FIDDLER ON THE ROOF has been a beloved musical for decades and the movie, which aired this past Saturday on Reel 13, was enormously successful when it first came out in 1971. I, however, have never been interested in the show. Though I do like some of the more famous songs ("Matchmaker" is catchy, "If I Were a Rich Man" is universally appealing and "Sunrise, Sunset" is beautifully written), I have always found the overall show to be pretty dull and very frustrating in terms of its repetitive nature.
Director Norman Jewison (who also directed last week's THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING) did manage to do some interesting things in his adaptation, however. I liked how, on several occasions, he opted out of having characters sing out on screen. Instead, he used their voices non-diegetically, as if they were thinking the song in their heads. Even though the song itself is incredibly annoying, he turned the "Tradition" number into an effective montage introducing us to life in Anatevka. I also liked how Jewison handled the iconography of the fiddler itself. In the show, it's a bit heavy handed, but Jewison shoots it just right, keeping the fiddler mostly in background or shadow and cutting to him infrequently enough that he is an effective symbol for their way of life – subtle enough while maintaining its accessibility. To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of the talking to the camera device (has any film been able to pull this off except for FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF?). Additionally, Jewison employed the zoom lens several times throughout the film, a common tactic in the late 60's/early 70's, but it felt out of place in a period piece such as this.
I was surprised at how weak many of the performances were – much of the cast had an air of theatricality about them, as if they were plucked right off the stage and never got accustomed to screen acting. The mother and the eldest daughter (a dead ringer for Barbra Streisand) are two exceptions. The primary exception, of course, is Topol as Tevye. Tevye is one of the most iconic characters is musical history – the male equivalent of Mama Rose – and Topol knocks it out of the park. He is funny, charmingly foolish, boisterous without being obnoxious, extremely caring and tender with a booming, powerful (singing and speaking) voice that perfectly fits this larger-than-life character. It ranks as one of the all-time best movie musical performances.
In spite of all these positive qualities, FIDDLER the film still doesn't seem to overcome the flaws of FIDDLER the play. The second act is mostly strong with many emotionally impactful moments, but the build-up to get there is way too long and too slow. Several scenes in the film drag on mercilessly and some seem superfluous altogether (I don't think we needed the "Wonder of Wonders" number, for example). I imagine that Jewison and his team felt some pressure to include everything so the stage fans wouldn't be disappointed, but their priority in adapting the musical has to be to the film itself. When it's transferred to celluloid, it's a new animal and there are a different set of rules. More than anything, what FIDDLER really needed before relocating from Broadway was a good diet – to trim all the fat.