Fiddler on the Roof (Cert U)

by CHRISTOPHER TOOKEY, Daily Mail

One beneficial side-effect of the DVD revolution is that great old musicals are being re-released in new prints for the cinema. Many look and sound better than any of the new Hollywood products on offer, and are a reminder of gentler cinematic times.

Fiddler On The Roof is one such. It won five Oscars in 1971, and deserves to be considered among the classic American musicals.

It's a warm-hearted tale of a Jewish father striving to sustain his family traditions in Tsarist Russia, with fine songs by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, and a towering central performance by Topol.

Director Norman Jewison had never been renowned for his lightness of touch, and Fiddler looks lumbering and more than a little sentimental on the big screen. But it remains a moving study of cultural resilience, and Topol's rendition of If I Were A Rich Man is, of course, unforgettable.

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