Wed 7 Aug 2013
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: MARIA, A HUNGARIAN LEGEND (1932/1935).
Posted by Steve under Films: Drama/Romance , Reviews[4] Comments
MARIA, A HUNGARIAN LEGEND. Hunnia Filmstúdió (Hungary), 1932. First shown in the US: 1935. Also released as Spring Shower; original title: Tavaszi zápor. Annabella, Ilona Dajbukát, Erzsi Bársony, Steven Geray, Karola Zala, Margit Ladomerszky. Director: Pál Fejös. Shown at Cinefest 19, Syracuse NY, March 1999.
One of the most anticipated films [of this convention] was Paul Fejos’ Maria, a Hungarian Legend (1932), starring Anabella (later to have something of a Hollywood career and marry Tyrone Power) as a servant who is sent packing when she becomes visibly pregnant and begins wanderings that include a brief period of peace at a brothel where she scrubs floors until she gives birth to her daughter.
The film was presented without subtitles, but this is a sound film where the story is carried by the visuals. Only a brief scrolled prologue (in Italian) and the reading of an official document depriving her of her daughter (in Hungarian) provoked some momentary nervousness in the otherwise linguistically unchallenged audience.
A lovely film that in other hands could have been a mawkish disaster. The final sequence when Maria reaches down from heaven to prevent her daughter from making the same mistake she had made glows with a serene beauty that is extraordinarily moving.
August 7th, 2013 at 11:15 pm
Sold. I will try to find a copy of this. Thanks for reviewing it.
August 8th, 2013 at 6:40 pm
Thank you for this review. It’s a legendary film I’ve never had a chance to see.
Paul Fejos is a major film director. But until recently, his films were badly distributed and very hard to see anywhere.
Then Criterion released a box set of LONESOME (1928). As a bonus, it contains two other Fejos films, BROADWAY (very good) and THE LAST PERFORMANCE (good). All thee are very much worth seeing. Fejos had a rich, complex style.
This DVD set is seemingly available in every public library in Michigan. It seems that library journals recommended it. It is indeed a sold piece of film history.
This sort of silent / early sound filmmaking might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But by all means, borrow or rent a copy, and treat yourself to an unusual experience.
Suggestion: Someone should do a joint review of BROADWAY (a classic 1926 gangster play, available in most public libraries) and Fejos’ film version.
August 8th, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Re Broadway —
There is, of course, a second film version of Broadway directed by William Seiter and with a cast headed by George Raft, playing a character not unlike himself and named George Raft, with Broderick Crawford, Pat O’Brien, Janet Blair and Marjorie Rambeau. Well worth visiting. 1942 was the year.
August 13th, 2013 at 12:58 pm
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/the-forgotten-april-showers
…suggests that the protag manages to warn herself as a younger woman from her heavenly kitchen!