Main Cast: Lilli Palmer, Sam Wanamaker, Akim Tamiroff, Hugo Haas
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
Plot
Adapted by Allen Boretz from Lucille S. Plumbs and Sara B. Smith's stage play Ever the Beginning, My Girl Tisa is set in New York at the turn of the century. Tisa Kepes (Lilli Palmer) is a newly arrived immigrant girl who hopes to bring her father to America. She is fleeced by travel-agent Hugo Haas, browbeaten by sweatshop-owner Akim Tamiroff, and offered sagacious but ineffectual legal advice by Sam Wanamaker. It takes a "deus ex machina" appearance by Theodore Roosevelt (Sidney Blackmer) to solve Tisa's dilemma. When asked about My Girl Tisa, director Elliot Nugent was proudest of his ability to cut down on the budget by filming several of his street scenes from an overhead vantage point, thereby economizing on sets and extras. The film was produced independently by Milton Sperling's United States Pictures, and released by Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
My Girl Tisa is a perfectly nice little film that is certainly enjoyable, yet just as certainly a bit disappointing. Not a great many films of the period are concerned with the immigrant experience in America, and this is what Tisa is all about. But this is also where the disappointment come sin, for while Tisa hits all the basics -- Ellis Island, immigrant communities, language issues, fear of deportation, loneliness, the need to work hard, etc. -- it does so in a manner that is alternately superficial and sentimental. There's the potential for real depth in these issues and how they relate to the story of this particular young woman, but the filmmakers instead skim across it all, leaving the viewer feeling a bit cheated. This especially becomes a problem at the end, with the appearance of no less a figure than then-President Teddy Roosevelt, whose involvement in the story is patently absurd and wastes much of the good will that the film establishes before this. Tisa benefits from its cast, with the beautiful Lilli Palmer turning in a lovely performance as the title character, and Sam Wanamaker appealing as her love interest. Even better are supporting players such as Stella Adler and Akim Tamiroff. Tisa is a pleasant and mildly engaging film; one just wishes its writer and director had tried a little harder. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
