDE), LEONARD FREY (MOTEL), MOLLY PICON (YENTE), PAUL MANN (LAZAR WOLF), ROSALIND HARRIS (TZEITEL), MICHELE MARSH (HODEL), NEVA SMALL (CHAVA), [PAUL] MICHAEL GLASER (PERCHIK), RAY[MOND] LOVELOCK (FYEDKA)
In pre-revolution Russia, Tevye the milkman copes with poverty, marrying off his daughters, and growing anti-Jewish hostility.
It’s always stood apart, just a little, from the others. Call it, perhaps, a necessity—a work that’s been absorbed and internalized in ways other musicals can’t achieve. It has the trappings of a traditional show but, emotionally and culturally, has come to signify things beyond the usual scope of entertainment. On film, as in the theater, Fiddler on the Roof is a work of survival, faith, resilience, defiance, humor, and, of course, tradition.
Although some of its backers feared it might be “too Jewish” for general audiences, Fiddler became an instant classic when it opened on Broadway in 1964 and went on to become the longest-running show up to that time. Inevitably, there were apprehensions when it came time to make the film version. Was it perhaps too powerful for movies, or, putting it crassly again, “too Jewish”? So many other shows had been flattened or coarsened, and this one deserved better. There was, then, an immense sigh of relief when the Fiddler movie opened. It was big where it needed to be without being blown out of proportion or glitzed-up, the score was intact (two deletions), the no-star cast was terrific, it looked magnificent, and the director knew what he was doing. The show had been treated with love and respect and, what’s more, with vitality. From the impassioned strains of Isaac Stern’s opening violin solo and the rhythmic editing of “Tradition,” all the way to the regret and hope of its conclusion, this Fiddler soars both as adaptation and as cinema.
“Do You Love Me?”: Topol and Norma Crane
It always comes down to a series of choices, and in this case they ended up being, mostly, spot-on. The greatest controversy came in not having Zero Mostel re-create his Tony-winning Tevye. Mostel himself remained bitter about it (a few “Passover” jokes were made), yet a look at his film work makes the choice fathomable. In The Producers, he’s as outsized as he is magnetic, with gestures and reactions that may simply have been too much for the more restrained tone decided upon by the filmmakers. While Haim Topol, the Israeli actor who had played Tevye in the London production, was hardly a shrinking violet either, he was unfamiliar to most movie audiences. Large in person and personality, by turns genial and passionate, he dominates the film without overwhelming the material, the only caveat being that even with makeup and gray streaks, he may seem too young (thirty-five) for the put-upon milkman with five daughters.
The choice of director, too, was off the beaten path. Jerome Robbins, who had staged and choreographed the original production, declined a possible replay of his firing from West Side Story. Legend holds that United Artists then turned to Norman Jewison because he was believed, mistakenly, to be Jewish. More pertinently, Jewison was both hot and versatile, with such hits as The Thomas Crown Affair and the Oscar-winning In the Heat of the Night. With the aid of some magnificent location shooting (then Yugoslavia, now Croatia) and the earth-toned cinematography of Oswald Morris, Jewison makes Fiddler both grand and intimate, a tale of a family, a small village, and, crucially, a way of life.
“Matchmaker”: Rosalind Harris, Neva Small, Michele Marsh
Singing ghosts, young lovers, matchmakers, dancing, upheaval, and God and “Sunrise, Sunset”: Fiddler manages to cover a great deal of territory in three hours. The wonder is that it keeps everything so vibrant, entertaining, and touching. “L’chaim!,” Tevye and his friends sing, “To life!” How fortunate for the audience that they’re willing to share this life so generously.
WHAT’S MORE
Before Topol was cast, several famous actors were considered for the role of Tevye or let it be known they were interested. Danny Kaye and even Anthony Quinn might seem plausible, but Orson Welles? Marlon Brando? Plus, yes, Frank Sinatra, whose agent called Norman Jewison in an unsuccessful attempt to set up an audition.
Norma Crane, who had been active in television and film since the early 1950s, was cast as Golde after Anne Bancroft rejected the role as being too subsidiary. Crane began work on the film knowing she had breast cancer, a secret she shared with the producers, Jewison, and Topol. She died at age forty-four, less than two years after Fiddler opened.
MUSICALLY SPEAKING
As choreographed by Tom Abbott, the exterior-shot musical numbers in Fiddler are among the best of that type in any film, The Sound of Music included. “Matchmaker” is a particular delight, not least because of the luminous Rosalind Harris. She had already played Tzeitel on Broadway as a replacement for Bette Midler, who in turn had replaced the original. In the late 1980s, for a touring production of Fiddler, Harris moved up to the role of Golde—opposite her one-time cinematic dad, Topol. Swiftly fly the years, indeed.
“To Life”: Topol
“If I Were a Rich Man”: Topol