Feature Film, Yiddish (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. Menashe (2017)
PG | 82 min | Drama
Within Brooklyn's ultra-orthodox Jewish community, a widower battles for custody of his son. A tender drama performed entirely in Yiddish, the film intimately explores the nature of faith and the price of parenthood.
Director: Joshua Z Weinstein | Stars: Menashe Lustig, Anna Gansburg Nahmani, Ariel Vaysman, Sophie Vaysman
Votes: 2,309 | Gross: $1.70M
2. SHTTL
Drama | Post-production
The 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany is shown through the life of inhabitants of a Yiddish village at the border of Poland.
Director: Ady Walter | Stars: Moshe Lobel, Saul Rubinek, Lili Rosen, Markiian Miroshnychenko
3. The Way to Happiness (2021)
112 min | Comedy, Drama
Saül Birnbaum is a "hidden child", who, at the age of six, was separated from his parents to escape the Holocaust. He was sent away by the so-called "Kindertransport". In 1986, Saül is on ... See full summary »
Director: Nicolas Steil | Stars: Simon Abkarian, Pascale Arbillot, Django Schrevens, André Jung
Votes: 13
4. The Dybbuk (1937)
Unrated | 108 min | Drama, Fantasy, Musical
The mystical love story between Chonen, a poor Talmud student, and Lea, a girl from a wealthy family, depicts the traditional folk culture of Polish Jews before WW2.
Director: Michal Waszynski | Stars: Avrom Morewski, Ajzyk Samberg, Mojzesz Lipman, Lili Liliana
Votes: 641
5. The Pin (2013)
R | 85 min | Drama
Two young people experience love and loss while in hiding during WWII. After a life of regret, the young man, now old, is faced with an opportunity for redemption.
Director: Naomi Jaye | Stars: Milda Gecaite, Grisha Pasternak, Paskal Vaklev, David Fox
Votes: 75
6. Tevya (1939)
Approved | 93 min | Drama
The original, non-musical film version of the book which inspired "Fiddler on the Roof".
Director: Maurice Schwartz | Stars: Maurice Schwartz, Miriam Riselle, Rebecca Weintraub, Paula Lubelski
Votes: 304
7. Americaner Shadchen (1940)
Approved | 87 min | Comedy, Romance
Nat Silver has been engaged 7 times already. This time, his 8th, he's really going to get married. But a visitor shows up, Shirley's old boyfriend. With a gun ! He'll kill himself unless he... See full summary »
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: Leo Fuchs, Judith Abarbanel, Judel Dubinsky, Anna Guskin
Votes: 106
8. I Want to Be a Mother (1937)
Drama
Young Amelia, who has always believed that her parents were living in the section of New York City known as the Bronx, has always wanted to have children. However, she is shocked to ... See full summary »
Director: George Roland | Stars: Moishe Feder, Leo Fuchs, Sam Gertler, Rose Greenfield
9. Tsili (2014)
88 min | Drama
Director: Amos Gitai | Stars: Sarah Adler, Meshi Olinski, Leah Koenig, Adam Tsekhman
Votes: 59
10. Yidl mitn fidl (1936)
92 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A young woman posing as a man in a group of klezmer musicians in Poland.
Directors: Joseph Green, Jan Nowina-Przybylski | Stars: Molly Picon, Max Bozyk, Leon Liebgold, Simche Fostel
Votes: 173
11. The Delegation
Drama, History | Post-production
The film tells the story of a group of Israeli teenagers who come to Poland for a tour of the Holocaust memorial sites. The main characters of the film are three friends: Nitzan, Frisch and... See full summary »
Director: Asaf Saban | Stars: Yoav Bavly, Naomi Harari, Leib Levin, Ezra Dagan
12. Green Fields (1937)
Passed | 106 min | Comedy, Romance
Ulmer's soulful, open-air adaptation of Peretz Hirshbein's classic play heralded the Golden Age of Yiddish cinema. When an ascetic young scholar ventures into the countryside, searching for... See full summary »
Directors: Jacob Ben-Ami, Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: Michael Gorrin, Helen Beverley, Isidore Cashier, Anna Appel
Votes: 99 | Gross: $0.08M
13. Mamele (1938)
97 min | Comedy, Musical
Mamele embraces the entire gamut of interwar Jewish life in Lodz--tenements and unemployed Jews, nightclubs and gangsters, religious Jews celebrating sukkot--but the film belongs to Molly ... See full summary »
Directors: Joseph Green, Konrad Tom | Stars: Molly Picon, Edmund Zayenda, Gertrude Bulman, Max Bozyk
Votes: 55
14. Ivan & Abraham (1993)
105 min | Drama
In 1930s Poland, it was traditional for some Christian boys to live for a time with Jewish families in order to learn a trade from Jewish craftsmen. For this reason, Ivan has gone to live ... See full summary »
Director: Yolande Zauberman | Stars: Roma Alexandrovitch, Aleksandr Yakovlev, Vladimir Mashkov, Mariya Lipkina
Votes: 266 | Gross: $0.16M
15. Lang ist der Weg (1948)
77 min | Drama, War
Written by Israel Becker, this is the first feature film to represent the Holocaust from a Jewish perspective. Shot on location at Landsberg, the largest DP camp in U.S.-occupied Germany, ... See full summary »
Directors: Herbert B. Fredersdorf, Marek Goldstein | Stars: Israel Becker, Bettina Moissi, Berta Litwina, Jakob Fischer
Votes: 49
16. The Eternal Jew (1933)
63 min | Drama
Director: George Roland | Stars: Louis 'Leibele' Waldman, Celina Breene, Ruben Wendorf, Morris B. Samuylow
Votes: 112
17. Uncle Moses (1932)
Passed | 88 min | Drama, Romance
Wealthy, powerful sweatshop owner falls in love with employee's teenage daughter, who feels obligated to marry him after he shares his wealth with her parents, though she actually loves a young Marxist unionizer.
Directors: Sidney M. Goldin, Aubrey Scotto | Stars: Maurice Schwartz, Judith Abarbanel, Mark Schweid, Sam Gertler
Votes: 37
18. Motel the Operator (1940)
88 min | Drama
Motl, a poor laborer, loving husband and new father, leads cloakmakers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strikebreakers, his wife, Esther, and infant... See full summary »
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Chaim Tauber, Seymour Rechzeit, Yetta Zwerling, Jacob Zanger
Votes: 20
19. The Wandering Jew (II) (1933)
Passed | 68 min | Drama, War
A German-Jewish artist encounters German anti-semitism when his masterpiece is rejected by the Berlin Academy of Art. Later, the figure in the painting comes to life and tells him the ... See full summary »
Director: George Roland | Stars: Jacob Ben-Ami, Natalie Browning, M.B. Samuylow, Ben Adler
Votes: 27
20. Two Sisters (1938)
79 min | Drama
Make sure there's a hanky nearby: After the death of their mother, older sister Betty works tirelessly, supporting her sister through nursing school and her fiancée through medical school ... See full summary »
Director: Ben K. Blake | Stars: Jennie Goldstein, Sylvia Dell, Muni Seroff, Harvey Kier
21. Home (LX)
Crime, Drama | Post-production
When you wage war on your community, you wage war on your family.
Director: Benny Fredman | Stars: Sarai Givaty, Yarden Tusia-Cohen, Roy Nik, Nevo Kimchi
22. The Jester (1937)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, Romance
Getsel, a wandering Purim player, comes to a Galica village and gets a job with Reb Nuchem, the shoemaker. He falls in love with Esther, the shoemaker's daughter, but knows she is in love ... See full summary »
Directors: Joseph Green, Jan Nowina-Przybylski | Stars: Miriam Kressyn, Zygmunt Turkow, Hy Jacobson, Ajzyk Samberg
Votes: 43
23. The Cellar (1963)
76 min | Drama
Director: Natan Gross | Stars: Zaharira Harifai, Hannah Kahane, David Smadar, Shimon Yisraeli
Votes: 7
24. The Light Ahead (1939)
94 min | Drama
In a small town in Russia in the 1880s, two young but poor lovers are helped by a wise old bookseller.
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: David Opatoshu, Helen Beverley, Isidore Cashier, Rosetta Bialis
Votes: 87
25. Overture to Glory (1940)
77 min | Drama
A jewish cantor is seduced by the allure of opera when introduced to it by two attractive young Poles.
Director: Max Nosseck | Stars: Moyshe Oysher, Florence Weiss, Maurice Krohner, John Mylong
Votes: 38
26. The Vow (1937)
88 min | Drama
Two friends make a sacred pact pledging their newborn children, Rachel and Jacob, in marriage. Based on the same legend as S. Ansky's classic play The Dybbuk, this spirited film offers the divine intervention of Elijah.
Director: Henryk Szaro | Stars: Zygmunt Turkow, Kurt Katch, Estera Perlman, Izak Grudberg
Votes: 11
27. Three Daughters (1949)
87 min
This rarely-seen later work by Yiddish cinema mogul Joseph Seiden observes the hardships and heartaches of three sisters as they seek romantic happiness, while struggling to remain faithful to the traditions of their parents. Kino Now
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Charlotte Goldstein, Michael Rosenberg, Esta Salzman, Sacha Shaw
Votes: 12
28. The Power of Life (1938)
92 min | Drama
Nathan Rahinowita is a bookkeeper for a dress manufacturer, and in his spare time he dabbles at inventions. Oner day he is offered $3000 for one of his inventions, and premises to get back ... See full summary »
Director: Henry Lynn | Stars: Michal Michalesko, Berthe Hart, Morris Strassberg, Charlotte Goldstein
29. It Will Never Happen Again (1951)
70 min | Drama
In this, Poland's last Yiddish feature film, comedy duo Dzigan and Shumacher play all the parts in a Sholem Aleichem story staged for an audience of children who survived the Holocaust.
Director: Natan Gross | Stars: Shimen Dzigan, Ysrael Szumacher, Niusia Gold, Nathan Meisler
Votes: 26
30. On a heym (1939)
88 min | Drama
The last Yiddish feature made in Poland before WWII, this 1939 film was based on a 1907 play by the prolific playwright Jacob Gordin. Best known for his folksy didacticism and moralism, ... See full summary »
Director: Aleksander Marten | Stars: Aleksander Marten, Ida Kaminska, Adam Domb, Ben Zuker
Votes: 19
31. Tkies khaf (1924)
60 min | Drama, Romance
Starring real-life mother and daughter Ester-Rokhl Kaminska and Ida Kaminska, this film is a precursor to the 1937 classic, The Dybbuk, featuring the same classic tale of frustrated love and destiny and the breaking/fulfillment of vows.
Director: Zygmunt Turkow | Stars: Adam Domb, Ester Rachel Kaminska, Ida Kaminska, Mojzesz Lipman
Votes: 26
32. Mirele Efros (1939)
Approved | 87 min | Drama
Mirele Efros, "the Jewish Queen Lear," was the masterpiece of influential Yiddish playwright Jacob Gordin. Berta Gersten gives a memorable performance as Mirele, a wealthy and pious widow ... See full summary »
Director: Josef Berne | Stars: Berta Gersten, Ruth Elbaum, Albert Lipton, Michael Rosenberg
33. The Yiddish King Lear (1935)
70 min | Drama
Setting off from Vilna to spend his last days in the Holy Land, an arrogant old man spurns the youngest of his three daughters and leaves his fortune in the wrong hands.
Director: Harry Thomashefsky | Stars: Esther Adler, Jacob Bergreen, Miriam Grossman, Maurice Krohner
Votes: 23
34. Her Second Mother (1940)
89 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A young woman tries to repay her adoptive parents' kindness by shielding their biological child, who has gotten involved with an embezzler, from the police.
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Esta Salzman, Max Badin, Rose Greenfield, Margaret Schoenfeld
Votes: 18
35. Mazel Tov Yidden (1941)
89 min | Comedy, Music
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Michael Rosenberg, Gustav Berger, Harry Feld, Leo Fuchs
Votes: 13
36. A Brivele der mamen (1938)
106 min | Drama
One of the last Yiddish films made in Poland before the Nazi invasion, this film tells the story of a mother's persistent struggles to support her three children in pre-war World War II ... See full summary »
Directors: Joseph Green, Leon Trystan | Stars: Lucy Gehrman, Misha Gehrman, Max Bozyk, Gertrude Bulman
Votes: 61
37. Mothers of Today (1939)
93 min
Mothers of Today includes the sole motion picture performance of radio star Esther Field, who was well known on the airwaves of the 1930s as the 'Yiddishe Mama.' The film exemplifies the ... See full summary »
Director: Henry Lynn | Stars: Esther Field, Max Rosenblatt, Gertrude Krause, Simon Wolf
38. Eli Eli (1940)
88 min | Drama
An elderly couple, Mendel and Hannah Shapiro, need to raise money to hang onto their farm and turn to their adult children for help.
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Max Badin, Esther Field, Izidor Frankel, Lazar Freed
39. Jolly Paupers (1937)
62 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
In this musical comedy, the comic duo Dzigan and Shumacher play two small town "entrepreneurs" who believe they have struck oil in a local field. Thus begins a comedy of errors, including ... See full summary »
Directors: Leon Jeannot, Zygmunt Turkow | Stars: Shimen Dzigan, Ysrael Szumacher, Jenna Lovic, Menasha Oppenheim
Votes: 14
40. The Return of Nathan Becker (1932)
94 min | Drama
A bricklayer of Jewish ancestry leaves capitalist America during the Depression for the promise of Soviet Russia.
Directors: Rashel Milman, Boris Shpis | Stars: David Gutman, Solomon Mikhoels, Yelena Kashnitskaya, Kador Ben-Salim
Votes: 18
41. The Cantor's Son (1937)
Approved | 90 min | Drama, Musical
This musical drama marks the screen debut of Moishe Oysher, in a film critic J. Hoberman calls an "anti-Jazz Singer." Oysher stars as a wayward youth who makes his way from his Polish ... See full summary »
Directors: Ilya Motyleff, Sidney M. Goldin | Stars: Moyshe Oysher, Florence Weiss, Judith Abarbanel, Michael Rosenberg
Votes: 35
42. My Son (1939)
97 min | Drama
This dramatic tale of immigrant hardship highlights some of the traumatic problems of the immigrant experience, including alcoholism, separation and poverty. The child star, Jerry Rosenberg... See full summary »
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Fania Rubina, Gustav Berger, Jerry Rosenberg, Herman Rosen
Votes: 12
43. Al khet (1936)
90 min | Drama
Director: Aleksander Marten | Stars: Avrom Morewski, Rachel Holzer, Shimen Dzigan, Ysrael Szumacher
Votes: 12
44. The Singing Blacksmith (1938)
Approved | 115 min | Drama, Musical
Moishe Oysher gives his most robust performance as a passionate shtetl blacksmith who must struggle against temptation to become a mensch. Ulmer's film is a musical version of David Pinski's classic 1906 play Yankl der Schmid.
Directors: Edgar G. Ulmer, Ben-Zvi Baratoff, Ossip Dymow | Stars: Moyshe Oysher, Miriam Riselle, Florence Weiss, Anna Appel
Votes: 60
46. The Jewish Melody (1940)
89 min
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Isidore Cashier, Moishe Feder, Lazar Freed, Rose Greenfield
47. Monticello, Here We Come (1950)
75 min | Comedy, Music
Stars: Larry Daniels, Joseph Buloff, Fyvush Finkel, Mary Forest
48. Kol Nidre (1939)
85 min | Drama, Musical
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Lili Liliana, Joseph Schoengold, Berthe Hart, Menasha Oppenheim
Votes: 9
49. Az Men Git, Nemt Men (1982)
91 min | Comedy, Drama
Director: Alfred Steinhardt | Stars: Ya'akov Alperin, Ya'ackov Bodo, Rachel Dayan, Carol Feldman
50. The Megillah 83 (1983)
80 min | Musical
Director: Ilan Eldad | Stars: Shlomo Bar-Aba, Jerry Hyman, Aviva Paz, Jonathan Sagall
Votes: 15