Israel’s prize winning first musical film, “The Flying Matchmaker,” had its New York premier last night. This zestful, humorous, vigorous, and robust story about “Marriage-Jewish Style” kindled enough warmth among the first nighters to melt the ice on the street outside the theater. The film, based on Abraham Goldfaden’s play, “The Two Kouny Lemels,” is the second theatrical contribution to this city from Israel within the last two weeks. The first offering was the off-Broadway production of “Unfair To Goliath” which was warmly praised by critics as exhuding the charm, wit, and vitality of the Israelis. The play is based on a series of sketches written by the Hungarian-born now Israel’s well known satirist and playwright, Ephriam Kishon. The motion picture, which won five Israeli Knor Davids (Oscars) and Israel’s costliest film to date, is set in an east European “shtetl” of tradition bound Jews where weddings are the prime source of excitement and entertainment.
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