This 1919 silent is the first American film based on the same Sholem Aleichem stories as Fiddler on the Roof, but produced 50 years before the blockbuster musical. Unlike most adaptations of Aleichem’s work, Broken Barriers (Khavah) focuses not on Tevye the milkman, but on his daughter Khavah, who falls in love with the gentile boy Fedka and must navigate the reverberations from this with both her community and her family.
Alice Hastings
as Khavah
Alexander Tenenholtz
as Fedka
Giacomo Masuroff
as Tobias, Khavah's Father
Billie Wilson
as Khavah's Mother
Sonia Radin
as Parasha, Fedka's Mother
Phil Sanford
as Ivan, Fedka's Father
Anna Kay
as Khavah's Sister
Raymond Friedgen
as Fedka's Chum
