The Corporal and the Others

The Corporal and the Others (Hungarian: A tizedes meg a többiek) is a 1965 Hungarian comedy film directed by Márton Keleti.^[1] The film was chosen to be part of the Budapest Twelve, a list of Hungarian films considered the best in 1968.^[2]

The Corporal and the Others
Directed by	Márton Keleti
Starring	Tamás Major Imre Sinkovits
Production company	Mafilm
Release date	15 April 1965 (1965-04-15)
Running time	1h 51min
Country	Hungary
Language	Hungarian

Cast

• Imre Sinkovits - Corporal Ferenc Molnár
• Iván Darvas - Second Lieutenant Eduárd Gálfy
• Tamás Major - Albert, a butler
• György Pálos [hu] - István Szíjjártó, a Communist
• László Ungváry - Lieutenant Barkányi, an Arrow Cross Party member
• László Kozák [hu] - Private Imre Gáspár / János Gáspár
• Gyula Szabó - Private György Fekete / Károly Fekete
• László Márkus - SS Obersturmführer
• Tivadar Horváth [hu] - Gutnacht, a German SS officer
• Lajos Cs. Németh [hu] - Grisha, a Russian soldier
• Sándor Szakács [hu] - the Forester
• Pálma Gyimesi [hu] - the Forester's Wife
• Gábor Agárdy - Commander of the Levente corps (a militaristic right-wing youth movement)
• László Bánhidi - Sergeant Pál Suhajda

Plot

Somewhere in Hungary, in the last days of World War II, Corporal Ferenc Molnár is on the run on a motorbike. He has deserted his unit and taken its money with him. On his journey, he gathers around him a socially and politically diverse group of men whose aim is the same as his: Surviving the war.

Background

As a satirical comedy about the war - a novelty at the time - the film became an immediate commercial and critical sensation in mid-1960s Hungary and was seen by 2.2 million viewers. By putting a cunning everyman into the center of the plot, not heroical partisans, and satirizing all sides, this new type of war film spoke to many everyday Hungarians.^[3]

The quote Az oroszok már a spájzban vannak! (The Russians are already in the pantry!) immediately entered the spoken Hungarian language and has been used in many variations since then.^[3]

Accolades

Hungarian Film Festival 1966:

• Main award for best film (together with Twenty Hours (Húsz óra) by Zoltán Fábry and My Way Home (Így jöttem) by Miklós Jancsó)
• Best male actor (Imre Sinkovits)
• Special Award of the Jury for best director (Márton Keleti)

Awards of the Hungarian Film Critics 1965:^[4]

• Special Award
• Best male actor (Imre Sinkovits)