Fiddler on the roof film better than the broadway show?

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 1:06pm

I just finished watching the Fiddler on The Roof film (in excitement for Saturday when I see the revival) and WOW is that film top notch. Perhaps the best musical film ever made. It's so visceral  and in my opinion, more layered than the Broadway show. Everyone is so on point and giving incredible performances. The direction is striking and innovative and Topol is the definitive Tevye for me. No one can beat him. His performance is truly heartbreaking and masterful.

 

The Fiddler on the roof film received 8 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Topol), Best Featured Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Sound. Best Score and Best Art design

What are this board's thoughts on the film?

 

Ps. I was lucky to see Topol play the part onstage on tour. He still has it.

 

 

Updated On: 11/26/15 at 01:06 PM

[Jarethan]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 1:16pm

I haven't seen this revival, but I have never seen a stage production of Fiddler that I enjoyed as much as the movie.  I saw Zero Mostel in the original production, but thought that Topol was better...I think it was his enormous warmth that made the difference. 

I never thought I'd say this of any movie, but I enjoyed the production numbers better in the movie, right from Tradition on.  The editing helped it to convey every day life.

Thinking about it, I guess it is one of my favorite movie musicals, certain the most substantial

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 1:28pm

"I haven't seen this revival, but I have never seen a stage production of Fiddler that I enjoyed as much as the movie."

 

Agreed. I've always preferred the film. The film is lightning in a bottle if you ask me. 

 

"I saw Zero Mostel in the original production, but thought that Topol was better...I think it was his enormous warmth that made the difference."

 

Topol just exudes warmth and brilliance. It's no wonder why he was picked for the film. He's the definitive Tevye. 

 

And yes each musical number moves the film forward. You never feel like you're watching a show onstage. I feel that many of the golden age musical films fell into this trap. (Especially My Fair Lady). 

 

The fiddler film is probably the best Fiddler we will ever have. I'd call it a masterpiece. 

 

.

[wonkit]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 2:05pm

I love the FIDDLER movie, and it is mainly due to the humor and pathos of Topol. But I simply do not get the same enjoyment from a film as I do from live theater, no matter how perfect the film may be.  There is something about the electricity of performance that no film can match. I will never get over the feeling of seeing Ben Miles in WOLF HALL, even if I like Rylance in the BBC version. No risks with movies, and no unexpected magic. 

[kimalysong]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 2:08pm

I've yet to see a stage production but the film version has been my favorite movie since I was 7. 

And from the various clips I've seen Topol is far my favorite Tevye. 

Updated On: 11/26/15 at 02:08 PM

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 2:18pm

I personally never like to ask 'Which was better, the show or the film?' because theatre and film are two very different mediums of storytelling.

 

There are somethings that work so well on stage that just don't translate well to the screen, and there are somethings that work so well on screen that just don't translate well to the stage. Whenever you take anything from stage-to-screen, the goal isn't to take the show and put it on screen, nor to improve upon it. The real goal is to try to create the cinematic equivalent to the show.

 

But with that being said, the 1971 film adaptation is absolutely one of my favorite stage-to-screen transfers of all time: https://www.culturalist.com/l/best-movie-versions-of-broadway-musicals-18349

Updated On: 11/26/15 at 02:18 PM

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 2:32pm

it's really hard to compare LIVE theater to a movie - but that said, Fiddler is one of the best film adaptations ever..Topol for sure was fantastic but the entire cast was stellar. It's lasted through the decades as well - it holds up just as well now as it did then.

 

There was much disdain expressed by many when Topol was cast in the role...an unknown, not an American and so young at the time. Zero Mostel...I don't think he ever got over it and was bitter about it until the end. But ultimately it was the correct choice - for a film.

 

And then there's my own personal favorite - singing Wonder of Wonder - Leonard Frey. May need to watch this again soon..

 

Updated On: 11/26/15 at 02:32 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 3:10pm

There is an old story going around that when Norman Jewison was casting Jesus Christ Superstar he was having a difficult time getting ahold of Zero's son, Josh, whom he was interested in for Herod. This was related to Zero at some party or social gathering and his response was reported as being "Why doesn't he just find Topol's son?"

 

I actually put the movie in and am watching it now, primarily because of the parade performance. Even on the older DVD it still looks great, the cast is really superb, and those John Williams arrangements of the score are simply glorious. When that first chorus of "Tradition" kicks in its simply wonderful!

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 3:19pm

^Also during principal photography, Barry Dennen who was playing Mendel, the Rabbi's Son had recently completed the original concept album of Jesus Christ Superstar. He actually brought up the concept album to Norman Jewison on set. Jewison later asked Dennen about the film rights, and he suggested meeting with Tim & Andrew, and the rest was history.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 4:11pm

Sitting through Sunrise, Sunset in the movie is like having teeth extracted without Novocaine. Drawn out, maudlin and freaking cringe worthy!

 

eta: It's a freaking wedding, not a funeral!

Updated On: 11/26/15 at 04:11 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 4:28pm

I love that (Canada's own!) Norman Jewison did Fiddler and JCS back to back--since they are both so different.  I LOVE both--I know JCS divides fans of that show sharply, but oh well.  I also think they are the peak of Jewison's career (although I am personally very fond of Agnes of God, as well.)

Fiddler is an interesting case, I think.  It opened over half a year before the show closed on Broadway which (I think?) was pretty rare, especially back then.  Robins' production was so iconic but, with the revolve and Aronson's gorgeously stylized Chagall-inspired sets (which initiated his great, long career with Hal David until his death,) it's so innately theatrical.  And, unlike Jewison's JCS, or even some other Jewison movies (the stylized camera work of Thomas Crown Affair, for example,) the film is very, for lack of a better word, theatrical.  There is next to no stylization to try to capture any of the play's theatricality.  And, in this case, that really works--  (Tevye does address the audience but since he's kinda speaking to God, it works.)

Joseph Stein adapted his own libretto, and from what I can recall kept a LOT of the stage dialogue (I don't miss The Rumour really, but I do miss Now I Have Everything.)  I think he makes the Beggar a mute, as well, and there are a few added scenes that "open it up."  I like the added song Any Day Now on the soundtrack and wonder if it was filmed (and how horrific that the late 70s reissue cut 40 minutes including Far From the Home I Love and, of all things, Anatevka.) 

The film was a BIG hit, but it often seems oddly to get forgotten in survey discussions of the ups and downs of film musicals.  Critics often talk about how, after Sound of Music in particular, the studios all tried for fancy, "road show", expensive musicals (original and Broadway adaptations,) that mostly lost some or a lot of money (Sweet Charity, Camelot, Chitty Chitty, Dr Doolittle, Star!, Hello Dolly, and so on and so on.)  And then they skip ahead to the groundbreaking style and success of Cabaret, sighting it as a different approach to adaptation.  But they tend to skip the fact that in 1971, Fiddler was a big road show adaptation of a stage musical (mind you done in a gritty, realistic style at odds with most of those other films--and at odds with the brightly coloured stage version,) and was a massive critical and audience success.  Still, its success didn't really seem to lead to the studios reconsidering after all the recent flops, returning to more musicals.

And this thread reminds me I really need to pick up the blu ray which I see contains the National FIlm Board of Canada's documentary Norman Jewison, Filmaker which I remember being fascinating in following the filming process. 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 9:48pm

I don't like the way Yente is toned down in the movie.

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 9:57pm

The film does seem to get forgotten on many occasions, which inspired me to make this thread. The type of filmmaking in Fiddler is what I always pictured how a Les Mis film should look. Too bad Jewison didn't direct that. 

[Musical Master]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 10:01pm

Fiddler on the Roof is a perfect example of a movie that is the best of both worlds used tastefully and imaginatively (theater and film). Norman Jewison and the talented group of actors and crew members helped make this one of the best musical films of all time, along with the 1956 film adaptation of The King and I.

[yfs]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 10:45pm

I have to say this is among the most shocking threads I've read on this board. To me, the FIDDLER film is a self-important, drawn-out pretentious travesty of a great musical. And I can't say I've ever met anyone who likes it. It was surely art with a capital "A", but what a chore to sit through, especially for anyone who saw the original show with Mostel, at least reasonably early on the run. Topol is an insufferable substitute, and the damn thing just seems to go on forever. To the degree that it's largely forgotten today, that's no accident. 

[OMG2]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 11:35pm

Back to 1971. I remember Leonard Frey who was nominated for his role as Motel. His role in Boys in the Band was great. Great movie.

[OMG2]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 11:39pm

That would be impossible. Leonard passed away many years ago. Wonderful Motel the tailor.

i heard that Adam Kantor in this broadway is stellar. A stand out. 

[OMG2]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 11:39pm

That would be impossible. Leonard passed away many years ago. Wonderful Motel the tailor.

i heard that Adam Kantor in this broadway is stellar. A stand out. 

[OMG2]

Posted: 11/26/15 at 11:40pm

That would be impossible. Leonard passed away many years ago. Wonderful Motel the tailor.

i heard that Adam Kantor in this broadway is stellar. A stand out. 

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 11/27/15 at 2:21am

The film, while lovely to look at, doesn't approach capturing the energy of the stage musical, IMHO.

[kimalysong]

Posted: 11/27/15 at 6:07am

yfs said: "I have to say this is among the most shocking threads I've read on this board. To me, the FIDDLER film is a self-important, drawn-out pretentious travesty of a great musical. And I can't say I've ever met anyone who likes it. It was surely art with a capital "A", but what a chore to sit through, especially for anyone who saw the original show with Mostel, at least reasonably early on the run. Topol is an insufferable substitute, and the damn thing just seems to go on forever. To the degree that it's largely forgotten today, that's no accident. 

 

"

Well you just met a bunch of people on this thread. 

And I know a lot of people who love it. Not sure where you get that it's largely forgotten today because that hasn't been my experience at all. 

Just went on IMDB and it has a score of 8, a very good score for a musical (although it fluctuates between that and a high 7 usually.)

Updated On: 11/27/15 at 06:07 AM

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 11/27/15 at 7:13am

i too think the movie version of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is superior to the broadway production i saw back in 1970...the movie is one of the BEST FILMED MUSICALS of all time in my estimation...the acting, and the cinematography especially are among Hollywood's best work...NORMAN JEWISON did an amazing job in bringing this musical to life and this film doesn't get enough credit when filmed musicals are talked about...

the LITTEL BIRD (Chava sequence)  with the three sisters dancing is for me, one of the most moving sequences in this wonderful movie...

Updated On: 11/27/15 at 07:13 AM

[macnyc]

Posted: 11/27/15 at 8:12am

TCM is showing the movie on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 4:45 p.m. In case anyone is interested in watching or recording. The duration is given as three hours and fifteen minutes, which I assume includes a lot of commercials!

Updated On: 11/27/15 at 08:12 AM

[kimalysong]

Posted: 11/27/15 at 8:22am

macnyc said: "TCM is showing the movie on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 4:45 p.m. In case anyone is interested in watching or recording. The duration is given as three hours and fifteen minutes, which I assume includes a lot of commercials!

Nope that is how long the movie is. TCM shows all movies uncut with NO commercials. 

"

 

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 11/27/15 at 8:23am

Thanks for the info! And can I just say how much I love TCM? They always pick great films to show.