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The Angel Levine

Play trailer Poster for The Angel Levine PG-13 Released Jul 28, 1970 1h 45m Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 4 Reviews 52% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Unable to work due to a back injury, elderly Jewish tailor Morris Mishkin (Zero Mostel) spends his days caring for his ill wife (Ida Kaminska) and wishing for happiness. After Morris sees a man (Harry Belafonte) die in the street, the man returns to Morris claiming to be a Jewish angel named Alexander Levine, who must perform a miracle within 24 hours to be confirmed as an angel. As his wife's health improves, Morris shows Alexander that renewing his faith may not be so easy.

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The Angel Levine

Critics Reviews

View All (4) Critics Reviews
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Engaging fantasy film. Rated: B Jan 22, 2023 Full Review Tony Mastroianni Cleveland Press Even in a time when ambiguity is fashionable the vagueness of most of this picture is more boring than interesting. Nov 29, 2018 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 31, 2005 Full Review Cheryl DeWolfe Apollo Guide Rated: 56/100 Mar 8, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (13) audience reviews
John K Saw it recently on YouTube after reading a favorable review back in 1970, lol! It was interesting, more than slightly dated like a lot of movies from that era, and could have used tighter editing, the Gloria Foster character was curiously not necessary, a two person play one hour long would have been better. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Zusu B Vacuous and often filled with trivial moments. There is no hope in the Angel Levine, just drudgery and anger. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member A nice script, not great acting. An old Jewish man who takes care of his frail wife is visited by an angel, a former criminal who just died. The angel is to help him, and it's clear that they can up help one another. The arguments between the man and the angel touch on race, social standing, religion, life and death. Mr. Levine, the angel, dwells on what he made of his life while he was alive. Morris, the old man, struggles to believe in the angel, and in God in general, after several years of misfortune. A theological debate that is kept mostly vague and ambiguous, and within Morris's apartment. The acting is overall contrived; over theatrical. Ida Kamińska does a good job playing the wife, bedridden old woman who can be rather smothering and demanding at times. All the long lines in Hebrew without any subtitles are not the most polite thing to do to an audience. All in all, not a pleasant movie, more like a rough theater play. An interesting tale that may provoke some thoughts but is not enough to make a great movie. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Frances H I can see that this was a morality play about the need to have faith, but it could have been cut to an hour and the screen play would have done better with a Twilight Zone type treatment with the same cast. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/12/20 Full Review Audience Member Delightful tale similar to the mystical world one enters in the works of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Belafonte's angel is more of a dybbuk. Treat to see Mostel, Kaminska & Belafonte together. Really, a morality tale in the style of the Yiddish theatre. As with Harry Potter, if its new to you just suspend your common sense and go along on a lovely fantasy. Well worth the effort. Shouldn't be so obscure. Glad to see its getting some airtime. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Well-intentioned but awfully talky. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Angel Levine

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Unable to work due to a back injury, elderly Jewish tailor Morris Mishkin (Zero Mostel) spends his days caring for his ill wife (Ida Kaminska) and wishing for happiness. After Morris sees a man (Harry Belafonte) die in the street, the man returns to Morris claiming to be a Jewish angel named Alexander Levine, who must perform a miracle within 24 hours to be confirmed as an angel. As his wife's health improves, Morris shows Alexander that renewing his faith may not be so easy.
Director
Jan Kadar
Producer
Chris Schultz
Distributor
United Artists
Production Co
Belafonte Enterprises
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 28, 1970, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 19, 2017
Runtime
1h 45m
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