Cinema
My Father's House
Herbert Kline · 1947
Synopsis
David Halevy, ten, a Holocaust survivor, was separated from his father in occupied Kraków; his father told him they would meet again in Palestine. When the war is over, David reaches it clandestinely; on the boat, he befriends Miryam, who lost her family in an extermination camp. Taken to the youth village of Meir Shfeya, he cannot settle there and sets off across the country to look for his father, refusing to believe he did not survive; his route leads him from one achievement of the Yishuv to another, as far as the Dead Sea factories.
Context
The novelist Meyer Levin wrote the screenplay, produced the film with Kline and drew a book from it published the same year by Viking. Floyd Crosby, an Oscar winner for Tabu, shot it in ten localities, from Afikim to Ramat Rahel. The film is in English because it was addressed to the American Jewish public; the money came chiefly from well-off private individuals in Palestine and America. Ronnie Cohen, who plays David, was nine years old; the sculptor Yitzhak Danziger was chosen for his appearance. Józef Lejtes also appears in the credits. The advance sale of the material then made it possible to found the company Palestine Films.
Who it is for
Eighty-four minutes, mostly in English. It helps to know that the boy's quest also serves to show the achievements of the Yishuv.
Prizes and reception
Official selection at the Venice Film Festival in 1950; the American Jewish press ranks it among the important films of its time.
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