Budapest Classic Film Marathon: Two Girls on the Street

Director: Endre Tóth

Screenplay by Endre Tóth
Director of photography: Károly Vass
Music by Szabolcs Fényes
Cast: Mária Tasnády Fekete, Bella Bordy, Andor Ajtay

Tóth Endre | André de Toth

Introduction: Márton Kurutz, Manager of the collections and research department, National Film Institute - Film Archive

The remastered version of Two Girls on the Street was shown at Cannes. One of its most important – and one might say greatest – virtues, besides its bold choice of subject, is that the Budapest before World War II, particularly its Újlipótváros district and Pozsonyi út, is virtually revived in the images of the film. One of the two girls comes from higher society (played by Géza Radványi’s wife Mária Tasnády) and has been disowned by her family, while the other is a naive peasant from the same village. The breath of the city is felt throughout the chronicle of the two girls. Yet one of the most beautiful scenes is when they learn that they were born and raised in the same village. This film is most of all important for its view of life, its presentation of female fates and of offences suffered by women, well ahead of its time.

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