Ferenc Molnar
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Ferenc Molnár (originally Ferenc Neumann; b. Budapest, January 12 1878; d. New York City, April 1 1952) was one of the greatest Hungarian dramatists and novelists of the 20th century. His Americanized name is Franz Molnar. He emigrated to the United States to escape the Nazi persecution of Hungarian Jews during World War II.
As a novelist, Molnár is remembered principally for The Paul Street Boys which tells the story of two rival gangs of youths in Budapest. The novel is a classic of youth literature, beloved in Hungary and abroad for its treatment of the themes of solidarity and self-sacrifice. It was ranked second in a poll of favorite books as part of the Hungarian version of Big Read in 2005 and is, internationally, perhaps the most famous Hungarian novel. It has also been made into a film several times. The most notable production was a [Hungarian-U.S. collaboration released in 1969].
Molnár's most popular plays are Liliom (1909, tr. 1921), later adapted into the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play Carousel (1945); The Guardsman (1910, tr. 1924), which served as the basis of the film of the same name (1931); and "The Swan" (1920, tr. 1922). The 1956 film version of The Swan (which had been filmed twice before) is famous for being Grace Kelly's last film. She married Prince Rainier that same year.
Liliom, Molnar's most famous play, concerns Liliom, a tough, cocky carousel barker who falls in love with Julie, a young woman who works as a maid. When both lose their jobs and Julie discovers that she is pregnant, Liliom, unbeknownst to Julie, agrees to participate with his friend Ficsúr, a criminal, in a holdup to obtain money to provide for the child. The holdup is a disaster, but Ficsúr escapes, and Liliom kills himself to avoid capture. Sixteen years later, he is allowed to return to earth for one day to do a good deed for his now teenage daughter, whom he has never met.
The play was a failure in Hungary when it was staged there in 1909, but not when it was staged on Broadway in English (1921), starring Joseph Schildkraut and Eva Le Gallienne. They also starred in the first revival, in 1932. In 1940, a second revival, starring Burgess Meredith and Ingrid Bergman, played New York. In 1945, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote Carousel, an Americanized musical adaptation, which became one of the great classics of musical theatre.
Liliom has been filmed several times. The most notable non-musical film version was the 1934 French film, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Charles Boyer and Madeleine Ozeray. Carousel was made into a DeLuxe Color film by 20th-Century Fox in 1956, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. The film failed to attract wide public attention at the time, although its soundtrack album was a best-seller and remains so to this day, but the film has since taken its rightful place as one of the Rodgers and Hammerstein film classics.
External links
- (The Living Death)
- [Biography]
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