Kazablan

Kazablan (1973)

קזבלן

An embittered gang leader seeks the respect of his neighbors and the love of a young woman

An adaptation of a popular Israeli stage musical. Kazablan is an army veteran turned gang leader in the Israeli port of Jaffa who masks his feelings of bitterness with a lot of bravado. He's sweet on Rachel, a young woman who lives with her father and stepmother. The budding relationship scandalizes the neighbors (not to mention Rachel's parents) and infuriates Yanush, a middle-aged shoe store owner who wants Rachel for himself. (Yanush feels he's entitled to marry Rachel since they're both Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern European origins, whereas Kazablan is a Sephardic Jew from Morocco.) The neighborhood has something else to worry about besides the antics of Kazablan and his gang: the city wants to tear down their crumbling homes. The residents pool their resources to save their houses, but the money that's collected is stolen. When he's jailed for the theft, Kazablan must find a way to clear himself.

Date of release
1973-07-07
TMDB
6.7 / 10 (11)
Runtime
2h 2m
Genres
Romance, Comedy, Drama
Director
Menahem Golan

Casting

Interesting facts

Kazablan is a 1973 Israeli film in the genre of musical and Bourekas films, directed by Menachem Golan and starring Yehoram Gaon, Efrat Lavie, Arieh Elias, Etti Grotes and Yehuda Efroni. The script was written by Menachem Golan and Haim Hefer, and is based on the musical of the same name from 1966. The film was released in Israel on July 7, 1973, and as of today is the second most watched film in the history of Israeli motion pictures, with 1,222,500 tickets sold. It was also released in the United States on May 8, 1974, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Production

The play "Kazablan" was written by Yigal Mosinzon at the request of the Telam organization (Ma'aborot Theater), who wanted a play that would appeal to the new immigrants. In September 1954, it was staged as a play at the Cameri Theater, directed by Shmuel Bonim and starring Yosef Yadin and Haya Harareet. In 1966, the play became a musical, adapted by them by Musinson and Joel Silberg added poems written by Amos Ettinger and Haim Hefer.

The film was shot on a budget of 2.8 million Israeli pounds, the highest ever for an Israeli production at the time, with around 700,000 pounds going towards employee salaries. It was filmed using a rented Panavision camera from England on 70mm film, and the music was recorded in stereo. The original actors from the stage production, who portrayed characters such as Kazablan, Marioma, and Moshiko, returned to reprise their roles in the film.

While the original play "Kazablan" was set in the "Big Yard" in Jaffa (now known as Gan HaPisga), by the 1970s, little remained of the original setting, prompting the filming to take place in the nearby Manshiya neighborhood, then facing demolition.

An English version of the film was also produced simultaneously, with translators from the United States and England assisting in translating the script and songs, as well as coaching the actors in proper pronunciation.

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