- A carpenter in the Fascist Slovak State is appointed "Aryan controller" of a Jewish widow's store.
- Fascist Slovakia during WW2. Tono lives a poor life, but the authorities offer him to take over the Jewish widow Lautman's little shop for sewing material. She is old and confused and thinks that he is only looking for employment and hires him. The odd couple begin to like each other. But some time later the authorities decide that the Jews must leave the city. What should he do with the old lady?—Mattias Thuresson
- In 1942, in a small town in then fascist Slovakia, the poor carpenter Tony Brtko is assigned "Aryanizator" of a small shop on the main street by his fascist brother-in-law Mark Kolkotsky. His greedy wife Evelyn is seduced with the promise of fortune, but Tony finds that the store owned by the deaf and senile seventy eight year-old widow Rozalie Lautmann is bankrupted and the old lady is financially supported by the Jewish community that promises a salary to him to help her. Tony befriends Ms, Lautmann and helps her in the store and repairs her furniture, and lures his wife with his salary. When the Jews are expelled from the town by the fascist, Tony decides to help the old lady.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- An inept Slovak peasant is torn between greed and guilt when the Nazi-backed bosses of his town appoint him "Aryan controller" of an old Jewish widow's button shop. Humor and tragedy fuse in this scathing exploration of one cowardly man's complicity in the horrors of a totalitarian regime.—The Criterion Collection
- It's early 1942 in a fascist Slovak state. Milquetoast Tono, a poor carpenter, has missed out on professional opportunities by not joining the Fascist Guard, one such opportunity to work on the Tower of Babel monument being built in the center of town to commemorate the Nazi victory. Despite not liking his brother-in-law Mark - his wife Evelyn's sister Rosie's husband - who does flaunt his wealth amassed through connections within the Fascist Guard, Tono is provided an opportunity by Mark who has arranged for him to be the Aryan controller of a shop on Main Street, a store selling sewing notions, primarily buttons, owned and operated by seventy-eight year-old Rozalia Lautmannová. Evelyn believes they can get rich primarily by pillaging Mrs. Lautmannová's possessions, she assuming in Mrs. Lautmannová being Jewish that there are hidden gold pieces. Tono discovers that Mrs. Lautmannová is not only hard of hearing but has little idea of the new world order and, as such, believes Tono has come to help her as her assistant at the store rather than take it over for his own benefit. He further learns that the store makes no money, but that the organized Jewish community, who looks after their own in need, will pay him handsomely to be Mrs. Lautmannová's protector. In the process, a friendship develops between Tono and Mrs. Lautmannová. Tono has to hide this arrangement from Evelyn, Rosie, Mark, and the Fascist Guard, who would see what he is doing as worse than being Jewish himself. Tono has to decide what to do when he learns through the grapevine that Nazis will soon be corralling and sending the Jewish away to "labor camps", and if there is an option to protect both himself and Mrs. Lautmannová who has no idea at all what is going on.—Huggo
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Top Gap
By what name was The Shop on Main Street (1965) officially released in India in English?
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