Mamele DVD

Mamele is a musical comedy that embraces the entire gamut of interwar Jewish life in Lodz in all its diversity, with tenements and unemployed Jews, nightclubs and gangsters, and religious Jews celebrating Succoth. But the film belongs to Molly Picon who romps undaunted through her dutiful daughter role, saving siblings, keeping the family intact, singing and acting her way through the stages of a woman's life from childhood to old age.

Picon stars as Khavtshi, a young woman who promises her dying mother that she will take care of her family. She's so busy cooking, cleaning and matchmaking for her brothers and sisters that she barely has any time for herself, until she discovers the violinist across the courtyard! The musical score also includes Picon's trademark theme song, "Abi Gezunt."

Poland, 1938, 100 minutes B&W, Yiddish with new English subtitles
Directed by Joseph Green and Konrad Tom