Israel’s War of Independance – feature film made in 1955

I FOUND THIS MOVIE TO BE VERY UPSETTING AND AMATEURISH. IT DIDN’T REPRESENT REALITY EXCEPT FOR THE APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY AND BUILDINGS..

Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer (Hebrew: Giv’a 24 Eina Ona?), the first feature film produced in Israel, is a 1955 Israeli war film directed by Thorold Dickinson. It was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.[2] The plot revolves around the personal stories of a number of soldiers who are on their way to defend a strategic hill overlooking the road to Jerusalem.

First Hollywood film shot in Israel was THE JUGGLER, Stanley Kramer, starring Kirk Douglas, 1953

In 1948, just four hours and 45 minutes before a ceasefire takes effect, Captain Yehuda Berger instructs four volunteers – James Finnegan, an Irish former British policeman (who fell in love with a Jewish woman named Miriam Miszrahi); Allan Goodman, a tourist from the USA who fell in love with the struggle to found Israel; David Airan; and (at her insistence) Esther Hadassi (a Yemeni Jewish woman) – to take and hold the strategic “Hill 24”, one of a number of hills dominating the highway into Jerusalem.

Afterward, Finnegan relates how he first met Berger in 1946, two years before the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, while serving as a British policeman in Haifa. In a flashback, Finnegan is part of the police force rounding up Jews who came ashore in British-controlled Mandatory Palestine illegally at night. Finnegan finds an ailing Berger and Miriam Miszrahi, and goes to find medical help for Berger. He is relieved to learn that the pair escaped. Berger is a concentration camp survivor who arrived in Palestine illegally during the British Mandate period and joined the Jewish Brigade group to help other Jews make Aliyah Bet.

Later Finnegan and Berger encounter one another at a checkpoint, where Berger is identified. Finnegan’s superior lets Berger go, ordering Sergeant Finnegan to follow him and apprehend his associates. Berger spots the police tailing him and flees. The two policemen follow him all the way to an apartment, which turns out to be Miriam’s, but Berger manages to get away. When Miriam gets home, she finds the police in her apartment. Miriam, a fourth generation local resident studying to be a teacher, is taken in for questioning and detained under the Emergency Defence Regulations. She is questioned about her relationship with Berger and the Jewish Underground. As she is being questioned Berger, who has been apprehended, is brought into the station.

Miriam is released the next morning. Finnegan and Browning are ordered to keep her under surveillance. After several fruitless days, Lawson tells Finnegan he can make Miriam’s acquaintance, much to Finnegan’s delight. Finnegan falls in love with her and he convinces her to return to Haifa with him, where she is arrested by Finnegan’s superior. Miriam later joins the army to fight in the 1948 War, and Finnegan joins also. He reveals to his fellow soldiers that he is an Irish Christian. Miriam and Finnegan meet briefly as Finnegan is deployed to Hill 24. As they drive towards the site of the operation Goodman, a New Yorker, tells the story of how he and Hadassi first met when he was wounded during the battle for the Old City. Hadassi, working as a nurse, helped care for him until the forces surrendered. They then signed up for Bergen’s unit together. The four die on the hill. Hadassi’s body is found still clutching an Israeli flag. It is declared that the Hill has been claimed for Israel.

April 15, 2021 | 5 Comments »

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  1. @ Ted Belman:
    An excellent collection of reading sources.

    I read Ms. Porath’s book many years ago after having happened upon it quite by accident. It was nearly 15yrs ago, I was waiting for a good friend of mine who was delayed by traffic and I was perusing his collection of books when his wife suggested I read “Letters From Jerusalem”. She had just finished it and was very anxious for someone else to read it – her husband’s idea of a good history book was limited to “The Making of Star Wars – The Definitive Story”. So I borrowed the book, thinking it would be much of a travelogue type non-fictional account of the war. It was anything but that. I think it is one of the most moving and delightful books I have ever read. I found her writing to be so vivid and captivating, that she actually gave you the feeling of being present during the tumultuous events which I had read about over many years. The only complaint I can offer about this account was that it was like hearing only one side of a phone conversation and really wish you could read the responses to her letters. I later obtained a signed copy of her book. A real treasure of mine.

  2. I watched Above and Beyond and agree with your assessment of it.

    I would recommend:

    1. Begin’s The Revolt
    2. the first volume of Jabotinsky’s biography by Katz called The Lone Wolf.
    3. Perfidy by Ben Hecht.
    4. The Pledge by Leonard Slater
    5. The Abandonment of the Jews, David Wyman
    7. While Six Million Died
    8. A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust

    And one more.
    Shortly after making aliya, I went to a an evening at the Begin Center in which the movie studio who re-issued Exodos held a screening. In the audience were a number of people who were on the historical Exodus.

    While there I met a woman, Ms Porath who had a special story to tell. She was the daughter of a prominent Zionist living in New York. In 1947 she was 17 and won a scholarship to spend a year in Jerusalem. Her parents were reluctant to let her accept because they were concerned for her safety. You can imagine the discussion around the Shabbat table. In the end they consented and she came to Jerusalem to study at Hebrew U.. She participated over the celebrations of the UN partition vote and the Declaration of Independence.
    She lived in Jerusalem so was subject the the siege and the ensuing war. She joined the Haganah and served as a medic so was close to the war.

    When the first ceasefire came she went with friends to Tel Aviv and witnessed while there, just outside her hotel window, the sinking of the Altalena!!!

    During the entire time she wrote letters to her parents in which she kept them abreast events and her thoughts. These letters were subsequently published in a book titled Letters from Jerusalem 1947 -1948. Available on Kindel.

    I highly recommend it.

  4. I found the movie to be well-acted, well-directed and intensely moving. From my limited knowledge of this period, it rings true. I nevertheless found it very disturbing to watch. This period in Israel’s and the Jewish people’s history upsets me a great deal.

  5. I’ve been wanting to watch this for a long time, so thank you for the You Tube link. I hope that I do not find it as distasteful as you do though. The lead actress played the love interest opposite Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur.
    I have watched The Juggler and I like that movie a lot.
    My favorite movie about Israel, either fictional or documentary, is the documentary called Above and Beyond. It is absolutely fantastic. link here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpKhwi4L64o