The Angel Levine

"The Angel Levine" is 1970 U.S. film directed by Jan Kadar and based on a short story by Bernard Malamud. The film is about an impoverished New York City tailor (played by Zero Mostel) who is unable to work due to health problems, which creates a financial strain since his wife (Ida Kaminska) is seriously ill. The tailor's faith is challenged when an African American calling himself Alexander Levine (Harry Belafonte) comes into his life, claiming to be his guardian angel. The angel is concerned that he must make the tailor believe in his mission, or else he will be unable to earn his angelic wings. [http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s641levine.html DVD Savant Review] ] [ [http://movies.tvguide.com/angel-levine/114488 TV Guide Online review] ]

The film was poorly received when it was first released, with Roger Greenspun of the "New York Times" stating that "given the reputations of the talents involved, (the film is) a failure of major proportions. I have seen worse movies. But I cannot remember having seen a movie so nervously at odds with itself, so timid in its impulses, and so mistaken in its choices." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F01E1D7113EE034BC4151DFB166838B669EDE New York Times review] ] When the film was released on DVD in 2002, Glenn Erickson of DVD Talk commented: "The Angel Levine" is one of dozens of interesting movies in the United Artists library that seem to have been created for the purpose of being obscure.”

References

External link

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065400/ "The Angel Levine" in the Internet Movie Database] .