Cinéma

Program:

11 AM
The Last Dawn

1917, holland/English Subtitles /magyar inzert (81')
piano: Darvas Ferenc

Directed by: Kertész Mihály / Written by: Alfred Deutsch-German / Screenplay by: Vajda László / Director of photography: Bécsi József
Cast: Leopold Kramer, Balassa Jenő, B. Marton Erzsi, Claire Lotto, Kardos Andor, Ujj Kálmán
Genre: silent film, drama

Production: Phőnix Film

Format: black and white, tinted, 1:1.33, 35mm restored copy

A few years ago a new film directed by Michael Curtiz (aka Mihály Kertész) arrived in Hungary: The Last Dawn, representing the first successful epoch of Hungarian film, a one-time international hit. The exotic sites of the film, and the exotic costumes – with Harry, the hero of the absolutely unbelievable masquerade operetta story, encountering destiny in India – make you even doubt whether you are watching a Hungarian film. Michael Curtiz was one of the greatest and best-known directors, first of all due to Casablanca, which ranks among the best films ever. Curtiz expressed his credo of filmmaking like this: “You have to be able to turn the subject into a plot, to vivify action so as to make it pulsate, and to tighten it so as to make it rush”, which is accurately modelled by this colourful easy-going melodrama in American style.

16.20
Vampyr (83')  
1932, german /English Subtitles

Directed by: Carl Theodor Dreyer / Written by: Sheridan Le Fanu (novel) / Screenplay by: Christen Jul, Carl Theodor Dreyer / Director of photography: Máté Rudolf, Louis Née /Music by: Wolfgang Zeller / Cast: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Jan Hieronimko

Genre: drama, horror, adaptation
Production: Tobis Filmkunst
Format: black and white, 1:1.19

The inspirational source for Carl Theodor Dreyer’s horror fantasy is a short story by Sheridan Le Fanu, but in fact the plot of the film has very little in common with what it is based on: this is the film that gets rid of the rules of narrating, of straight story-telling, no more stressing the story, but the atmosphere. Which, first of all, is mesmerising and moving,

while there is more to it, partly due to the soundtrack of the film: this is the first talking film of the great Danish director. The whole sound material – with the dialogues produced in four languages – was recorded in a studio, and this is what the mesmerising effect relies on,

on the soundtrack, namely, yielding the impression of contemporary music. The film has numerous scenes that are hard to forget: it is eerie to see the coffin’s progress from the point of view of the dead person, the dream scenes are agitating, as well as the scene in which the evil doctor is killed in the mill. And the one in which we see the female vampire attracted to her sister is odd enough, almost appalling. And that’s where Dreyer’s secret

and greatness become manifest: it is he who elevates the vampire theme to become an erotic one.

19.15
She Returned at Dawn
1938, french /English Subtitles /90'  

Directed by: Henri Decoin / Screenplay by: Vicki Baum, Henri Decoin, Pierre Wolff / Director of photography: Léonce-Henri Burel / Music by: Paul Misraki / Cast: Danielle Darrieux, Pierre Dux, Jacques Dumesnil, Pierre Mingand, Raymond Cordy

Genre: drama, romance

Production: Union des Distributeurs Indépendants

Format: black and white, 1:1.37

There has never been an actress who could boast of a longer career than now 100-year-old Danielle Darrieux, who along with her husband Henri Decoin made her charming film, Return at Dawn in Budapest and in other places in Hungary, back in 1938. Played by her, Anita, the young peasant girl arrives for her aunt’s burial in the capital, but she misses the train for home, and stays therefore for a magic night in Budapest. Particularly memorable is the scene of the film in which the French actress sings a French chanson, Dans mon cœur, with the gipsy musicians playing it to her. This fine and lovely film is – though not a masterpiece – the beginning of an excellent career.

More information : http://filmarchiv.hu/hu/filmmaraton

Free entry