Béla Balázs

Writing

Béla Balázs

Born August 4, 1884 · Szeged, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]

Died May 17, 1949 · aged 64

No biography available.

Known For

Grand HotelGrand Hotel · 1932
Grand Hotel
★ 7.01932
MovieDramaRomance
Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through worry, scandal, and heartache.
The Blue LightThe Blue Light · 1932
The Blue Light
★ 6.91932
MovieDramaAdventure
Junta is hated by the people in the village where she lives, especially by the women, who suspect her of being a witch. Only she can climb the nearby mountains to a cave high up, whence a mysterious blue light glows when the moon is full. Many young men of the village have died trying to follow her. She is driven out of town, and takes to living in the mountains. Eventually she shares the secret of the blue light with one man, and he betrays it.
The Threepenny OperaThe Threepenny Opera · 1931
The Threepenny Opera
★ 6.91931
MovieMusicDrama
The French-language version of the The Threepenny Opera with a different cast from the German version.
It Happened in EuropeIt Happened in Europe · 1947
It Happened in Europe
★ 6.31947
MovieDrama
1944. A band of runaways and orphans of the war scour the countryside in search of food and shelter. They invade and then taken in by a musician and former concert pianist who’s hiding out in a ruined castle. After the initial altercation between them the gang accepts his guidance and he wins their respect by protecting them from the elements.
The 3 Penny OperaThe 3 Penny Opera · 1931
The 3 Penny Opera
★ 7.11931
MovieMusicCrime
In London at the turn of the century, underworld kingpin Mack the Knife marries Polly Peachum without the knowledge of her father, the equally enterprising 'king of the beggars'.
Dangerous GamesDangerous Games · 1980
Dangerous Games
★ 10.01980
MovieDrama
1934, Germany. The ten-year-old Peter lives in a small town with his parents. His father, an underground Communist, is arrested. In the summer vacation the kids from the neighbourhood fight in two teams, which prevail in turns. One team, led by Ewald, imitates the Nazis, while the other, headed by Fritz, follows his Communist father's example.
Adventures of a Ten Mark NoteAdventures of a Ten Mark Note · 1926
Adventures of a Ten Mark Note
★ 7.51926
MovieDrama
Anna receives her first weekly wage: a ten-mark note with the no. K 13513. She gives it to her mother, who hides it in her Bible. Anna's brother Robert steals the note and uses it to buy a knife with which he becomes a murderer.
Sodom and GomorrahSodom and Gomorrah · 1922
Sodom and Gomorrah
★ 6.11922
MovieDrama
Exposed to bad influences since childhood, Mary, a young girl is pushed by her mother to approach an elderly banker by the name of Harber. After almost driving her fiancee to suicide and seducing his mentally-ill son, she realizes through a metaphorical dream the scope of her negligence. Sentenced to prison for incitement to murder Harber, she sees herself as a parallel figure to Lea, Lot's wife in Sodom, where the Angel of the Lord warns the sinful citizens of the city of their impending doom. Lea oppresses the angel and eventually turns it over to the pagan priests when her sexual advances to it are rejected. In another dream sequence, Mary becomes the Queen of Syria, whose oppressed people turn against her and who, in turn, condemns a young man who loves her to death. Finally, her dream returns to the present time and when she awakens, she runs back to her former lover.

Filmography

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Sodom and GomorrahSodom and Gomorrah · 1922
Sodom and Gomorrah
★ 6.11922
MovieDrama
Exposed to bad influences since childhood, Mary, a young girl is pushed by her mother to approach an elderly banker by the name of Harber. After almost driving her fiancee to suicide and seducing his mentally-ill son, she realizes through a metaphorical dream the scope of her negligence. Sentenced to prison for incitement to murder Harber, she sees herself as a parallel figure to Lea, Lot's wife in Sodom, where the Angel of the Lord warns the sinful citizens of the city of their impending doom. Lea oppresses the angel and eventually turns it over to the pagan priests when her sexual advances to it are rejected. In another dream sequence, Mary becomes the Queen of Syria, whose oppressed people turn against her and who, in turn, condemns a young man who loves her to death. Finally, her dream returns to the present time and when she awakens, she runs back to her former lover.

extra

Poulenc's  The Human Voice / Bartók's Bluebeard's CastlePoulenc's The Human Voice / Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle · 2018
Poulenc's The Human Voice / Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle
2018
MovieMusicDrama
Running through Bartók’s disenchanted tale, whose haunting music was initially condemned as unplayable, and the expression of despair in Poulenc’s monologue, the director Krzysztof Warlikowski perceives a shared dramatic thread, a shared feminine consciousness and a shared sense of imprisonment and suffocation: for the woman who penetrates the confines of Bluebeard’s castle and Elle, the woman who clings to a telephone conversation with a man as the only thing worth living for, are condemned to share the same fate. And this man she speaks to, does he really exist? Unless the director has interpreted Cocteau’s words to the letter and the telephone has become a “terrifying weapon that leaves no trace, makes no noise”…

Writer