József Bihari

During World War II Carlotta, the circus owner maintains herself, her lover and her rather run-down circus-team by illegal man-smuggling. In the year of 1944, besides the usual refugees, she even has to take Professor Máté, the renown mathematician to the Yugoslavian partisans. The team is joined by Carlotta's psychotic son who has escaped from an asylum.

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A group of landless Hungarian peasants accept work as migrant-labourers on a northern German farm where the wages are good, and the wives and family are allowed to accompany them. Though in the midst of WWII, they are relatively well-off. However, as they witness the treatment accorded to POWs and others not so gently regarded, and at the conclusion of the year's harvest, they choose to return to Hungary and are quickly swept up in the tides of war.

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This film, set at the end of the 18th century, in a provincial and noble environment raises the question of humans forced to lead a meaningless life. The rich Transylvanian noble youth, Kálmán, absorbed the spirit of freedom and enlightened culture in Paris. Returning to his father's estate, he encounters a superstitious backwardness and an orgiastic storming of violence and instincts.

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An aspiring film student is denied a scholarship to the state-funded university when his father is thrown in jail. The man had stopped a train in order to facilitate the union between two old friends. The son then takes a job as a land surveyor and meets a Greek man who works towards the collective benefits of the peasants. The man is killed in a peasant uprising prompted by a bureaucratic boondoggle. The surveyor looks after the man's widow as his emerging political and social awareness leads him take a stand against government injustice. Another incident, in which gypsies are rounded up by state hygiene workers, further galvanizes the man's beliefs. He photographs the incident, and his work allows him to be accepted into the school from which he was previously denied admission.

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A 40-year-old sculptor returns home to witness the baptism of his young nephew. His return prompts a series of flashbacks to his youth and the political upheaval experienced by his family and friends.

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In 1956, a crusading newspaper reporter covers the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Initially critical of the communists, the feature later espouses the virtues of social changes implemented since the invasion.

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Mihály Zágon has been struggling with his conservative mother-in-law for a long time. Now, that his wife is pregnant, the old woman wants Piroska to stay in bed. Mihály is elected to be the president of the co-operative, but nobody is happy about this back home. His wife often pretends to be ill to keep him by her side.

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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.

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The film consists of 3 novellas. 1. On the eve of the Soviet advance into Hungary, workers at a military plant risk everything to strike in defiance, displaying unwavering courage and solidarity. 2. During a fierce battle, three Soviet soldiers shelter in a peasant’s hut where a dying mother begs them to baptize her newborn - an act of compassion they fulfill, leaving behind three stars from their caps as a lasting gift. 3. After liberating a Hungarian town, Soviet troops rescue a hidden throng of civilians, huddled in underground tunnels, from imminent Nazi brutality, saving countless lives in the process.

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A sequel to "Yesterday". About the defeat of the Hungarian uprising of 1956. The action takes place in the barracks of the People's Army, in the War Ministry and in one of the largest factories in Budapest.

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A moving story of a bright and sensitive schoolboy growing up in an old, established boarding school in the city of Debrecen in eastern Hungary.

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About the life of young people in Hungary in the late 50s, their joys, hopes and dreams. When Joly entered the factory, she wanted to be as cheerful and carefree as the other girls, and she didn't tell anyone that she had a son. And now, when the wedding day with Ferenc is almost set, Yoli walks around sad and confused. She doesn't know how Feri will take the news of her son. She is afraid that Feri, who loves and trusts her very much, will never understand or forgive her. But Feri turns out to be a real man, and Yoli together with little Ali finds her true happiness.

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1922. Sándor serves as a farm-hand, but would like to become a blacksmith. He is completely enchanted by the beautiful wife of his new master.

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If there has ever been pure and undestroyable love, this is it. That is how Imre and Vera feel. The talented chemist loses his best friend for the girl's sake, then gives up his profession, only to be able to stay in the capital with Vera. But the young actress at the beginning of her career is neglected. Imre accepts an uninteresting, but well-paying position. They seem to be happy together.

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The spring of 1919. Karikás Frigyes reorganises brigade 39 at the Tisza. His most devoted soldiers are Korbély János and his followers, who remain faithful to the political commissioner under all circumstances.

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Three people – a returned prisoner of war, his beautiful second wife, and the possessive, hunchbacked spinster who is his sister-in-law by his first marriage – are isolated in a little house under an extinct volcano, where each strives for personal happiness but is suffocated by their dependence on the others.

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Istvan Szőts’s short, Christmas-themed film starring József Bihari and Andor Ajtay, based on Mór Jókai’s novel of the same title. The premier of the film was in the Venice Film Festival in 1957, where it received recognition.

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Nagy István, the formerly poor peasant boy returns to his native village as a teacher. His conviction is that the abyss between rich and poor can be diminished by good will. The rich Böröcz Horváth Klári returns his love, and also Böröcz Horváth is willing to help the poorest family, the Bakos. Bakos Jóska, who was sent to serve the tough Böröcz Horváth as a payment, dies of an infected wound and the people in the village hold the teacher liable as well. Nagy István realises, that the abyss cannot be ceased, what is more, it is impassable. He breaks up with his fiancée and stands by the side of the poor.

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The war is over, but the Bodog family is starving. Varg's neighbor takes Mihai Bodog with him to do restoration work. They are well paid for this work and Mihai can finally please his wife Erji and their young son. When the workers are later hired to build a bridge, Bodog, a specialist bridge builder, cannot resist the challenge and is hired. But this time the workers are delayed in paying their wages, so their family is once again in need. Erji is forced to look for work...

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In the story which takes place at the beginning of the century Károly Bauer pupil experiences a series of everyday failures during twenty four hours in the family, on the street and at school.

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The top management of the co-operative in the rural community at Lake Balaton goes on coaches everywhere to irritate Mrs. Peczöli, the snobbish wife of the only individual farmer. Peczöli would readily join the co-operative, should it not oppose his apple improving experiments.

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1952. The workers who have performed the reconstruction of the bridges are now needed at the construction works of the underground railway. During admission they are diluted with elements of doubtful fame and many of them are in a bad mood for the wages, too.

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March 15, 1848; the revolution breaks out in the town of Pest. Yet at café Pilvax, in among he revolutionary youth, there is the informer of the imperial court as well. Hearing the news of the attack led by Jellasics, the inhabitants of the villages pour into the national army, and Hajdú Gyurka also escapes from his landlord. Petőfi is there at the camp of the revolutionaries, raising them to enthusiasm with his poetry.

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Vörös Hajnal (Red Dawn), a co-operative is the venue of skylarking, while the storm destroys the wheat which is to be harvested soon. Árendás, a middle-peasant, voices severe accusations against members of the co-operative: out of negligence, they failed to keep the ditches clean. It is always the soft option they seem to favour, while the necessity of properly taking care of the farmlands is long-forgotten. Members of the co-operative and the village people are deeply divided.

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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!

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This propaganda film from the early years of socialist transformation in Hungary depicts kulak sabotage in production cooperatives. The prosperous peasant Ignatz Hato, one of the best farmers in the village, joins the Two Octobers cooperative, and soon all the small peasants follow him. The village rich, led by Lili Sohar, watching the great expansion of the cooperative, try to break up the cooperators with each other. Sohar's attempt bears fruit and Hato leaves the cooperative. Next, Lili Sohar tries to convince Ignatz Hato that she is planning to create a rival team of new rich people and urges him to join her. Ignatz refuses and does not give in to the blackmail. Lili's lover, a former gendarme, shoots party secretary Bozhine. At the wounded Božine's bedside, Ignác admits his mistake and asks to be accepted back into the cooperative. Sándor, the president of the cooperative, realizes that the collective should not prevent those who want to work honestly from joining.

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In 1948, when Hungarian industry counts on almost every liter of fuel, the production of Makert, an American oil company in Hungary, is declining by the day. The firm's American owners claim that the oil field is depleted. However, the new government controller, Nerges, discovers that this is sophisticated sabotage by which representatives of American industrial circles want to disrupt socialist construction in the country. With the help of Hungarian state security officers, Nergesz uncovers and neutralizes the saboteurs at the mine and hastens the Hungarian people's decision to nationalize Makert.

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Count János Buttler rushes home to his parents and his beloved for the school holidays. On the way, they stop at Baron Dőry's house, where János is deviously trapped. In the presence of false witnesses, he is forcibly married to Baron Dőry's pregnant daughter. The swearing priest is the father of the unborn child. Although Buttler, his family and friends do their utmost to have the marriage annulled, the Church and the court, fearing for his authority, will not allow it. John Buttler and his lover therefore choose another way to divorce.

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"Silver lute", the choral society of the Vác Engine Works, led by Réz, the conductor, is preparing for its 25th anniversary. All the important members of the society, among them Seregély, a magician, are, at the same time, all "fathers" of Zsóka, daughter of a former colleague, who has been killed in an accident, and whom they then adopted.

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A young peasant boy stands up to tyranny, aided by his trusting friend- a goose.

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A Hungarian soldier returning from fighting in the Second World War marries the woman he believes to be the widow of a former comrade who he thinks died in the POW camp in which they were held.

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After the war, Gábor Erőss, released from its captivity, returns home. Abandoned by his love, he finds his house ruined. Nikita, his neighbour, and the roaming Levite come to his assistance by offering him both their friendship and a draught animal.

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A female spy goes to Budapest to steal the plans of an anti-aircraft gun.

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A simple, religious Hungarian woodcutter lives with his wife and boy child with a small community of squatters among the peaceful mountains of Transylvania until a lumber company claims their land and forces them all to become company workers or else leave the land. This 1942 Hungarian film takes a detailed and unflinching look at the hardships of mountain living, and the realistic approach proved influential to the Neorealist movement in Italian cinema. Hungarian master director Istvan Szots won the Biennale Cup at the Venice Film Festival for his auspicious debut, but the film was banned by the Nazis as "too Catholic" and not publicly exhibited until after World War II.

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In the 1600s, Hungary is plundered by the Turks and the Laban. Kecskemét, the free royal city, is not exempt from this. Miska, the wily son of Lestyák, a master tailor, suggests to the town council that they should ask for a permanent beacon from Buda, thus protecting Kecskemét from the harassment of raiding troops. The town assembles its gift of jewellery, cloth and a beautiful girl, and Miska sets off for Buda. On the way, the young gypsy girl falls in love with Mishka, who elopes with her in a boy's dress. He can do this because instead of the bewitchment he hopes for, he is given only a fancy robe to protect the city. Little do they know at the time how much the robe is worth. Before its wearer, all true believers will crumble to dust and do his bidding.

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