director Michał Waszyński
screenplay (based on the play by Szymon An-ski ‘Dybbuk, that is, at the Borderline of Two Worlds’) Marek Arnsztejn and Alter Kaczyne
director of photography Albert Wywerka
music Henoch Kon
with Maks Bożyk, Samuel Bronecki, Dina Halpern, Dawid Lederman, Leon Liebgold, Lili Liliana, Mojżesz Lipman, Gerszon Lemberger, Samuel Landau, Abraham Morewski, Ajzyk Samberg, Abraham Kurc
WIESŁAW STRADOMSKI, JEWISH FILM; IN: HISTORY OF POLISH CINEMA, VOL. 2; ED. BY J. TOEPLITZ [FILM ŻYDOWSKI [W:] HISTORIA FILMU POLSKIEGO, T. II (1930–1939)], WARSZAWA 1988
In their cultural, political and religious potential, Polish Jews were the most important, after American Jews, part of the Diaspora. (…) They had a strong national identity, evidenced by the fact that in the census survey 85 per cent admitted using Yiddish or Hebrew. (…) In the interwar period, Poland was the only European country where a dozen or so feature films were produced in Yiddish.
JERZY MAŚNICKI, KAMIL STEPAN, THE FULFILLED DREAM OF JÓZEF GREEN’ [IN:] ‘HISTORY OF POLISH CINEMA’; ED. BY T. LUBELSKI AND K. J. ZARĘBSKI [SPEŁNIONY SEN JÓZEFA GREENA [W:] HISTORIA KINA POLSKIEGO], WARSZAWA 2006
The year 1937 was one of the most successful in the Polish cinema of the interwar years, partly owing to the Yiddish films. The most noteworthy was ‘The Dybbuk’ by Michał Wyszyński, contending for the best film of the year. Produced by Józef Green (Józef Grinberg) and originally intended for Ernst Lubitsch himself, the film was based on a mystical drama by Anski. (…) According to a ‘Film’ review, it was a brilliant piece of film-making with a ‘highly artistic structure – strong, coherent and lucid.’ The ‘Jewish Daily Forward’ called it ‘a treasure.’ The impact of strictly Polish Romantic tradition (Grottger, Matejko, Wyspiański) on the imaginary world of the Jewish legend certainly familiarized the non-Jewish audience with the exotic and barely comprehensible aesthetics of Jewish tales.
history periods
