The read
It runs a compact 1h 16m.
Synopsis
This 1919 silent is the first American film based on the same Sholem Aleichem stories as Fiddler on the Roof, but produced 50 years before the blockbuster musical. Unlike most adaptations of Aleichem’s work, Broken Barriers (Khavah) focuses not on Tevye the milkman, but on his daughter Khavah, who falls in love with the gentile boy Fedka and must navigate the reverberations from this with both her community and her family.
Ratings
TMDB6/10
2 audience votes
Key crew
- Charles E. DavenportDirector
- Sholom AleichemWriter
Cast
- Alice HastingsKhavah
- Alexander TenenholtzFedka
- Giacomo MasuroffTobias, Khavah's Father
- Billie WilsonKhavah's Mother
- Sonia RadinParasha, Fedka's Mother
- Phil SanfordIvan, Fedka's Father
- Anna KayKhavah's Sister
- Raymond FriedgenFedka's Chum
Stills
Themes
silent filmostracismreligious persecution