Gaál Béla: Pesti mese (1937)

Once upon a time... strange developments were afoot. The Budapest cabaret was founded 125 years ago. It wasn’t a huge success at first. Then, somehow, we got it. It would be difficult to imagine the history of Hungarian sound films without cabaret writers. Károly Nóti, Szőke Szakáll, Jenő Rejtő, István Békeffi – too many to list. And of course, the ‘father’ of the Hacsek and Sajó routines, László Vadnay, who wrote dozens of screenplays until emigrating to the US in 1938. He is also credited with writing Meseautó (‘The Dream Car’), Ez a villa eladó (‘Villa for Sale’), Lovagias (‘An Affair of Honour’), and the lesser known Pesti mese (‘Tales of Budapest’). In the latter, which features Ida Turay, Antal Páger and Gyula Kabos in a story revolving around a bankrupt hat salon, an innocent peasant woman, and a handyman destined for more, director Béla Gaál crafted yet another of Vadnay’s scripts into a film

In the original Hungarian, without subtitles.

The screening will be preceded and followed by a discussion in Hungarian.