The Undesirable

On the outbreak of World War I, Mihali Kertesz briefly served in the artillery of the Austro-Hungarian Army, but he had returned to film-making by 1915.(wikipedia)

When the film industry was nationalized ,he left for Austria before beginning a brilliant career in America from 1926 on as Michael Curtiz.

Among a huge filmography,there are melodramas : "alias the doctor" or "cabin in the cotton" are good examples ,particularly the former.

"A Tolong " belongs to the tip of the iceberg of the director's Hungarian career ;it features all the recurrent features of the melodrama : a girl who learns her dad is not her dad and is forced to work as a servant of a bourgeois family;they have a handsome son ,and it's "love at first sight";but alas,jewels are stolen and she is accused of theft and her masters send her packing;in parallel,the poor maid's mother's story is told:she served a fifteen-year sentence and she is just released when her daughter is forced to earn her crust.

There's a curious aphorism in the lines : " a poor who is honest is never unhappy";but as the last pictures show,including a wedding in full regalia,in every cloud,there's a silver lining.

A future great director's prehistory.Might interest his fans.