Géza von Radványi

Géza von Radványi
Radványi and his wife Maria von Tasnády
Born	(1907-09-26)26 September 1907 Kassa, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	27 November 1986(1986-11-27) (aged 79) Budapest, Hungary
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1947–1980

Géza von Radványi (26 September 1907 – 27 November 1986) was a Hungarian film director, cinematographer, producer and writer.

Biography

Born Géza Grosschmid, he took the name Radványi from his paternal grandmother. His brother was the writer Sándor Márai. Géza von Radványi made his debut in journalism before moving to cinema in 1941. He aimed to create a popular cinema in the 1950s and 1960s that would rival Hollywood studios, due to European coproductions.

He began at the end of the 1940s, with Somewhere in Europe and Women Without Names, neorealist dramas with no concession to the ravages of war and the postwar period. During the 1950s, Radványi changed his style: L'Étrange Désir de monsieur Bard, with Michel Simon and Geneviève Page (1953), and, above all, the success of his remake of Mädchen in Uniform with Lilli Palmer and the young rising star Romy Schneider (1958). He also made in the same decade Douze heures d'horloge, a thriller based on a script by Boileau and Narcejac, with Lino Ventura and Laurent Terzieff, as well as a slapstick comedy, An Angel on Wheels with Romy Schneider and Henri Vidal (1959).

During the 1960s, he became both more ambitious and more bankable, making 70 mm coproductions like Uncle Tom's Cabin with Mylène Demongeot and Herbert Lom (1965), and Der Kongreß amüsiert sich with Lilli Palmer, Curd Jürgens, Paul Meurisse and Françoise Arnoul (1966), both of which were rather unsuccessful.

The tomb of Géza von Radványi in Budapest.

In contrast, he surprisingly wrote the script for the successful film produced by Louis de Funès, L'homme orchestre, directed by Serge Korber (1970). His 1961 film Das Riesenrad was entered into the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival. His 1965 film Uncle Tom's Cabin was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.

Géza von Radványi ended his career with a modest production made in his home country, Circus Maximus (1980).

Selected filmography

• 1940: Sarajevo
• 1947 : Valahol Európában, with Artúr Somlay and Miklós Gábor
• 1950 : Women Without Names, with Simone Simon and Françoise Rosay
• 1953 : L'Étrange Désir de monsieur Bard, with Michel Simon and Geneviève Page
• 1955 : Mädchen ohne Grenzen, with Sonja Ziemann and Ivan Desny
• 1955 : Ingrid – Die Geschichte eines Fotomodells, with Johanna Matz and Paul Hubschmid
• 1957 : Das Schloß in Tirol, with Karlheinz Böhm
• 1958 : Der Arzt von Stalingrad, with O. E. Hasse, Eva Bartok, Hannes Messemer and Mario Adorf
• 1958 : Mädchen in Uniform, with Romy Schneider and Lilli Palmer
• 1959 : Douze heures d'horloge, with Lino Ventura, Laurent Terzieff, Hannes Messemer, Eva Bartok and Gert Fröbe
• 1959 : An Angel on Wheels, with Romy Schneider and Henri Vidal
• 1961 : Und sowas nennt sich Leben, with Elke Sommer
• 1961 : Das Riesenrad, with Maria Schell and O. W. Fischer
• 1961 : Diesmal muß es Kaviar sein, with O. W. Fischer, Jean Richard, Eva Bartok and Senta Berger
• 1965 : Uncle Tom's Cabin, with John Kitzmiller, Mylène Demongeot, Juliette Gréco, Herbert Lom and O. W. Fischer
• 1966 : Congress of Love, with Curd Jürgens, Lilli Palmer, Hannes Messemer, Paul Meurisse and Françoise Arnoul
• 1980 : Circus Maximus, with Ági Margittay and Antal Páger

Bibliography

He published many crime novels under the pseudonym Géza Radvany :

• 16 Heures au Paradis, novel, Éditions de Trévise, Paris, 1974.
• Troubles, novel, Éditions de Trévise, Paris, 1975. ISBN 2711202895
• Les Otages de la nuit, novel, Éditions de Trévise, Paris, 1976. ISBN 2-7112-0314-X
• Chantage sur canapé, novel, Éditions de Trévise, Paris, 1978. ISBN 2-7112-0326-3
• Drames de dames, novel, Éditions de Trévise, Paris, 1980. ISBN 2-7112-0400-6

Notes

• René Barjavel:

  Géza von Radványi est non-seulement un des plus grands créateurs du cinéma mondial, mais avant, et au-dessus, cet être rare, fabuleux, presque invraisemblable : un homme fraternel

  .

References

• Article on Somewhere in Europe

External links

• Géza von Radványi at IMDb