Cinema
Mattie the Goose-boy
Lúdas Matyi
Attila Dargay · 1977
Synopsis
Matyi, a cheerful farmhand, strays with his goose into the woods of the lord Döbrögi Dániel. The lord's men take the bird for a wild goose and chase it; both are caught, the goose is awarded to Döbrögi, and Matyi receives twenty-five blows of the stick. After the punishment, he swears to return the beating threefold, and goes off to prepare his revenge under various disguises.
Context
The film adapts the poem by Mihály Fazekas, which had already been brought to the screen in live action. Dargay wrote the screenplay with József Nepp and József Romhányi; the Pannónia studio produced it, Irén Henrik was the cinematographer, and the music by Tamás Daróci Bárdos draws on Liszt. András Kern lends his voice to the adult Matyi and László Csákányi to the lord. The film was released in Budapest on 7 April 1977, first at the Uránia.
Who it is for
An animated film of a little over an hour, for all ages; released in France on DVD by Clavis Films under the title Mathieu l'astucieux.
Prizes and reception
His first animated feature film, it was distributed in the United States as early as 1978 and is still regularly rebroadcast on Hungarian television.