Moishe Oysher plays Leo, a German
concentration camp survivor suffering from traumatic
amnesia. In America, Leo works as a hotel clerk next door to
Luli’s Gypsy Paradise, a nightclub where he is befriended by
comedian Joey Napoleon (borsht belter Joey Adams). One night
the two get tipsy and Leo bursts into song. “Leo the
Fabulous” becomes Luli’s headliner—although he can only sing
when intoxicated. Meanwhile Leo’s visits to a psychiatrist
brings forth fragmented memories of his cantor father (shown
in flashback with Oysher playing his father singing Hebrew
cantorial music). When gangsters looking for Napoleon knock
Leo unconscious, his memory finally returns and Oysher is
shown singing in the bombed-out ruins of Berlin’s Levetzow
Synagogue, poignant scenes shot on location in 1955.
This important and little known film is
one of the first American features to dramatize the
Holocaust and only the second to depict a holocaust survivor
(called “refugee” as the film predates the use of the term
“survivor”) as the main protagonist. The film represents an
early attempt to integrate the Holocaust into mainstream
popular culture using American movie conventions of the
period. Singing in the Dark is a quirky mix of 1950s
American film genres—the musical, gangster and mystery
movie—and the period’s fascination with psychiatry. While
Jews are not discussed directly, Jewish content is explicit,
especially in the popular Yiddish songs (sung in English)
and liturgical Hebrew songs.
This musical drama stars Moishe Oysher
as a concentration camp survivor suffering from traumatic
amnesia who becomes a singing sensation. A quirky
combination of 1950s movie conventions-the musical, gangster
and mystery movie-this virtually unknown independent film is
one of the first American features to dramatize the
Holocaust.
Directed by Max Nossek, Singing in the
Dark stars the popular entertainer Moishe Oysher in his only
English language film. Borscht belt comedian Joey Adams
co-stars and produced. Academy Award-winning cinematographer
Boris Kaufman (On The Waterfront) shot the film on location
in New York City and in Berlin.
While most of the action takes place in
New York, the film includes extremely rare and poignant film
material. Kaufman shot amid the remains of the Levetzow
Synagogue in Berlin which was badly damaged during World War
II and razed shortly after Singing in the Dark was shot.
Built in 1914, the Levetzow Synagogue sat 2,000 people. On
Yom Kippur 1941, the Gestapo converted the synagogue into a
collection point for deportations. From there, more than
37,500 Jews living in Berlin were deported to extermination
camps.
-- The National Center for Jewish
Film |