Motel the Operator

Explore Motel the Operator (1940), including ReelBot’s take, cast, runtime, where to watch, and similar movies worth adding to your list.

1940 · 88 min · Drama · TMDB 10.0/10

Overview

Motel, a poor laborer, loving husband and new father, leads cloakmakers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strikebreakers, his wife, Esther, and infant son are left destitute. Desperate to save her starving child, Esther gives him up for adoption to a wealthy couple, and then commits suicide. The richly-rendered beautiful Yiddish songs by Sholem Secunda featuring Cantor Leibele Waldman and Joel Feig's famous choir are a good example of the bittersweet melodrama in the finest tradition of the Yiddish theater.

Directed by Joseph Seiden

Cast