In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Editor’s Introduction
  • Lawrence Baron (bio)

What is a Jewish film? Do we classify a movie as Jewish because its director or screenwriter is of Jewish descent? That cannot be the sole criteria, since some fine films about Jewish topics were directed and scripted by Gentiles. For example, Edward Dymtryk considered Crossfire (USA: 1947), one of the first Hollywood films to deal with American antisemitism, a “milestone” because he, the producer, and the writer were not Jewish and therefore could be accused of self-interest or religious bias.” 1

Then there is the phenomenon addressed by two of the articles in this issue of Jewish directors like Barry Levinson and Woody Allen who have gone through phases in their careers when they either minimized the Jewishness of their characters, as Levinson did in his early films, or subjected them to vicious attacks, as has been the case in Allen’s most recent films. Neil Gabler’s popular book about Hollywood’s Jewish movie moguls argues that the first generation of Jewish-American producers assiduously avoided making films about Jewish subjects or featuring distinguishable Jewish characters in order to create a cinematic American utopia in which ethnic and religious differences disappeared into the melting pot of assimilation and civic equality. 2 Steven Carr’s recent book has interpreted Hollywood’s vision of national homogeneity as a cautious reaction to the widespread antisemitic attitudes that prevailed in the United States during the interwar period, when movies became a mainstream form of entertainment. 3

The rise of Nazism and the eventual entry of the United States into the war enabled American filmmakers to introduce the subject of Nazi antisemitism and identifiable Jewish characters into their films. After the war, films like Crossfire, Gentlemen’s Agreement (United States: 1947), and The Young Lions (United States: 1958) finally [End Page 1] revealed that prejudice against Jews was not something that only existed in Europe. Moreover, American studios gingerly tackled the topic of the Jewish genocide in movies like The Stranger (USA: 1946), Me and the Colonel (USA: 1958), and The Diary of Anne Frank (United States: 1959). 4 The evolving American support for the new state of Israel as an asylum for Jews fleeing persecution also was depicted in this period in films like Sword in the Desert (USA: 1949), The Juggler (USA: 1953), and Exodus (USA: 1960). 5

The Eichmann Trial, the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the victory of Israel in the Six Day War, campus radicalism, the protest against the Viet Nam War, and the rise of identity movements based on ethnicity, gender, and race facilitated the growth of a more pronounced Jewish subculture and politics. Movies like Funny Girl (USA: 1968), Goodbye Columbus (USA: 1969), Fiddler on the Roof (USA: 1971), and Hester Street (USA: 1974) either celebrated the lost world of the shtetl and/or recognized the religious heritage Jews were sacrificing to achieve upward mobility in the United States. 6

It was this intellectual climate that fostered the public’s receptivity to Woody Allen’s early screen persona of the New York Jewish nebbish and moralist. When Jews became more integrated into American society and Israel’s reputation became tarnished as the invader of Lebanon and represser of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, Allen repudiated Jewish traits and values, as Jeffrey Rubin-Dorsky’s article shows, in favor of a deeply personal artistic vision that despite its cinematic inventiveness has offended all but the most ardent of his fans.

Warren Rosenberg’s article on Barry Levinson chronicles a reverse evolution from a director who excelled at evoking a generic ethnic sensibility in films like Diner (USA: 1982) and Avalon (USA: 1990) to one who now endows his male Jewish leads with toughness tempered by a commitment to fairness, as illustrated in Liberty Heights (USA: 1999). Rosenberg warns that this remasculization process in Levinson’s films “can lead to defensiveness, intolerance, and violence.” He also notes that Levinson fails to place this Jewish combativeness within any Judaic framework.

Lawrence Baron examines the way the anti-Nazi and civil rights agenda of the Jewish immigrant creators of Marvel Comics was incorporated into the blockbuster action adventure film X...