This film is part of Free

A Bad Day for Levinsky

When a Jewish man mistakenly puts a sovereign in a slot machine, he goes to extraordinary lengths to try to retrieve it

Comedy 1909 8 mins Silent

Overview

The earliest depictions of Jewish characters in British cinema tended to fall back on negative stereotypes. This Edwardian slapstick short employs the stock antisemitic character of the avaricious Jew: realising he put the wrong coin in a train station slot-machine, Levinsky tampers with the machine to retrieve it and is thrown out of the station by the guards. Taking the situation into his own hands, he runs through the streets carrying the cumbersome machine with the police in hot pursuit.