Main Cast: Yossi Yadin, Len Birman, Marilyn Lightstone, Jeffrey Lynas, Ted Allan
Release Year: 1975
Country: CA
Run Time: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Growing up in 1920s Montreal is no picnic for Orthodox Jewish boy Jeffrey Lynas. His grandfather, wizened old junk dealer Yossi Yadin, is the only person who plays attention to the lonely Lynas. He is also the only adult who treats Lynas like a friend and equal instead of a nuisance. This sensitive, perceptive drama obviously meant more than a mere residual check to scriptwriter Ted Allen, who also appears in the film. Jeffrey Lynas' parents are played by Len Birman and Marilyn Lighthouse, two of Canada's cartoon voiceover artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Lies My Father Told Me is memorable for the heartwarming way in which it depicts a child's life in the Jewish ghetto in Montreal in the 1920s. The motifs are simple and direct, but effective. While the story is episodically structured, the upshot is a cohesive viewpoint, as the audience is drawn into the child's world and curiosity. While the cast is not well-known, the characters that they create are believable and authentic. The film was directed by Hungarian-born Ján Kadár, but its insider's view came from writer/actor Ted Allan. A somewhat different version of this story was filmed in 1960, also with an Allan screenplay. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Barbara Chilcott - Mrs. Tannebaum; Mignon Elkins - Mrs. Bondy; Henry Gamer - Uncle Benny; Carol Lazare - Edna; Cleo Paskal - Cleo; Victor Knight; Guy L'Ecuyer; Judith Gault; Norman Taviss
Credit
Francois Barbeau - Costume Designer, Ján Kadár - Director, Ed Beyer - Editor, Richard Marks - Editor, Michael Harrison - Executive Producer, Sol Kaplan - Composer (Music Score), Francois Barbeau - Production Designer, Michel Proulx - Production Designer, Paul van der Linden - Cinematographer, Harry Gulkin - Producer, Ted Allan - Screenwriter
The original story was written by Ted Allan in 1949. Allan, a Jew from East End Montreal, was working at an advertising agency. David Rome, editor of the Canadian Jewish Congress Bulletin asked him to write a story immediately. Allan thought up a story and had it in his hands within hours.
It eventually became this Academy Award-nominated film and a novella. The story tells of a six year old boy who would travel with his grandfather on an old horse-pulled cart through the alleyways of Montreal. The two would call out to residents asking to collect their old junk. The boy's grandfather was religious but his father was not. Eventually the grandfather died as does his horse, leaving the boy feeling bitter against his secular father.
