The Magician of Lublin (film)
| The Magician of Lublin | |
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VHS cover
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| Directed by | Menahem Golan |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Based on |
The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer |
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| Music by |
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| Cinematography | David Gurfinkel |
| Edited by | Dov Hoenig |
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| Distributed by | Cannon Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
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| Budget | $6 million |
The Magician of Lublin is a 1979 drama film co-written and directed by Menahem Golan based on The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The film's title song was performed by Kate Bush.
Yasha Mazur (Alan Arkin) is a turn-of-the-20th-century Jewish stage magician, womaniser, conman, and mystic. His great ambition is to figure out how to fly - an ambition he eventually achieves but not as a magic trick. He tours the western reaches of the old Russian Empire.
Yasha is married to Esther (Linda Bernstein), but he is rarely home in Lublin to see her and they have not been able to have any children. On the road, however, there are plenty of women to keep Yasha company. Among many others, there is the zaftig Zeftel Valerie Perrine and the Polish Catholic assistant, Magda Maia Danziger, who tours and performs with him. Magda's brother is Bolek (Zachi Noy), who is incompetent; and their mother is Elzbieta (Shelley Winters), who is desperate. Magda herself, it transpires, is mentally unstable.
But the great loves of Yasha's life, and the great ambition of his love, are the aristocratic but poor widow, Emilia (Louise Fletcher), whom he would marry; and her daughter, Halina (Lisa Whelchel), whom he adores as if she were his own. But Halina is ill and needs medical care, that Emilia knows Yasha will never be able to provide; so she must keep herself free to marry someone who can pay for the medical treatment her daughter needs.
But Yasha's big break looms. In addition to demonstrating a Houdini-style escape from a tank of water while shackled, Yasha convinces his manager/impresario, Wolsky (Lou Jacobi), that he can fly. So Wolsky arranges for a booking at the prestigious Alhambra theatre in Warsaw. Yasha will at last make it big!
But then Zeftel arrives unexpectedly and innocently announces she is emigrating to America - to Buenos Aires - where a man has promised her work. But Yasha knows that Buenos Aires is in Argentina, and that man who is going to take her there is a pimp who is selling her into sexual slavery. What else can Yasha do, but perform a special show of magic and card tricks for the pimp and give him money, to save Zeftel.
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Wikipedia