Zita Gordon

Az Uj Foldesur (The New Squire) was based on a novel by popular Hungarian author Maurice Jokal, whose many works had previously been largely ignored. After the wars of 1848, a retired Austrian army officer "returns to the soil" as a gentleman farmer in Hungary in the 1850s. The old campaigner is the father of two daughters: One of the girls comes to a sad end thanks to the malfeasances of a handsome spy, but the other has a happier fate when she falls in love with a Hungarian POW. The underlying theme is brotherhood, as the formerly warring Austrians and Hungarians at last find a common ground. Az Uj Foldesur was nearly twice as expensive as the average Hungarian film -- but at $40,000, its budget was a drop in the bucket compared to a typical Hollywood production.

Dr Péter Gergely, assistant professor at the University of Budapest, and his wife Mária celebrate their wedding anniversary. They are listening to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. VI when he is called in sick. Left alone, she goes to an address given by an unknown caller, where she finds her husband in the arms of a strange woman. She does not believe in her husband's innocence, divorces him and marries the lawyer Dr. Tibor Máté, who has been besieging her for years. In despair, Peter attempts suicide, and the unknown girl who caused the tragedy appears at his bedside. The journalist István Bálint discovers that the girl was paid off by Dr. Máté and unmasks the instigator. Peter recovers, but the excitement causes him to lose his memory. Mary and the doctor reminisce about their wedding anniversary. The experiment succeeds, he remembers everything, and they resume their life together where they left off: listening to Tchaikovsky's symphony.

Ilonka, daughter of a former landowner, is a shop-assistant in her father's small pastry shop in Buda. In order to get a job for her fiancé, who is a young doctor, she befriends János, a painter and owner of the house.