RESTORED BY NCJF
As antisemitic campaigns increased in 1920s America, American Jews looked for a way to present Judaism in a positive light. It was inevitable that some would turn to the motion picture as a solution to this dilemma. Consequently, a number of feature length films dealing with Jewish themes appeared in the 1920s.
Breaking Home Ties, produced by a "syndicate" of prominent Jews in Philadelphia, was one of the first. The stated goal of the film was to truthfully represent "the every-day life of the Jew, with emphasis on that human and sympathetic element in his nature too often overlooked...." The film focuses on David Bergman who, thinking he has killed a friend in a jealous rage, flees Russia and becomes a successful lawyer in New York. His penniless family follows him to America, but by now he has lost touch with them. When David gets married on the premises of a home for the aged (to which he and his bride have contributed) he is happily reunited with his family, who also live in the home.
Cast: Lee Kohlmar, Rebecca Weintraub, Richard Farrell, Arthur Ashley, Betty Howe, Jane Thomas, Henry B. Schaffer, Maude Hill, Robert Maxmillian.
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