Hungarian filmmaker István Székely directed films for eight years in Europe, before emigrating to the United States in 1939, fleeing anti-Semitic persecution, on the eve of World War II. Székely was not an innovative stylist like Murnau, who had a brief brilliant career in Los Angeles; so, he had a similar fate to those of talented artists such as Czech decorator Edgar G. Ulmer, who made a career directing for smaller studios such as PRC, Republic and Monogram. Although Ulmer's case is on record and we know now that his downfall was caused by a love affair involving a Universal mogul, I have no idea what happened to Székely.
In spite of everything, like Ulmer, he never lacked work and, under the name Steve Sekely, he made everything, from the good drama «The Scar» to the popular horror comedy «Revenge of the Zombies». After returning to Europe and making a few movies in West Germany and Italy, in 1963 he directed the sci-fi cult film «The Day of the Triffids», which became his best-known film. The success of this film brought him, after 30 years in Hollywood, a contract from a major studio (M-G-M) for the first time to make «Kenner». But it was too late: soon after he returned to Hungary and directed his last film, under his own name.
Little is known about his first career in Hungary: I believe that the most distinguished title from this period is the second Hungarian sound film, «Hyppolit, the Butler» (1931), a very popular comedy, voted by the Hungarian critics among the 12 best films made in the country, in a 2000 survey. From that time, I recently saw «Café Moscow (Only for One Night)», which turned out to be an enjoyable surprise.
Despite the imperfections derived from the inadequate preservation of the film and the technical limitations of the 1936 cinema, «Café Moscow» is a romantic melodrama with I World War as background, that moves at a fast pace and that, in the end, leaves good impression and feelings. The plot is simple: when the Soviets have to flee from a town in Ukraine, taken over by the Hungarians, the meeting of a Russian general's wife and a young Hungarian officer in the Café Moscow, has repercussions on their future lives: after several months, the situation is reversed and it is the Hungarians who must leave the town, after destroying the ammunition dump of the Russians.
The film, obviously, has connotations of a political order that have changed since 1936, but in the classic narrative, the ally and the enemy are the ally and the enemy, period, and here the protagonists and antagonists are skillfully described, with precise and concise details, a necessary strategy considering the running time. Dramatically it has neither epic nor vast pretensions: the emotions, as in good melodrama, is what matters. The Hungarian theatre star Anna Tökes as the protagonist who, thanks to the vanity of the fickle stories that use any resource to advance and make the plot attractive, survives singing in the Café Moscow and interprets a very beautiful melody, "Just for One Night ", which refers to the film's subtitle and is the cornerstone of the story.
If you are in the archaeological mood for old films and want to enjoy a light and gentle romance, amid realistic but not bloody bombings and chases, watch «Cafe Moscow», a good 1936 movie.
