In pre-revolutionary Russia, Yakov Bok (Alan Bates), a ‘fixer,’ or handyman, moves to Kiev from the shtetl and is unjustly accused of the ritual murder of a gentile boy. Bok is innocent of this atrocious crime, but he is guilty of being a Jew. He’s tortured, deprived of any outside contact, legal help, or a glimmer of hope for three long years, and becomes a cause celebre outside Russia. When the Czar declares a general amnesty, Bok is pardoned, but demands a trial to prove his innocence. Bogarde comes to his defence. From the Bernard Malamud novel.
Yakov Bok is based on Mendel Beilis, who was accused of murder in Kiev in 1911. He spent two years in prison before he was tried and found not guilty. Beilis later emigrated to the U.S.
production details
UK | 132 minutes | 1968
Novel: Bernard Malamud
Director: John Frankenheimer
Producer: Edward Lewis
Original Story: Bernard Malamud
Director of Photography: Marcel Grignon
Editor: Henry Berman
Composer: Maurice Jarre
Screenwriter: Dalton Trumbo
Production Designer: Bela Zeichan
cast
Alan Bates as Yakov Bok
Dirk Bogarde as Bibikov
Michael Goodliffe as Ostrovsky
Georgia Brown as Marfa Golov
Ian Holm as Grubeshov
Carol White as Raisl
Hugh Griffith as Lebedev
David Warner as Count Odoevsky
Elizabeth Hartman as Zinaida
Murray Melvin as Priest