Oscar-winning director Kevin MacDonald, and multiple Emmy-winning producer Gábor Csupó are taking part in the creation of the movie.Continue reading
Michael Curtiz (Mihály Kertész) was born on December 25, 1886 in Budapest under the name Manó Kaminer. He wanted to be an actor, so in 1903, at the age of 17, he ran away from home with a circus. He graduated in Budapest in 1906, and worked in Pécs and Szeged (both cities in southern Hungary). As an actor, he was almost the first to start making silent films. In Denmark in 1912, he directed his first film, The Last Bohemian.
His 1915 silent film The Exile, based on the folk play by Ede Tóth, was shown in Denmark and hailed by critics as the first outstanding Hungarian film, a priceless work of film and theater history, reports Magyar Nemzet.
The original work was long thought lost after the Second World War, however, in 2006, the only surviving copy was found in New York. After its restoration, it was shown in Hungary in 2014, at the Palace of Arts (now Müpa). The Exile is the only film in which we can admire the performance of the famous Hungarian actress Mari Jászai.
Curtiz worked in film factories in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár, Romania) and Berlin before emigrating to the United States in 1926.
Photo via Wikipedia
In Hollywood, he made such successful movies as Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), Captain Blood (1935), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and Mildred Pierce (1945).
His most famous directorial work, however, was Casablanca in 1942, one of the world’s most popular romantic films, for which Michael Curtiz won the Academy Award for Best Director.
The film starred Humphrey Bogart, who was also born on Christmas Day (December 25, 1899) and is still remembered as the most famous Hollywood male star of all time.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured image via Wikipedia