Known for Acting
We have linguists, we have literary men, we have newspapers, actors, musicians, but we have no national opera!", lamented the champions of national revival in the middle of the last century. Hungarian music culture at home is limited to the performance of works by foreign composers. And the public demands Hungarian opera, and such a challenge is not easy to meet. So let's see who is up to the task!
A young peasant boy stands up to tyranny, aided by his trusting friend- a goose.
The only jacket owned by Rédey Lajos, a university student majoring in Italian language and literature, is pawned by his room-mate. The bracelet of Kitty, the daughter of general Gohrmann, which in the middle of a kiss during a lesson in Italian got accidentally unfastened, has been left in the pocket of the jacket. As a result of a still further incident, Rédey, - endeavouring to return the bracelet to Kitty - embarks upon getting the jacket back while wearing the Hungarian gala-suit owned by his landlady's elder brother. The station to which he finds his way while looking for the jacket is visited by the King of Italy, and he takes Lajos, dressed as he is in a Hungarian gala-suit, to be a Hungarian aristocrat, and Lajos must but receive His Majesty in Italian.
The first Hungarian spy film ripped the mask off those ministerial officials who, having sold out to foreign agents, sabotaged the rebuilding of Hungarian factories and plants destroyed by the war. In the film, spies and saboteurs with wallets full of dollars and pistols in their hands set fire to Hungarian factories. The former ruling class was reluctant to give up its place in life and had to be fought to the death.
Miklós Kátay, a spoiled, peppery gentleman, changes to his advantage when he joins the military. He is helped by his old acquaintance, Sergeant Menyhért, who is courting his cook, and a new recruit, Balázs, who becomes his friend. In the barracks, he chats and chats at first, but at the front, where he is now an ensign, he is a hero. He is welcomed back by his friend Éva, the Colonel's ugly niece, and by another Éva, the beautiful daughter of a retired Colonel.
Gábor Turi, the star of the Viennese Opera retires from the stage after he inherits a huge piece of land in Hungary with the stipulation that he can't continue his career as a singer.
After a heart attack, landowner Ferdinand Kerekházy summons his son Ferko Kerekházy from abroad, who, to his conservative father's dismay, sends a wagonload of machines ahead to set up an irrigation system and turn the saline, barely productive fields into fertile ones. The old count doesn't want to hear about his son's plans, and wants Ferko to marry Baroness Zólyomi. Since his son refuses, he disowns him. With persistent work, and the support of the mayor and a young engineer from Pest, the irrigation plan is realized. When the old count, who is always dreaming of grandchildren, realises that his son and the mayor's daughter have fallen in love, he reconciles with Ferko and asks her to marry him.
You can get anywhere in a tailcoat. Viktor Norton, a young man imprisoned by mistake, also knows this. In Viktor’s tailcoat, he can easily get to the Excelsior Hotel, where he will meet the newly wealthy Dupont couple and their daughter Marie.
Pista Dankó falls in love with Ilonka Jáky, the beautiful blonde lady, so his old love, Rózsi, the wild gypsy girl, puts a curse on him. Ilonka elopes with Pista and they marry. They live in difficult circumstances, but Lajos Pósa takes up the talented young man. Pista wants to recover his legendary violin, which has fallen into the possession of a Russian prince, so he goes on a tour of Russia. Here he meets Rózsi, who has become a famous dancer and now has a hold on him too. Meanwhile, Pista falls ill and returns home to die. In his last hours, a package arrives from Rosie. He plays his last song with the returned violin.
Nothing new under the sun. The famous 'Love Story' is only a faint reminder of the most successful pre-war Hungarian film. The relationship between the painter and the busy girl, as well as the third one, still holds surprises for us today.
