''A Woman Gets a Start'' (Hungarian: ''Egy asszony elindul'') is a 1949 Hungarian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Imre Jeney and starring Klári Tolnay,

Ferenc Ladányi Ferenc Ladányi (1909–1965) was a Hungarian stage, television and film actor. He was a winner of the Kossuth Prize.''Kossuth-, Állami és Széchenyi-díjasok 1948-2008. Magyar Közlöny Lap- és Könyvkiadó''. 2008. p.67 Selected filmography ...

and Lajos Básti. It was shot at the Hunnia Studios in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

József Pán József Pán (1901–1956) was a Hungarian art director. Laura p.76 While he also briefly worked in Austria and Germany, most of his career was spent working in the Hungarian film industry designing film sets. He was active during the Horthy era ...

. The director's script underwent a number of changes during shooting due to intervention by the authorities, who insisted on an

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

element to the plot.Liehm & Liehm p.152

Synopsis

A woman from a

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

background goes to work in a

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

in the new Communist Hungary and proves very successful at her job. However, her husband plans to steal the secret of a new

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melting, melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Co ...

machine and sell it in the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

Cast

* Klári Tolnay as Bangháné, Ilonka *

as Bangha Kálmán, mérnök *

Zsuzsa Bánki Zsuzsa Bánki (1921–1998) was a Hungarian film, stage and television actress.Fekete p.31 Making her screen debut in 1945, she appeared in films throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Her final appearance was a recurring role on the televisions series ' ...

as Marika * Lajos Básti as Pándi Tibor * Teri Horváth as Kati *

Gábor Mádi Szabó Gábor Mádi Szabó (1922–2003) was a Hungarian actor. Selected filmography * '' Mrs. Szabó'' (1949) * '' A Woman Gets a Start'' (1949) * '' Battle in Peace'' (1952) * '' The Sea Has Risen'' (1953) * '' Rakoczy's Lieutenant'' (1954) * '' Wa ...

as Kovács, személyzetis * Sándor Pécsi as Szekeres * Miklós Szakáts as Miklós *

Karola Zala Karola Zala (1 October 1879 – 13 January 1970) was a Hungarian actress. She was born in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary (now, Oradea, Romania) and died in Budapest. Selected filmography * '' Spring Shower'' (1932) * '' Kiss Me, Darling'' (1932) * ...

as Utcai árus, volt nagyságos asszony * Róbert Dariday * Iván Darvas *

Hilda Gobbi Hilda Emília Gizella Gobbi (6 June 1913 – 13 July 1988) was an award-winning Hungarian actress, known for her portrayals of elderly women. One of her most beloved performances was as Aunt Szabo in the radio soap opera ''The Szabo Family''. A ...

Ferenc Horváth Ferenc Horváth (born 6 May 1973) is a Hungarian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is now a manager, most recently coaching at Budapest Honvéd FC. He made his debut for the Hungary national team in 1996, and got 32 ...

* László Kemény *

Sándor Kömíves Sándor Kömíves (1897–1980) was a Hungarian stage actor, stage, television actor, television and film actor. Selected filmography * ''Gül Baba (1940 film), Gül Baba'' (1940) * ''Sarajevo (1940 Hungarian film), Sarajevo'' (1940) * ''Silent ...

Margit Makay Margit Makay (4 August 1891 – 6 November 1989) was a Hungarian film actress. She appeared in 30 films between 1912 and 1989. Selected filmography * '' Man of Gold'' (1919) * '' The Five-Forty'' (1939) * '' The Bercsenyi Hussars'' (1940) ...

* Marcsa Simon * Jóska Szilágyi * Pista Szilágyi * Tivadar Uray

References

Bibliography

* Liehm, Mira & Liehm, Antonín J. ''The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film After 1945''. University of California Press, 1980. * Ostrowska, Dorota, Pitassio, Francesco & Varga, Zsuzsanna. ''Popular Cinemas in East Central Europe: Film Cultures and Histories''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.

External links

* 1949 films 1940s Hungarian-language films 1949 drama films Hungarian drama films Hungarian black-and-white films Films directed by Imre Jeney Films shot at Hunnia Studios Films scored by Ferenc Farkas {{1940s-Hungary-film-stub