Hyppolit, The Butler (1931)

Hyppolit, The Butler / Hyppolit a lakáj (1931)

Genre: Comedy
Director: István Sekely
Starring: Gyula Kabos, Gyula Kabos, Mici Haraszti, Eva Fenyvessy, Gyula Gozon
Duration: 72 min.
Rating: 7.1

Summary:

Mátyás Schneider, owner of a shipping firm, leads a calm, civil life.  When his snobbish wife hires a new butler, Schneider's life is turned upside down.

Hyppolit, The Butler is a film directed by István (Steve) Székely.  A well known classic film in Hungary, it was selected by critics as one of the Budapest 12, a list of the dozen best Hungarian films of the 20th Century.  This was recently restored digitally and in high definition by the Hungarian Film Laboratory, and aside from a few minor aberrations here and there, the black and white film looks and sounds great. 

It is a light and pleasant situational comedy adapted from a stage play, about a rich businessman, whose life gets up ended when his wife hires a new butler, a stern and domineering man who proceeds to take over their daily lives.  It features a couple of great musical moments and compares favorably to other films of it's era but doesn't really have a memorable story or any standout performances to give it much international appeal.