The Angel Levine
Encyclopedia
The Angel Levine is a 1970
U.S. film directed by Jan Kadar
and based on a short story
by Bernard Malamud
. The film is about an impoverished New York City
tailor
(played by Zero Mostel
) who is unable to work due to health problems, which creates a financial strain since his wife (Ida Kaminska
) is seriously ill. The tailor's faith is challenged when a man calling himself Alexander Levine (Harry Belafonte
) comes into his life, claiming to be his guardian angel. The angel is concerned that he must make the tailor believe in his mission, or else he will be unable to earn his angelic wings.
The film was poorly received when it was first released, with Roger Greenspun of the New York Times stating that "given the reputations of the talents involved, (the film is) a failure of major proportions. I have seen worse movies. But I cannot remember having seen a movie so nervously at odds with itself, so timid in its impulses, and so mistaken in its choices." When the film was released on DVD
in 2002, Glenn Erickson
of DVD Talk
commented: "The Angel Levine is one of dozens of interesting movies in the United Artists
library that seem to have been created for the purpose of being obscure.”
1970 in film
The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....
U.S. film directed by Jan Kadar
Ján Kadár
Ján Kadár was a Slovak film writer and director. As a filmmaker, he worked in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the United States, and Canada. Most of his films were directed in tandem with Elmar Klos. The two became best known for their Oscar-winning The Shop on Main Street...
and based on a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...
. The film is about an impoverished New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
tailor
Tailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
(played by Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
) who is unable to work due to health problems, which creates a financial strain since his wife (Ida Kaminska
Ida Kaminska
Ida Kaminska was a Polish actress.-Early life:Born in Odessa, Russia she was the daughter of Yiddish stage actress Esther Rachel Kamińska and actor, director and stage producer, Avram Izhak Kamiński . She reportedly married and divorced actor Marian Melman...
) is seriously ill. The tailor's faith is challenged when a man calling himself Alexander Levine (Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
) comes into his life, claiming to be his guardian angel. The angel is concerned that he must make the tailor believe in his mission, or else he will be unable to earn his angelic wings.
The film was poorly received when it was first released, with Roger Greenspun of the New York Times stating that "given the reputations of the talents involved, (the film is) a failure of major proportions. I have seen worse movies. But I cannot remember having seen a movie so nervously at odds with itself, so timid in its impulses, and so mistaken in its choices." When the film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2002, Glenn Erickson
Glenn Erickson
Glenn Erickson is an American film editor and film critic. He started in the film industry in 1975 as an editor of low budget films and later worked in minor technical crew capacities in such major films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1941...
of DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
commented: "The Angel Levine is one of dozens of interesting movies in the United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
library that seem to have been created for the purpose of being obscure.”