“Yentl” is Barbra Streisand’s criminally underrated 1983 directorial film debut set in turn-of-the-20th-century Poland. After her father (or “Papa”) dies, Yentl, the titular character played by Babs, decides to disguise herself as a man to study Talmudic law at a Jewish school called a Yeshiva. At school, she meets the ambitious Avigdor, who is in love with Hadass, a local girl. During the film, the three enter a love triangle complicated by Yentl’s gender secret.

Well-produced television can make almost any profession look enticing, but it takes a stellar cast and a few eye-catching outfits to sell the game of chess as glamorous and alluring material. With all...