RESTORED BY NCJF
As antisemitic campaigns increased in 1920s America, American Jews looked for a way to present Judaism in a positive light. It was inevitable that some would turn to the motion picture as a solution to this dilemma. Consequently, a number of feature length films dealing with Jewish themes appeared in the 1920s.
Breaking Home Ties, produced by a "syndicate" of prominent Jews in Philadelphia, was one of the first. The stated goal of the film was to truthfully represent "the every-day life of the Jew, with emphasis on that human and sympathetic element in his nature too often overlooked...." The film focuses on David Bergman who, thinking he has killed a friend in a jealous rage, flees Russia and becomes a successful lawyer in New York. His penniless family follows him to America, but by now he has lost touch with them. When David gets married on the premises of a home for the aged (to which he and his bride have contributed) he is happily reunited with his family, who also live in the home.
Cast: Lee Kohlmar, Rebecca Weintraub, Richard Farrell, Arthur Ashley, Betty Howe, Jane Thomas, Henry B. Schaffer, Maude Hill, Robert Maxmillian.
The National Center For Jewish Film
Brandeis University, Lown 102, MS053, Waltham MA 02454
P: (781) 899 7044, F: (781) 736 2070
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