People of the Mountains

People of the Mountains (Hungarian: Emberek a havason) is a 1942 Hungarian drama film directed by István Szőts and starring Alice Szellay, János Görbe, Péterke Ferency. The film is set in the Székely woodcutting community of Transylvania. The film's plot was based on a series of short stories by József Nyírő. The film was exhibited at the 1942 Venice Film Festival, where it was widely praised. The film's style has been suggested as an influence on the emerging Italian neorealism. It was not granted an exhibition certificate in Nazi Germany because Joseph Goebbels considered it "too Catholic".

Contents

• Production
• Cast
• References

Production

The film was shot on location in Transylvania which had been occupied by Hungarian troops following the Second Vienna Award during the Second World War while interior scenes were filmed at the Hunnia Film Studio in Budapest. The film was originally conceived as a short film, but studios bosses agreed to make it a feature film as long as costs could be kept low. Szőts had a relatively small film crew, and cast largely unknown actors in the leading roles.

Cast

Alice Szellay as Anna az asszony

János Görbe as Erdei Csutak Gergely

Péterke Ferency as Kicsi Gergö

József Bihari as Üdö Márton

Lajos Gárday as Ülkei Ádám

Oszkár Borovszky as Intézö

Lenke Egyed as Szobaasszony

Imre Toronyi as Orvos

György Kürthy as Orvostanár

János Pásztor as Favágó

Elemér Baló as Favágó

Jenö Danis as Favágó

Sándor Hidassy as Utas

Zoltán Makláry as Kalauz