Love and Sacrifice

Based on the novel Love and Passion by Isidore Zolotarefsky, Love and Sacrifice is a prime example of "shund", the melodramatic theatrical escapist entertainment of the Yiddish theater. It opened at the Clinton Theater April 7, 1936 and was held over three weeks as the most popular Yiddish movie the Clinton had shown to date. Produced by Joseph Seiden over two days in a loft in New York City on a minuscule budget, this tale of a middle-class matron who shoots the man who compromises her was a tremendous success. The story of a long-suffering mother who goes to prison for shooting a would-be suitor employs many archetypes of Yiddish theater. From the conflict between the sacrificing mother and the home-wrecking schemer, to the reunion of parent and child at a celebratory wedding the film provides a classic example of the Yiddish-American cinema.