''Two Halves in Hell'' ( Hungarian: ''Két félidő a pokolban'') is a 1961 Hungarian

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed and co-written by

Zoltán Fábri Zoltán Fábri (15 October 1917 – 23 August 1994) was a Hungarian people, Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His films ''The Boys of Paul Street'' (1969) and ''Hungarians (film), Hungarians'' (1978) were nominated for the Academy Awa ...

. The film is based on a 1942

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

match between German soldiers and their Soviet Ukrainian prisoners of war during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, known as the Death Match, although in the film the prisoners of war are Hungarian labour servicemen. The film won a critics' award at Boston Cinema Festival 1962. ''Two Halves in Hell'' was remade as the 1981 American-British film ''

Escape to Victory ''Escape to Victory'' (or simply ''Victory'') is a 1981 sports war film directed by John Huston and starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and Pelé. The film is about Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a German ...

'', this time with the prisoners of war representing a diverse group of countries. In addition, the 1974 film '' The Longest Yard'', about an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

game between prisoners and their wardens, has been compared to ''Two Halves in Hell''; ''The Longest Yard'' has been remade three times.

Plot

It is the spring of 1944.

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

officers want to organize a

match for Hitler's birthday, in which Germans would play against Hungarian labour servicemen of war. They call for the famous Hungarian footballer, Ónódi, and order him to organize a team. Ónódi accepts, but in turn demands extra food, a ball with which he and his team can train before the match, and asks that they be allowed to concentrate on training before the match and not work. The Germans accept all the demands, but recommend Ónódi not include any

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

in his team. However, Ónódi can't organize the team only from his labour battalion, because only 8 out of 98 servicemen can play football. Therefore, Ónódi recruits players from the other battalion. One of the players is Steiner, who is a Jew and can't play football. He lied to Ónódi because he was afraid to die. During training the footballers subdue the Hungarian

gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

guarding them and try to escape. They are soon recaptured and told they will now probably face the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. However, the Hungarian officer orders the Hungarian team to still play the match. At the beginning of the match Ónódi and his team are discouraged, as the Germans easily score three goals. The Hungarians succeed in scoring one goal and the first half ends 3-1 in favour of Germany. At the interval the Hungarian commander tells the Hungarian players that they might not be executed if they lose the match. The Hungarians refuse to believe this. At the beginning of the second half they score three goals. As a result, during the match, they are executed by the Germans.

Cast

* Imre Sinkovits as Ónódi * Dezső Garas as Steiner * József Szendrõ as Sergeant Rápity * István Velenczei as Ferenczi * Gyula Benkő as Sztepan *

János Görbe János Görbe born as Görbe János (November 12, 1912, Jászárokszállás - September 5, 1968, Budapest) was a prominent Hungarian actor of film and theater. He was the father of actress Nóra Görbe, star of the popular 80's TV series, "Lin ...

as Eberhardt * Tibor Molnár as Rácz * János Makláry as Sergeant Holup * Siegfried Brachfeld as Captain Heilig * Antal Farkas as Corporal Csorba * János Rajz as Lipták * László Márkus as Pogány * János Koltai as Géza *

Zoltán Gera Zoltán Gera (born 22 April 1979) is a Hungarian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder for Fulham F.C., Fulham, Pécsi Mecsek FC, Pécsi Mecsek and Harkány SE, as well as enjoying two spells at Ferencv ...

as Tankó

References

External links

* {{Zoltán Fábri 1962 films 1962 drama films 1960s war drama films 1960s sports drama films Hungarian sports drama films 1960s Hungarian-language films Hungarian black-and-white films World War II prisoner of war films Hungarian association football films Films directed by Zoltán Fábri Films set in 1944 Films shot at Hunnia Studios Films scored by Ferenc Farkas

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links