Mici Erdelyi Movies

A Miniszter Baratja (The Minister's Friend) stars Hungarian box-office favorite Antal Pager as a young chemist named John. Unable to get a job because he's "overly qualified," John keeps his credentials a secret when applying for a clerical job at a drugstore. Frustrated at his lack of progress, John is about to quit his job when fate takes a hand in matters. Borrowing a dress suit from a friend, our hero discovers a ticket for a diplomatic ball in the pocket. Deciding to attend, he happens to have his photograph taken while standing next to the Minister of Commerce. Now that it's assumed that he's "the minister's friend," John has all sorts of professional doors opened up to him. And of course, he finds romance in the form of Mancy (Julia Komar), who like John was attending the social function while wearing someone else's clothes! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Papaucshos is Hungarian slang for Henpecked Husband, a perfect description for the film's protagonist. Having been prevented from committing suicide when Nelly (Mizzi Erdelyi) accepted his marriage proposal, Kovacs (Julius Kabos) has cause to regret his decision during the next two decades. Nagged relentlessly by Nelly and treated with contempt by his children, Kovacs finds an occasional respite from his misery by playing cards with his janitor buddy Kubala (Tivadar Billicay). Hoping to hide this minor diversion from his wife, Kovacs passed Kubala off as an aristocratic millionaire. The fun really begins when Nelly serves a fancy dinner in Kubala's honor. The film is wrapped up with a cute closing gag straight out of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The title of this Hungarian comedy translates as I've Made a Love Match. Lily (Mitzi Erdelyi) and Peter (Imre Raday) are married outside of their own country, and thus are required to return home to validate the union. Alas, the marriage is almost over before it begins due to the well-meaning interference of Peter's business partner Barna (Julius Kobos), who in trying to secure a huge dowry for his friend succeeds only in driving a wedge between Peter and Lily's father (Julius Csortos). Only the birth of the couple's baby brings them back together for a happy ending. Less than one month after its Hungarian premiere, Szerelembol Nosultem opened in New York under the title I Married For Love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rad Bizom a Felesegem (Look After My Wife) stars Mitzi Erdelyi as the nasty wife of a doctor (Sandor Pethes). About to attend a medical convention, the doctor asks his friend (Antal Pager), who owes him a favor, to look after his shrewish wife. The friend agrees, never dreaming that his life is going to be hilarious hell from this day forward. After having his head pummeled in by a prizefighter and getting mixed up in a nightclub brawl, the poor man is only too glad to turn the troublesome woman back over to her husband. It is a puzzlement indeed that the harridan played by Mitzi Erdelyi emerges as the most appealing in the film! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

En Voltam (I Did It) was based on Confession, a play by Rose Meller. Elma Bulla repeats her stage role as a young woman who takes the blame for a theft which she believes was committed by her lover. The ungrateful jerk assumes that she did commit the crime, and further supposes that she did it on behalf of his romantic rival. Throughout the rest of the film, Bulla tries to revoke her confession, only to find that no one will believe her. Only when the genuine culprit is revealed is Bulla cleared and reunited with her sweetheart -- though if ever there was a man unworthy of her devotion, it is surely this one! Devotees of newcomer Elma Bulla were thoroughly satisfied with this screen version of her theatrical triumph. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ak Okos Mama (Wise Mamma) was adapted from a Hungarian stage play by Bela Szenes. Emmy Kosary plays the title character, a former actress who has retired to raise a family. She "returns" to acting to solve the matrimonial travails of her two daughters, adopting a series of guises and disguises to set things right. As a bonus, she manages to land a husband for her youngest, unmarried daughter. Critics in 1934 felt that Emmy Kosary wasn't quite as effective as the stage version's Sari Fedak. This sounds a bit like a "claque" at work, though it's hard to tell from the vantage point of six decades. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Edes Mostoha (Sweet Stepmother) was the brainchild of Arthur Lanker, one of Hungary's foremost children's-theater entrepreneurs. Six-year-old Gizy Pesci sets the story in motion as the precocious daughter of widower Antal Pager. Having hoped to marry Pager herself, Pesci's nasty aunt Piroska Vaszary tries to set the little girl against her new stepmother-to-be Maria Tasnadi Fekete. Rather than create a scene, Tasnady Fekete withdraws from the picture and shortly afterward takes a job as a teacher at a girl's boarding school. There's a happy ending in the wings when Pesci turns out to be one of Tasnady Fekete's students! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hippolyt, the Lackey was the second production to emanate from the Budapest studios of young-and-hungry Hunnia Studios. Former expressman Mattias Schneider may have recently come into a fortune, but he remains the same simple, down-to-earth soul he always was. But Mrs. Schneider is a social-climbing type, and she insists that their daughter Terka seek out a wealthy husband, even though the girl is in love with Schneider's employee Benedeck. To teach her husband and daughter the proper social attitudes and graces, Mrs. S. hires a butler named Hippolyt (portrayed by celebrated National Theatre of Budapest leading man Gyula Csortos) who has spent his life in service to the rich and famous. Hippolyt advices Schneider to join the "right" clubs, and as an added fillip, to take a young mistress, like any proper Hungarian gentlemen. Schneider takes Hippolyt's advice and invites a saucy showgirl named Mimi to his home, thoroughly destroying Mrs. Schneider's dreams of entering the aristocracy but somehow paving the way to a happy ending for Terka and Benedeck. Hippolyt, the Lackey was also lensed in a German-language version. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi