| The Flying Matchmaker | |
| Studio: | Geva Films |
| Starring: | Mike Burstyn Raphael Klatchkin Jermain Unikovsky Shmuel Rodensky Elisheva Michaeli Rina Ganor Aharon Meskin |
| Cinematography: | Romulo Grounni |
| Producer: | Mordecai Navon |
| Runtime: | 120 minutes |
| Country: | Israel |
| Language: | Yiddish Hebrew |
The Flying Matchmaker (also: Two Kuni Lemel, Shnei Kuni Leml or שני קוני למל) is a 1966 Israeli film musical directed by Israel Becker. The film was the first major success on screen for lead actor Mike Burstyn who has a double role as Kuni Leml and his cousin Max, and also casts his father Pesach Burstein in a small role. The film was selected as the Israeli entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 39th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[1]
The plot is based on the 1880 Yiddish play, a comedy of errors, Di tsvey Kuni-Lemels (Yiddish: די בײדע קוני-לעמעל) by Abraham Goldfaden. It was based on the German-language comedy Nathan Schlemiel oder Orthodoxe und reformirte Juden by J. Rosenzweig (Ein Tendenz-Lustspiel in 3 Acten. Pressburg, 1873[2]). Rosenzweig's was also the base for the 1879 play Di tsvey shmuel shmelkes (Two Shmuel Shmelkes) by Joseph Lateiner, and some sources say that Goldfaden's was based on Lateiner's,[3] because the play of the latter one was earlier, but Lateiner's text is no longer available.[4]
The local matchmaker (shadchan), Reb Kalman, arranges a match for Carolina, the daughter of a wealthy client, Reb Pinchas. The daughter is already romantically linked with Max, who teaches her French. He arranges to show up in Kuni Lemel's place, disguised as Kuni Lemel, so he can marry Carolina. Confusion ensues as both Max and Kuni Lemel show up to court Carolina.