Known for Acting
A Jewish ghetto in the east of Europe, 1944. By coincidence, Jakob Heym eavesdrops on a German radio broadcast announcing the Soviet Army is making slow by steady progress towards central Europe. In order to keep his companion in misfortune, Mischa, from risking his life for a few potatoes, he tells him what he heard and announces that he is in possession of a radio - in the ghetto a crime punishable by death. It doesn't take long for word of Jakob's secret to spread - suddenly, there is new hope and something to live for - and so Jakob finds himself in the uncomforting position of having to come up with more and more stories.
This grotesque historical film is a caricature of the narrow-minded and careerist oligarchs of the 20s. A young military officer stops the young jurist from killing himself and recommends him to his commander, lieutenant-colonel Doborján as a typist.
Andras Kovacs' film, considered one of the most important Hungarian films of the 1960s, centers around four men who await trial for their involvement in the massacre of several thousand Jewish and Serbian people of Novi Sad in 1942. Each denies any responsibility, claiming that they were only following orders. The film is significant for its willingness to address the subject of Hungary's role in WWII, which was taboo at the time of the its release.
The film is put at the beginning of the century in Sárszeg, following the humiliation and collapse of a high-school teacher.
At the beginning of the thirties the sour, boring life of the Hungarian small town is enlivened by a charity action: with the lead of the beautiful wife of the attorney funds are raised for the orphans.
Based on a novel by Dezso Kosztolani, this Hungarian drama is set at the turn of the 20th century. A young, homely woman lives at home with her mother and retired father. Because of all the care the girl provides for her parents, the couple becomes detached from the world outside their home. When the girl leaves for a short visit to her uncle's home, the parents realize the extent of their separation from society and their selfish feelings toward their own daughter.
Péter is determined to learn the whole truth about his father's death. According to his mother, he was killed on the battle-line on the 2nd of December, 1944. However, a friend of his father's, Kánitz, a film director, shows him a fragment of a film in which he can be seen in the middle of December.
Fodor, a script-writer of promising talent finds himself in a difficult financial situation. So he comes out with an absurd idea to make a film of. The director, with several scripts having been refused, likes it.
He travels the country as a fire inspector. He arrives in the small town for a week-long visit, where he meets his old friend József Máté. Máté is a manager, proud of his achievements and spoiling his beautiful young wife Panni. But she's tired of the dollhouse and wants to work, but her husband won't let her. Tired and disillusioned, Palotas immediately senses and understands his wife's dullness and boredom, and encourages Panni to leave her husband...
On Christmas Eve, 1944, in Nazi-occupied Slovakia, the Kubiš family grapples with survival amidst brutal reprisals. Marián collaborates as a fascist guard leader, while his sister Angela has an affair with their Nazi lodger, Major Brecker. The situation escalates when their younger son, Juraj, a former partisan fighter, returns home wounded. As Germans search homes for escapees, Juraj hides in the attic, while an unsettling Christmas dinner unfolds below with Major Brecker present.
Merry soldiers arrive in the sleepy Transdanubian town. The cynical woman-hunter, Ferdinándy, learns to know doctor Barlay's beautiful wife at a carnival. She lives a happy married life, and the attentions of the lieutenant are all in vain.
Miskei, the popular and dynamic president of a co-op falls in love with Mari, the attractive wife of the elderly Pató. The deeply feeling woman is fed up with the service beside the haughty land holder, she is longing for tenderness and a child. The passion of Miskei is growing when he sees how crudely, humiliating Pató treats her. During a powerful summer shower, when chance brings them together in an abandoned press house, he storms on Mari confessing love. The woman refuses him bitterly. Miskei calms down and he keeps on expressing his love and high esteem with the woman by steadfast and tiny compliments. Early one morning Mari leaves her husband and sets off to the city to learn and to begin a new life.
