''People of the Mountains'' (Hungarian: ''Emberek a havason'') is a 1942 Hungarian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

István Szőts István Szőts (June 30, 1912 – November 6, 1998) was a Hungarian screenwriter and film director. He was born in Szentgyörgyválya (now Valea Sângeorgiului, Călan, Romania), and later moved with his father to Hungary. Szőts studied fine ...

and starring Alice Szellay,

János Görbe János Görbe born as Görbe János (November 12, 1912, Jászárokszállás - September 5, 1968, Budapest) was a prominent Hungarian actor of film and theater. He was the father of actress Nóra Görbe, star of the popular 80's TV series, "Lind ...

, Péterke Ferency. The film is set in the

Székely Székely may refer to: *Székelys, Hungarian people from the historical region of Transylvania, Romania **Székely Land, historic and ethnographic area in Transylvania, Romania * Székely (village), a village in northeastern Hungary *Székely (sur ...

woodcutting community of

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

. The film's plot was based on a series of short stories by

József Nyírő József Nyírő (July 18, 1889 – October 16, 1953) was a Hungarian writer of popular short stories and novels; a politician associated with fascism who was accused of war crimes; and briefly a Catholic priest in Miluani. Biography Nyírő was ...

. The film was exhibited at the 1942

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

, where it was widely praised. The film's style has been suggested as an influence on the emerging Italian neorealism. It was not granted an exhibition certificate in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

because

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...

considered it "too Catholic". The film was chosen to be part of the New Budapest Twelve, a list of Hungarian films considered the best in 2000.

Production

The film was shot on location in

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...

, which had been ceded back to the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

by the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

according to the Second Vienna Award in 1940, before Hungary and Romania entered the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Interior scenes were filmed at the

Hunnia Film Studio Hunnia Film Studio was the largest and most significant sound film studio in Hungary until its nationalization in 1948. Its predecessor, Corvin Film Studio, founded by Alexander Korda in 1917, was the most important Hungarian silent film compan ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. The film was originally conceived as a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, but studios bosses agreed to make it a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

as long as costs could be kept low. Szőts had a relatively small film crew, and cast largely unknown actors in the leading roles.

Cast

* Alice Szellay as Anna az asszony *

as Erdei Csutak Gergely * Péterke Ferency as Gergő, their son * József Bihari as Üdő Márton * Lajos Gárday as Ülkei Ádám * ? as István, the manager * ? as The Judge * Oszkár Borovszky as Intéző / Steward * Lenke Egyed as Szobaasszony / Landlady *

Imre Toronyi Imre Toronyi (1888–1952) was a Hungarian stage and film actor. A character actor, he appeared in a number of supporting roles in Hungarian cinema of the 1930s and 1940s. He featured in the 1942 neorealist film ''People of the Mountains''.Hames ...

as Orvos / Village Doctor *

György Kürthy György Kürthy (24 February 1882 – 27 December 1972) was a Hungarian actor, scenographer, writer and director of the theatre. Biography He maturated in Budapest, then moved to Munich where he learnt architecture. His first theatrical perform ...

as Orvostanár / Medical Professor Gyorgy Benda * János Pásztor as Favágó / Woodcutter *

Elemér Baló Elemér is a masculine given name, the Hungarian form of the Slavic Velimir, and may refer to: *Elemér Berkessy (1905–1993), Hungarian footballer and coach *Elemér Bokor (1887–1928), Hungarian entomologist * Elemér Csák (born 1944), Hung ...

as Favágó / Woodcutter *

Jenő Danis Jenő () is a Hungarian male given name, equivalent to Eugene. In Austria and Germany the name is often simplified to Jenö (which in Hungarian is a shorter vowel) and pronounced as German umlaut ö. Jenő is also the legendary founder of one of H ...

as Favágó / Woodcutter * Sándor Hidassy as Utas / Passenger *

János Makláry János or Janos may refer to: * János, male Hungarian given name, a variant of John Places * Janos Municipality, a municipality of Chihuahua ** Janos, Chihuahua, town in Mexico ** Janos Biosphere Reserve, a nature reserve in Chihuahua * Janos ...

as Kalauz / ConductorMaNDA's file :

References

Bibliography

* Cunningham, John. ''Hungarian Cinema: From Coffee House to Multiplex''. Wallflower Press, 2004.

External links

* 1942 films 1942 drama films Hungarian drama films 1940s Hungarian-language films Films directed by István Szőts Films set in Transylvania Hungarian black-and-white films {{Hungary-film-stub