Fiddler on the Roof - DVD

Special Features:

Subtitles for 10 languages plus English for the hearing impaired

"Fiddler on the Roof" comes in a 2-disk set, with most of the special features on the second disk. The first disk has the movie plus the added option to view the film with a voice over commentary by Norman Jewison and Topol.

The second disk has three special features: (1) "Norman Jewison Looks Back" featurette, (2) a deleted song ("Any Day Now") and (3) "Tevye's Dream in Full Color."

My Review:

The DVD of "Fiddler on the Roof" is an excellent enhancement with sharp, clear video and natural colors. The sound is clear with ample volume. The widescreen aspect ratio is excellent for the community dance numbers, such as the "To Life" number or the wedding dances.

"Fiddler on the Roof" begins with a black screen that fades into a sunrise scene of the town of Anatekva. It then pans across the town to a fiddler playing his music while perched on a rooftop. Tevye, in a technique used throughout the film, speaks to the audience, as a narrator of a play would. This is a very effective technique and it transferred well from the stage play to the movie version.

The first nine and a half minutes of "Fiddler on the Roof" is used to introduce the setting and characters in the film and, only after the audience has a sense of the story, the credits are displayed while the overture is played.

"Fiddler on the Roof" intersperses events in the Jewish community of Anatekva with the outside events of the Russian government and this adds to the impact of the film. However, unlike the way this is done in "Cabaret," in "Fiddler on the Roof" the actions of the government are embedded into the story of the Jewish community. The film does a good job of using this technique to contrast happiness with tragedy and comedy with drama, and this helps the audience understand the resiliency of the Jewish community and its ability to bounce back from adversity.