Motel the Operator

Motel the Operator

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Jan 15, 1940

Runtime

1h 28m

Genres

Drama

Original Title

Motl der Operator

Production Companies

Cinema Service Corp.

Director

Joseph Seiden

Description

Motel, a poor laborer, loving husband and new father, leads cloakmakers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strikebreakers, his wife, Esther, and infant son are left destitute. Desperate to save her starving child, Esther gives him up for adoption to a wealthy couple, and then commits suicide. The richly-rendered beautiful Yiddish songs by Sholem Secunda featuring Cantor Leibele Waldman and Joel Feig's famous choir are a good example of the bittersweet melodrama in the finest tradition of the Yiddish theater.