It is well worth devoting attention to this children’s adventure picture that enjoys a special place in Hungarian film history. Special in several respects: just six years after the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution, the film starts with two young kids escaping a home in October of 1956. It features, among others, Latabár and Garas, but in truth it is not these two that are worthy of notice but the pair of young runaways. It is rare to see such superb child actors as we have in this Egyptian story made in a Hungarian-Egyptian coproduction, which is given a totally authentic flavour because the co-director is Seif Eddine Shawkat, who is also the subject of the documentary Shawkat Mystery included in the programme.
National Film Institute Film Archive, restoration premiere
Supporting film:
Travel Diary from Egypt
Egyiptomi útijegyzetek, Hungarian documentary, bw, 1958, dir: Marianne Szemes, Language: Hungarian, Subtitles: English, 17’
Marianne Szemes’s short documentary covers the director’s experiences and impressions in Egypt. The film was made soon after the Suez Crisis and in addition to the country’s unique historical monuments it also presents the modern and metropolitan Egypt that was emerging at that time. Stunning pictures of Port Said, the Suez Canal, Cairo, Geza, Thebes and Aswan captured on colour film are complemented with narration by Éva Ruttkai.
