Miklos Gabor Movies

This 1956 film was banned in Hungary shortly after it was completed and just before the Soviet tanks rolled in to quell the Hungarian uprising. And small wonder -- its "hero" is a Party faithful whose corruption and lack of morality is disgusting, and its "antihero" is someone honest and good, imprisoned for his anti-Party stance. Sztanko (Ferenc Bessenyej) is in charge of a housing project that is due to bring him a huge promotion if it is completed on budget and brought in on schedule. Sztanko hears that his old friend Palocz (Miklos Gabor) has been released from prison and needs some financial help. So he looks Palocz up and asks him to give some of his expert advice on the building project. Their friendship blossoms again until Palocz tells Sztanko that due to his cutting corners in the budget, the building is not safe for habitation. Irate at this input, Sztanko chooses to ignore this admonition. And sure enough, disaster happens, but the crafty and unscrupulous Sztanko has a way of exonerating himself and getting back at Palocz at the same time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A man is in danger of losing his job when he talks a foreign company out of placing a useless order. The young engineer is targeted for dismissal by his boss, but the boss pawns the assignment to fire the man on his underling, a childhood friend of the man being fired. While the big boss vacations, vacillates and procrastinates, he puts pressure on his subordinate to fire the engineer. The man with the axe attempts to help his old friend before the axe falls and eliminates his friend's job with the engineering firm. Loyalties are divided, as the engineer faces both economic and political disasters that would follow with his firing. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In this Hungarian melodrama, Semjen recently freed from a Nazi concentration camp destroyed by Russian tanks marries her idealistic sweetheart Sinkovits. Initially, they are very happy. But then her husband is locked up by the Stalinists. The pragmatic Semjen then reunites with Sztankai, her childhood love. He is now a proletarian poet. Many years pass; Sinkovits is finally freed. Unfortunately, he and his wife have drifted apart. The year is 1956 as Russian tanks rumble through Hungary. Semjen begins to remember the times she shared with Sinkovits after she was freed. She returns to him and they begin building a worker's paradise in their homeland. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Hungarian Age of Illusions was the first feature-film effort by writer/director Istvan Szabo. Andras Balint plays an electrical engineer who hops from bed to bed, never making any lasting commitment with any one woman. All this changes when he falls in love with a local celebrity whom he sees on television (Ilona Beres). Trouble is, he's never met her; like her other fans, he can assess her only by what he witnesses on the small screen. When he finally does touch base with the girl, he's in for a few surprises-some pleasant, many others not so. Completed in 1965, Age of Illusions was not given widespread distribution until 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This routine World War II drama with a slight propagandistic overlay is set in a Hungarian town that was called Alba Regia during the period of the Roman Empire. A surgeon (Miklos Gabor) operates on anyone who is wounded, whether they be Hungarian, Russian, Nazis or not. The Russian army invades the town trying to defeat the Nazi army there, but they have to withdraw. One Russian woman stays behind after the army leaves -- she is a spy who sets up a hidden radio to keep the Russians informed of Nazi activities. She and the doctor are attracted to each other, but their love affair could not take place under more duress. In the end, the doctor is forced to give up his neutral stance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Set in Hungary just before and during World War II, this standard drama seems geared to primarily Magyar audiences and also has a limited scope -the life of its main protagonist, a conservative, entrenched militarist. The Major (Miklos Gabor) who is the focus of attention starts his career under the dictatorship and continues in his profession regardless of any corruption or other immoral conduct on the part of the powers that be. The perspective on his story both before and during the war years ends up being a pro-Russian viewpoint that may not have been shared by all Hungarian viewers at the time this film was released, though the criticism of a blind militarism can be readily accepted by most people. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Valahol Europaban (aka Somewhere in Europe and It Happened in Europe) was the second directorial effort from Hungarian filmmaker Geza Radvanyi--and, in the eyes of many film historians, his best work. Drawing his inspiration from the wreckage left behind by WW II, Radvanyi weaves a fascinating yarn about a group of orphaned and/or stranded European children. Left without homes or families, the kids form a gang, robbing others for food and clothing. The gang takes refuge in a bombed-out castle, intending to live there permanently. When it turns out that the castle is occupied by an elderly, shell-shocked musician (Arthur Somley), the kids' first impulse is to rob him too, but the gang's leader (Miklos Gabor) prevents this. Out of the gratitude, the musician "adopts" the children, protecting them from the prying eyes of the local authorities. Filmed entirely on location, Valohol Europaban has a raw vitality and refreshing spontaneity that many of Radvanyi's later films sorely lack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi