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Lies My Father Told Me

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Lies My Father Told Me, image,
Image scanned from an original Lobby Card set in the Northernstars Collection.

102 minutes – Drama
Release date: September 26, 1975
Canadian distributor: Domino Film & Television International
US Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Set in a vibrant but almost ghetto-like Jewish neighbourhood in Montreal in the 1920s, the film’s focus is a 6-year-old Orthodox boy, David Herman (Jeffrey Lynas). His grandfather is a wizened old junk dealer (Yossi Yadin), who travels through the neighbourhood on a horse-drawn cart selling rags, bottles, and other odds and ends. He’s also the only person who pays any attention to the lonely young boy who he treats like a friend and equal, instead of a nuisance. David is devastated when his grandfather dies in this sensitive and perceptive drama. While it would be easy to think this is nothing more than screenwriter Ted Allan’s trip down memory lane, there is much more at work in what is a delightful and often funny adaptation of Allan’s original story. Look for Allan who makes an appearance in the film. Fine performances by the entire cast along with an accurate recreation of old Montreal make this film an excellent time capsule of a time and era long gone. Chosen as Best Film at the Canadian Film Awards in 1976, Lies My Father Told Me was the final feature made by famed Czech director, Ján Kadár.

The Lobby Card above and the US movie poster were scanned from originals in the Northernstars Collection.

This US poster for Lies My Father Told Me was scanned from an original in the Northernstars Collection.

Crew:

Producer:

Anthony Bedrich
Harry Gulkin

Director:

Ján Kadár

Screenwriter:

Ted Allan

Cinematographer:

Paul Van der Linden

Editor:

Edward Beyer
Richard Marks

Composer:

Sol Kaplan

Cast: Roles:

Yossi Yadin
Len Birman
Marilyn Lightstone
Jeffrey Lynas
Ted Allan
Henry Gamer
Barbara Chilcott
Carol Lazare
Mignon Elkins
Cleo Paskal
Rolland Bédard
Raymond Benoît
Bertrand Gagnon
Guy L’Écuyer
E.M. Margolese
S. Nirenberg
Howard Ryshpan
Jean Dubost
Judith Gault
Sylvie Heppel
Victor Knight
Diana Leblanc
Harry Mayerovitch
Dave Raboy
Norman Taviss
Ruth Thomas

Grandfather Zaida
Harry Herman
Annie Herman
David Herman
Mr. Baumgarten
Uncle Benny
Mrs. Tannenbaum
Edna
Mr. Bondy
Cleo