''Two Halves in Hell'' ( Hungarian: ''Két félidő a pokolban'') is a 1961 Hungarian

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

directed and co-written by

Zoltán Fábri Zoltán Fábri (15 October 1917 – 23 August 1994) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His films '' The Boys of Paul Street'' (1969) and ''Hungarians'' (1978) were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. ...

. The film is based on a 1942

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

match between German soldiers and their

Soviet Ukrainian The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

prisoners of war during

World War II 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 ...

, known as

the Death Match The Death Match ( uk, Матч смерті, russian: Матч смерти) is a name given in postwar Soviet historiography to the football match played in Kyiv in ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' (abbreviated RKU) under occupation by Nazi German ...

, although in the film the prisoners of war are Hungarian labour servicemen. The film won a critics' award at Boston Cinema Festival 1962. ''Two Halves in Hell'' was remade as the 1981 American-British film ''

Escape to Victory ''Escape to Victory'' (stylized as ''Victory'') is a 1981 American-British-Italian sports war film directed by John Huston and starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and Pelé. The film is about Allied prisoners of war wh ...

'', this time with the prisoners of war representing a diverse group of countries. In addition, the 1974 film '' The Longest Yard'', about an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

game between prisoners and their wardens, has been compared to ''Two Halves in Hell''; ''The Longest Yard'' has been remade three times.

Plot

It is the spring of 1944.

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

officers want to organize a

match for

Hitler's Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

birthday, in which Germans would play against Hungarian labour servicemen of war. They call for the famous Hungarian footballer, Ónódi, and order him to organize a team. Ónódi accepts, but in turn demands extra food, a ball with which he and his team can train before the match, and asks that they be allowed to concentrate on training before the match and not work. The Germans accept all the demands, but recommend Ónódi not include any

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in his team. However, Ónódi can't organize the team only from his

labour battalion Labour battalions have been a form of alternative service or unfree labour in various countries in lieu of or resembling regular military service. In some cases they were the result of some kind of discriminative segregation of the population, wh ...

, because only 8 out of 98 servicemen can play football. Therefore, Ónódi recruits players from the other battalion. One of the players is Steiner, who is a Jew and can't play football. He lied to Ónódi because he was afraid to die. During training the footballers subdue the Hungarian

gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

guarding them and try to escape. They are soon recaptured and told they will now probably face the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. However, the Hungarian officer orders the Hungarian team to still play the match. At the beginning of the match Ónódi and his team are discouraged, as the Germans easily score three goals. The Hungarians succeed in scoring one goal and the first half ends 3-1 in favour of Germany. At the interval the Hungarian commander tells the Hungarian players that they might not be executed if they lose the match. The Hungarians refuse to believe this. At the beginning of the second half they score three goals. As a result, during the match, they are executed by the Germans.

Cast

Imre Sinkovits Imre Sinkovits (21 September 1928 in Budapest – 18 January 2001 in Budapest) was a Hungarian actor. Career After a year in Downtown Theatre and another in Youth Theatre, in 1949 he got a job in National Theatre, where he stayed until ...

as Ónódi *

Dezső Garas Dezső Garas (9 December 1934 – 30 December 2011) was a Hungarian actor, who appeared in more than 145 films and television shows since 1956. He starred in the 1993 film '' Whoops'', which was entered into the 43rd Berlin International F ...

as Steiner *

József Szendrõ József () is a Hungarian masculine given name. It is the Hungarian name equivalent to Joseph. Notable people bearing this name include: * József Braun (also known as József Barna; 1901–1943), Hungarian Olympic footballer * József Cserm ...

as Sergeant Rápity *

István Velenczei István () is a Hungarian language equivalent of the name Stephen or Stefan. It may refer to: People with the given name Nobles, palatines and judges royal * Stephen I of Hungary (c. 975–1038), last grand prince of the Hungarians and first ki ...

as Ferenczi *

Gyula Benkő Gyula Benkő (1918–1997) was a Hungarian actor and father of actor Péter Benkő. Selected filmography * ''Hungary's Revival'' (1939) * '' Magdolna'' (1942) * '' Dr. Kovács István'' (1942) * ''I Am Guilty'' (1942) * '' Szerelmes szívek'' ...

as Sztepan *

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 ...

as Eberhardt *

Tibor Molnár Tibor Molnár (26 July 1921 – 24 November 1982) was a Hungarian film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1948 and 1982. Selected filmography * ''Tüz'' (1948) * ''Treasured Earth'' (1948) - Tarcali Jani * ''Szabóné'' (19 ...

as Rácz *

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 Sergeant Holup * Siegfried Brachfeld as Captain Heilig * Antal Farkas as Corporal Csorba *

János Rajz János Rajz (born János Reisz February 13, 1907 – July 20, 1981) was a Hungarian stage, film and television actor. Early life Rajz was born in Budapest in 1907 and attended Hódmezővásárhely Grammar School, and had aspirations of becom ...

as Lipták *

László Márkus László Márkus (10 June 1927 – 30 December 1985) was a Hungarian actor. He appeared in over 90 films and television shows between 1952 and 1985. He starred in the 1985 film '' Első kétszáz évem'', which was entered into the 36th Be ...

as Pogány *

János Koltai 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 Géza *

Zoltán Gera Zoltán Gera (; born 22 April 1979) is a Hungarian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He played for Fulham, Pécsi Mecsek and Harkány SE, as well as enjoying two spells at Ferencváros and West Bromwich Alb ...

as Tankó

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0056160 1962 films 1962 drama films 1960s war drama films 1960s sports drama films Hungarian drama films 1960s Hungarian-language films Hungarian black-and-white films World War II prisoner of war films Association football films Films directed by Zoltán Fábri Films set in 1944

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links