The Faithful City (1952)
At the Park Avenue

H. H. T.
Published: April 8, 1952
"Faithful City," the new import from Israel which R. K. O. is releasing at the Park Avenue,
traces the rehabilitation of a group of Jewish war orphans against the hectic background of
the newborn state. Joseph Leytes, who wrote, directed and produced this picturesque and
frequently compelling drama, using a small cast of non-professionals, with a few
exceptions, deserves full credit on several counts. Excellently photographed and performed
with restraint, here is a simple story of psychological readjustment, confined, for the most
part, to a children's settlement in suburban Jerusalem and managing, nevertheless, to
convey almost exactly the confused political turbulence of the entire area.

Mr. Leytes is examining two methods of reconditioning war-hardened youngsters to
paradoxically unsettled reality, as practiced by a kindly Viennese settlement worker, finely
played by John Slater, and a brash young American, enacted by an amiable actor named
Jamie Smith. Mr. Leytes has allowed the pace to lag occasionally, but his dialogue is
imaginative. Two of the scenes are superb, one when the camera scours the numbed
faces of the moppets after their bus has been stoned by Arabs. And there is a chilling
midnight talkfest in the barracks as the little ones, cigarettes burning, discuss their own
backgrounds and the altruistic elders. Dina Peskin, Israel Hanin, Juda Levi and Amnon
Lifshitz, as the ringleaders of the gradually softened rebels, are painfully convincing
troupers.

Mr. Leytes' film stands out in part rather than on the whole, however, after thoroughly
conveying the off-screen strife by suggestion, and a few good-and-bad encounters with the
British, he has concocted a melodramatic climax that packs Mr. Smith, the children's idol by
now, off to a trench skirmish against the Arabs and a last-minute rescue of a water supply
truck. Having done such a good job on the fringe of the conflict, Mr. Leytes owes his own
explanation to the spectator, as well as to the questioning children, about the real meaning
of the shooting.