The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive Collection

And it came to pass

18 Minutes, 1932
Genre:
Short Film

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Directed by: Chaim Halachmi
Production Company:Studio Film Artzi Yisraeli
Photographer: Nathan Axelrod
Language: Silent
| Subtitles not available

A short comedy film directed by Chaim Halachmi and filmed by Nathan Axelrod against the backdrop of Purim celebrations in Tel Aviv. Mendel the tailor yearns to go out and celebrate Purim at the city’s Adloyada procession, to the chagrin of his wife, Tzipa. Meanwhile, a tourist named Mr. Bobby asks a fellow tourist named Miss Baby for her hand in marriage, but she will only agree if he manages to recognize her in the costumed crowd; employing the hotel waiter and chambermaid as their spies, they both discover that the other is planning to wear a pioneer costume. When Mendel the tailor sneaks away from his wife to join the festivities and runs into Mr. Bobby on the street, they exchange clothing, and all hell breaks loose as Mendel flees from Tzipa, Tzipa chases Mr. Bobby, Mr. Bobby finds a female pioneer who isn’t Miss Baby, and Miss Baby finds a male pioneer who isn’t Mr. Bobby. This confusion culminates in a comedy of errors where all roads lead to the local Rabbinical office.
Despite the fact that this is a silent film where dialogue is only displayed on-screen, its soundtrack included a recording of Moshe Hurgel (Mendel the tailor) reading the first verse of the Book of Esther aloud. This enabled the Zion Cinema in Jerusalem to declare it “the first Hebrew-language talking picture in Israel”.

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הירשמו לרשימת התפוצה שלנו והישארו מעודכנים

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