Based on the Writer Whose Stories Inspired The Fiddler on the Roof
This omnibus release consists of three playlets filmed and aired during television's Golden Age, and starring some of the legends of film and television. The collection originally ran as a two-hour segment on December 14, 1959, on the anthology series The Play of the Week, broadcast locally in New York City via the independent radio station WNTA. Each "tale" in the anthology was adapted from a single tale by the inimitable Sholom Aleichem, regarded by many as the "Yiddish Mark Twain". Included are: "A Tale of Chelm" starring Zero Mostel and Nancy Walker in the story of a bookseller attempting to buy a goat; "Bontche Schweig" about a poor man (Jack Gilford) whose recent arrival in Heaven makes the angels cry; and "The High School" about a Jewish merchant (Morris Carnovsky) persuaded by his wife (Gertrude Berg) to let their son attend a particular high school despite the enforcement of quotas for Jewish students.
Hannah
Mendele
Melamed / Maxel
Aaron Katz / Presiding Angel
The Goatseller / Avenging Angel
Rifkele
Bontsche Shveig / Angel
The Angel Rochele
Dodi the Innkeeper
Rabbi David / Prosecuting Angel
05 Oct 1972
Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in.
20 Aug 1992
Brave new steps put Scott's career in jeopardy. With a new partner and determination, can he still succeed?
04 May 1994
A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.
01 Jan 1956
Monologue of an actor meditating about doom.
25 Dec 1996
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
25 Dec 1993
C.S. Lewis, a world-renowned writer and professor, leads a passionless life until he meets spirited poet Joy Gresham.
17 Dec 1976
Three short stories ("Zelenáči 1945", "Silvestr 1948" and "Zimní vítr 1951") about members of the SNB units guarding the Šumava border in the post-war years. Ivo Toman had artistic supervision over the debutants. The theme of the third short story was made in 1959 for the film "Entry Forbidden" by František Vláčil, who was also starting at the time.
01 Nov 1972
A musical based on the life and music of Johann Strauss, Jr.
01 Aug 1985
At the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries Boleslav's kingdom fell apart in the fratricidal war between the Přemyslovci and the other clans the main profiteer of this being the German emperor. At that time it seemed as if the Czech state and the lineage of its princes was awaiting its end..." It is with these words that the tale of this film begins, whose narrative is based upon the the play by František Hrubín of the same name.
05 Dec 1958
Faithful TV adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy.
23 Nov 2014
A headstrong young woman is married to land baron. Her feelings for her son's tutor becomes a complex web of unrequited love.
15 Nov 1989
A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship and welcome her into the fold.
22 Nov 2000
In early 19th-century France, the Marquis de Sade is confined to an asylum where his forbidden writings continue to circulate beyond its walls. As the authorities tighten control, a clash unfolds between the Marquis’ unyielding imagination, the reformist ideals of the Abbé in charge, and the repressive measures of a doctor sent to silence him. Desire, power, and censorship collide in a battle over freedom of expression.
21 Jun 1996
During a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.
26 Oct 1922
Don Juan Tenorio makes a bet with a friend as to which of them will commit more outrages in a year. He wins, killing twirty-two men and seducing seventy-two women. In the end, however, he is saved from damnation through a return to true belief and the love of a saintly woman, Doña Inés.
06 Dec 1976
An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
13 Feb 1972
Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.
05 Oct 1989
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
12 Sep 2008
The story centers on a group of gossipy, high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily-wedded Mary Haines finds her marriage in trouble when shop girl Crystal Allen gets her hooks into Mary's man.
08 Apr 1967
Joe Boyd, an aging Washington Senators fan, would sell his soul for the Senators to beat the New York Yankees and win the pennant. Enter Mr. Applegate, who offers to turn Boyd into Joe Hardy, a powerful young baseball player, in exchange for his soul. When Boyd agrees, he becomes Hardy and leads the Senators on a winning streak. When he starts to miss his wife, though, and questions the deal, Applegate sends temptress Lola into the mix.