Cantor on Trial (Sidney M. Goldin, U.S., 1931) (Khazn af a probe). Anovelty featuring the oft-filmed Cantor Leibele Waldman, "the American-born,baseball loving 'microphone cantor'" (J. Hoberman), who wins over askeptical congregation with a pop song. (10 mins, In Yiddish with Englishsubtitles, B&W, 3/4" video) (Yankl der shmid). TheSinging Blacksmith was a vehicle for the talents of cantor and matinee idolMoishe Oysher (who works a little "scat" into the repertoire). Shot onthe cheap in a "shtetl" created in New Jersey, using extras from anearby monastery (they had beards), The Singing Blacksmith looks more like EdgarUlmer's Hollywood B films than his better-known Green Fields, but "it wasprobably modeled on the Soviet musicals of the period: folkloric, montage-filled,and thoroughly class-conscious" (National Film Theatre). Though set in theold world, it speaks to anxieties of the transplanted Jew in the character ofYankl, a proletarian-identified smithy who is tempted by drink and women untilcentered by the love of a progressive young woman. "This colorful romanticmelodrama brims with stock comic characters-a matchmaker, peasants, a suspiciousmother-in-law, a seductive woman, and a pious weak husband-but their activitiespale before Oysher's splendid voice and presence, and Ulmer's poeticdirection." (National Center for Jewish Film)