Jewish Luck

A free adaptation of Sholom Aleichem's story "Mendel the Matchmaker" with dialog inter-titles written by Isaac Babel, Jewish Luck is a hilarious chronicle of the travails of Menachem Mendel, who leaves his shtetl to try his luck in the world. Heading to Odessa, where he hopes to sell corsets, he winds up getting one job after another, each one ending in an escalating cascade of disasters. One day he happens upon a list of rich brides lost by a matchmaker, and suddenly his future is clear: he'll become the greatest matchmaker the world has ever seen.

The schlemiel as tragicomic hero, Jewish Luck was the film debut of the great Solomon Mikhoels, for decades the guiding light of the Yiddish State Art Theater and later, sadly, a victim of Stalin's terror.

by Richard Pena