User Reviews

Hungarian Request Concert - it's just what you'll get. The most popular Hungarian entertainers sing, dance, and recite (often political) poems. There is no plot other than that of wounded soldiers attending a variety performance at the Opera House. Very similar to the German (propaganda) film Wunschkonzert (Request Concert), it's main point is to boost morale during the darkest days of the war and to showcase some of the theatrical talent, probably bearing the rustic audience in mind. It's otherwise mostly academic (a Strauss waltz, some semi-operatic songs), yet towards the end there's a very nifty tap-dancing showstopper to a fascinating boogie tune - very very modern for 1944. Strangely enough there's one specialty by the international superstar Rosita Serrano - she sings Tipi Tipi Tin in Spanish, slightly vulgar and provocative as was her way. This number seems to have nothing to do with the film; it's probably some kind of leftover from a different production or filmed while Miss Serrano (a huge star in the Nazi Germany) was performing in Budapest. Beautiful Zita Szelecki, who had to flee Hungary, because of her Hungarista involvement, at the end of the war, gives a poetry rendition. Opera ballet performs a rousing national finale. You would need a reason to watch this film; otherwise you might be very disappointed.