FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: Blu-ray (Mirisch/UA, 1971) MGM/Fox Home Video
For its sheer outpouring of humanity’s triumphs and
tribulations, few musicals rival director, Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the
Roof (1971), a devout exaltation to life, made for The Mirisch Company at a
critical juncture in the Hollywood musical’s evolution. Indeed, by 1971
musicals were a rare and dying breed - hardly bankable box office. If not for
the overwhelming success of the stage play (it ran for a crowd-pleasing/record-setting
3,242 performances), Jewison’s ability to coax a film from the musical’s ashes would
have been short-lived. Jewison, who had dazzled audiences with the
Oscar-winning Best Picture, In the Heat of the Night (1967), and
followed it up with the mod-ish caper, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968),
had cache in Tinsel Town. But even his could not buy off speculation that ‘Fidder’
on screen would become just another over-produced and clunky stage-to-screen
adaptation. To hedge their bets and keep expenses manageable, the picture would
be shot on location in and around Zagreb in the former Yugoslavia, with
interiors lensed at England's Pinewood Studios. Jewison, better known for his
hard-hitting dramas, assumed a monumental task in bringing this much beloved
stagecraft to the big screen. On stage, with its impressionist sets, surreal,
and dramatically lit to convey mood, Fiddler on the Roof had been a
stunning example of stage-bound artistry and craftsmanship. On film, it
demanded a more concrete realism to depict the Russian village of Anatevka.
Alas, in re-imagining the show as a living history rather than an impressionist
snapshot something was distinctly lost in the translation.
Jewison also had to grapple with the elephantine
organization of thousands of extras and crew, most, for whom English was not
their first language – if, in fact, they understood it at all. Relying on an
interpreter for crowd scenes, Jewison and his traveling circus came under siege from chronically inclement weather that refused to cooperate, sending the entire
schedule into a tailspin, with numerous delays that threatened to end not only
the film's shoot but also Jewison's credibility in the industry. Worse, the practicality
behind mounting such super productions had steadily eroded to a point where ‘Fiddler’
not only needed to come in on time and budget, but take the box office by storm
or face the possibility of utter financial ruin for both the Mirisch brothers
and United Artists – the film’s distributor.
Mercifully, none of these behind-the-scenes stresses seems to have
impacted Fiddler on the Roof's creativity, though undoubtedly, they
created a monumental stress on Jewison, driven to distraction by stern
communications from UA’s front offices and prone to occasional outbursts on the
set. At the time the film was being made, there was also a minor critical
backlash over Jewison’s decision to cast Topol as Tevye. On stage, veteran actor,
Zero Mostel had created this iconic character, much beloved and embraced by
audiences and critics. Yet, in Topol, producers and director made an inspired
second choice; one, ultimately to elevate the actor’s cache in Hollywood and
seal Fiddler’s success.
Based on Sholom Aleichem's Tevye's Daughters, Fiddler
on the Roof tells the story of a simple farmer whose idyllic pastoral life
is turned topsy-turvy when his daughters all choose to fall in love outside of
the time-honored influences of the patriarchy. Sacrilege! Women do not choose
who they marry… or should they? Before Tevye’s heart is softened, each daughter
is betrothed in an arranged marriage. After all, it's tradition! And in the
tiny Tsarist Russian village of Anatevka, tradition means everything. Tevye,
however, is not a tyrannical patriarch. But he is very poor, relying on wife
Golde (Norma Crane) to hire Yente, the matchmaker (Molly Picon) to find his
five daughters, suitable husbands. Out of kindness, Tevye arranges for a
visiting scholar, Perchik (Michael Glaser) to tutor his girls - then, not a
prospect for young women. But Tevye also arranges for his eldest, Tzeitel
(Rosalind Harris) to marry the wealthy widower, Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann), a man
thirty-years her senior. The match will ensure Tzeitel's own prosperity. The
only thing it will not guarantee is love, as Tzeitel's heart belongs to the
penniless, though kindly tailor, Motel Kamzoil (Leonard Frey). Meanwhile,
Tevye's second daughter, Hodel (Michele Marsh) has fallen hopelessly in love
with Perchik who is also penniless, though he loves her dearly. After much
consternation, Tevye relents to Tzeitel and Motel's marriage because he
realizes how dearly they love one another. Tevye's acceptance proves the catalyst
for Hodel's confession, she loves Perchik.
At first, Tevye is enraged. Gradually, he relinquishes
his control on Hodel also, again because he cannot stand in the way of true
love. Perchik joins the revolution against Tsarist Russia and is exiled to
Siberia. Hodel leaves home to join him, vowing to Tevye that they too will be
married under a canopy like Tzeitel and Motel. The third act of Fiddler on
the Roof is a tragedy of epic proportions grafted onto the intimate story
of a family in steep decline. Tevye's third daughter, Chava (Neva Small) has
fallen for a handsome Russian soldier, Fyedka (Raymond Lovelock) who is an
Orthodox Christian. Tevye forbids Chava this relationship on religious grounds.
Nevertheless, she disobeys her father and weds Fyedka in a Russian Orthodox
Church. Unable to forgive her this renunciation of her Jewish faith, Tevye
disowns Chava who leaves the family commune heartbroken. Later, the Jewish
inhabitants of Anatevka are told by the Russian provisional guard, the
government has decided they can no longer live on their land. As Tevye packs up
his family and prepares for the arduous journey to America, Chava and Fyedka
come to the house to declare that they too have decided to leave because they
will not live in a country where such oppression exist. Although Tevye shows
signs he may forgive Chava her marriage, he tells Tzeitel to go on ahead and
tell Chava and her husband, "God be with them." This
reconciliation pleases Golde and his other daughters. Tevye departs with his
family down the lonely and uncertain open road with the fiddler coming up from
behind, playing the 'tradition' song.
Memorable and heartbreaking, Fiddler on the Roof
won only 3 minor Academy Awards: for Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and
Original Song Score for arranger-conductor, John Williams, despite being
nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Topol) and Best Supporting Actor (Frey).
Both Topol and Frey had performed in stage productions of ‘Fiddler’:
Topol as Tevye in the London production and Frey in a minor part as Mendel, the
rabbi's son, on Broadway. Fiddler on the Roof is one of the last of the ‘road
show’ spectacles – a sixties’ phenomenon in American movies to mimic the effect
of witnessing a stage show, and, featuring an ‘intermission’ and ‘entr'acte’.
Despite initial apprehensions, Jewison’s decision to cast Topol over Mostel proved sound,
as Mostel’s larger-than-life personality (necessary for effective stagecraft)
would have swamped the more intimate rendering of Tevye on the screen. And
although shooting on location in Mala Gorica, Lekenik, and Zagreb under heavy
snow added immeasurably to the production, additional faux snow (in the form of
crushed marble dust) was required for several sequences. Famed violinist, Isaac
Stern performed the ‘fiddler’s’ solos and Jewison appeared in a brief cameo as
the voice of the rabbi during Tevye’s dream sequence. Mostly for time concision,
two songs from the Broadway show, ‘Now I Have Everything’ and ‘The Rumor’ were omitted,
also lyrical portions from the dream sequence. On the whole, Fidder on the
Roof is remarkably faithful to its stage-bound origins; Jewison, knowing
precisely when and where the material allows for subtle ‘opening up’ –
necessary in its translation to the big Panavision screen. In the end, everyone could breathe a sigh of
relief – the picture easily showing a profit of $6.1 million, plus distribution
profits of $8 million. For the most part, critics were kind to Jewison and the movie, even if many still considered it ‘inferior’ to the impressionist ‘stagecraft’.
Fiddler on the Roof is quite unlike any other musical
before or since. On stage its social critique was a superbly rendered history
of social injustice, sharing in equal portions of memorable song, dance and melodrama.
On film, this precarious balance ever so slightly shifted as Jewison sought to
explore more of the human history. 'Opening up' the play to satisfy its Super
Panavision 70mm cinematography, Oswald Morris created a rich tapestry of rugged
and rural splendors to fill the eye, if – ironically – emasculate the more
poignant moments of their intimacy. If the film has a weakness, arguably, it
remains Tommy Abbott's choreography. On stage, Jerome Robbins had evolved the
dances into an expressionist exaltation of each character’s suffrage, their hopes
and dreams. On film, Abbott’s choreography translated to mere decorative effect and became subservient to Morris’ camera movement: the one exception, Tevya’s
dream sequence, for which Abbott borrowed rather heavily from Robbin's original
artistry. Despite these alterations, Fiddler on film is magnificent.
The sets, particularly Tevye's farm are authentic to the period, truly showing
off Robert F. Boyle’s production design, Michael Stringer and Veljko Despotovic’s art
direction, and Peter Lamont’s set decoration. Sheldon Harnick's songs and Jerry
Bock's music, lovingly preserved with commendable performances has withstood
the test of time, while composer, John Williams’ underscoring cleverly retained
the illusion of being a part of the original stage show, linking theme and
character into a cohesive cinematic experience. As time continues to wither at
the gates of film artistry, Fiddler on the Roof renews its rich bounty, as an emotionally satisfying, enduring and endeared cultural touchstone of the
American musical theater. To life! To life, indeed!
Fox/MGM Home Video’s 40th Anniversary of Fiddler
on the Roof on Blu-ray is – in a word – disappointing. One of the studio’s
early forays into hi-def, it appears as though they used the same digital files
scanned for the DVD image harvest, merely bumping them to 1080p. The results: a
general lack of anything more than marginal improvements over the DVD. For a
Super Panavision production, Fiddler ought to have sparkled with deep
and vibrant colors and oodles of fine detail revealed in every frame. Alas, colors
herein are only slightly more refined than on the DVD. Contrast is virtually
identical and fine details fall well below par for such a big-screen spectacle.
There are also some very curious moiré patterns. These plagued the earlier DVD
release and have been ported over to the Blu- even more glaringly obvious in
hi-def. For a movie running well over 3-hours, the picture ought to have been
split over 2 discs at its intermission. Alas, no, and occasionally, compression
artifacts are evident as a result. The audio is 5.1 DTS but occasionally can
sound strident in its dialogue. The songs exhibit considerably greater spatial
spread, and are thrillingly represented in a full stereophonic range. Extras
include a fascinating ‘behind the scenes’ documentary produced while on
location in Zagreb. Jewison and Topol provide a humorous and, at times,
engaging commentary. We also get vintage featurettes on Tevye's daughters, the
dream sequence in color, outtakes and audio tracks, plus a short featurette on
John Williams. Bottom line: both on stage and on film, Fiddler on the Roof
is a cultural touchstone. On Blu-ray, it deserves far better than this!
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
5+
VIDEO/AUDIO
2.5
EXTRAS
3
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