As an English-speaking person writing about cartoons on the internet, it’s easy to only pay attention to efforts from countries that get the most attention in the Anglosphere: namely, American, Japanese and British cartoons. There’s nothing wrong with that if you genuinely like them, but it does bother me how often cartoons from other parts of the world get ignored, and I’d like to try to give more attention and discussion towards those cartoons. Both for the benefit of people who might be interested in these cartoons, and for expanding my own horizons and interests.
To that end, I started to watch a batch of downloaded Hungarian cartoons that had been sitting on my laptop for nearly two years. At the time I originally wrote this, I had no prior experience on Hungarian animation or the people behind it. There was nothing that attracted me to Hungarian animation other than the fact that I just happened to have some cartoons that had been temporarily posted on the Hungarian National Film Archive’s Vimeo page, and figured it was as good a place to start as any.
As I watched them, I realized that I only had cartoons by either Gyula Macskássy or Attila Dargay, so I thought it might be a little more interesting to write articles focusing on each director’s efforts. Since I started with Macskássy’s shorts, I’ll start with him and do an article on Dargay somewhere down the line.
(These cartoons have long since been taken down from the Vimeo page and can’t be found on accessible video viewing sites, so I unfortunately can’t show them to you. If they do get posted on a more official, permanent basis in the future, I’ll edit the article and link them accordingly.)
Gyula Macskássy Overview
Gyula Macskássy (1912-1971) is an animator known for writing and directing many cartoons for the Pannonia Film Studio from the mid-50s up until the year of his death. He’s perhaps less remembered than other directors from the same studio such as Marcell Jankovics, József Gémes and Attila Dargay, who gained more acclaim and attention for their feature-length animated films. The first of these wouldn’t be released until 1973’s János vitéz or “Johnny Corncob”, meaning that Macskássy only worked on shorts prior to his death.
However, he was quite prolific in producing short films – often doing them on a yearly basis with his co-director György Várnai (a well-regarded illustrator and graphic artist) – and was responsible for creating a handful of episodes for the first series of the adult animated cartoon Gusztáv. It’s also worth noting that his daughter, Katalin Macskássy, began directing films at Pannonia shortly before his death and would go on to become a similarly accomplished director in her own right.
Okos lány / “Clever Girl” (1955 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy)
A prince ventures on a quest to ask a clever girl named “Okos Lány” three questions, before he asks her to marry him. However, she refuses and he leaves in a huff. He’s about to return home when the filmmakers interrupt and rewind the film to show us what really happened: in a more contemporary setting, the prince is a man with a motorcycle and Okos Lány accepts his proposal on the condition that he make an animated film about her. Since we just watched that film, they get married and go on a honeymoon.
The 50s cartoons shown here have a pretty consistent artstyle with cute dot-eyed characters and simple but subtly detailed backgrounds, which can be owed to the designs being handled by Attila Dargay (a much more famous director, particularly for his feature films such as Vuk/“The Little Fox” and Lúdas Matyi/“Mattie the Goose Boy”).
I found the pacing dragged a bit during the first half, but it’s made pleasant by the designs and charming use of anachronisms (which gets an extra layer of meaning when we find out about the modern-day context). A lot of the film’s second half features dialogue, and as I don’t speak Hungarian, I wasn’t able to understand what was going on beyond the visuals. That said, I really like the score in this short – the prince singing his proposal is very lovely, and I dig how the style of music changes radically between the fairytale and modern-day settings. Props to the composer Gusztáv Ilosvay and the performers for doing an excellent job all-round!
Egér és oroszlán / “The Mouse and the Lion” (1957 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy)
An adaptation of Aesop’s fable of the same name. A desert mouse runs into a lion after being chased by a vulture. The lion saves the mouse from the vulture, and the mouse in turn frees the lion from a trap later in the night. The two become friends, and the mouse offers to show the lion’s cubs how to brush their teeth.
I found this cartoon easier to understand, since there isn’t a lot of dialogue apart from a pair of exchanges between the mouse and lion. The rest of the production makes it easy to get the gist of what’s going on, and it’s certainly a well-made production: the use of colour is quite attractive, the designs are appealing, and I like the use of the timpani in the soundtrack for scoring the vulture’s actions. However, I didn’t enjoy it as much as “Okos Lány”, mainly because it felt a bit too bland for my tastes and didn’t have anything to offer beyond a straightforward retelling of the fable.
According to the film’s Vimeo page description, this cartoon was released on a home movie reel and some of its cuts were featured in a commercial (though it doesn’t go into detail about the commercial).
An excerpt can be found on the Hungarian National Film Archive’s official YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1jBsx_UhbY
A telhetetlen méhecske / “The Greedy Bee” (1958 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy)
A young bee who loves eating honey is tricked by a similarly greedy wasp into giving him lots of honey, unaware of the passing months and the oncoming autumnal storm. However, the bee eventually realizes what’s going on and makes it back to their hive, where they now refuse to indulge in honey like they used to.
For such a slight premise, this is a surprisingly long cartoon at 15 minutes. I wouldn’t say that means it’s anything good or special, however. It’s got some nice character designs, a couple of impressive scenes involving parallax scrolling (particularly with some very interestingly rendered clouds), and I like how the outcast bee is represented with a somewhat abrasive harmonica in the music. But otherwise, it’s just okay – there isn’t much there for me, at any rate.
This is the last of Macskássy’s 50s cartoons we’ll be looking at, and we start to see some major changes in art direction going forward. Attila Dargay started directing his own shorts around this time, and graphic artist György Várnai began co-directing with Macskássy – bringing about a stylized artstyle likely inspired by efforts from other countries at the time (with UPA being the best known example to English-speaking cartoon watchers).
Párbaj / “The Duel” (1960 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy)
A scientist creates and befriends an atom, and finds that any objects they touch transforms into an improved, more efficient creation. Mars, a soldier clad in Roman armor, spots the atom and kidnaps them to transform anything and everything into instruments of war. With ingenuity and tact, the scientist rescues the atom and defeats Mars utterly.
The short’s an obvious parable for the potential uses of atomic energy (this was in 1960 after all), whether that be to improve society or wage frightful wars, but presented in a light-hearted manner that supports peaceful progress. The short features no dialogue, so it can be enjoyed by anyone, and it is quite enjoyable.
I really like the radically different art direction, with its use of line drawings over scratchy coloured backgrounds. It’s minimalist, but very well done and I love how the colours are used to suggest not only locations but emotions for what’s happening right now. The way the scientist’s thoughts play into the use of line drawings is especially great, and felt intrinsically satisfying to see unfold.
An excerpt can be found on the Hungarian National Film Archive’s official YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc9S4qpqCJI
Uhuka, aki egész nap a tévét nézte / “Uhuka, who watches TV all day” (1969 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy & György Várnai)
A trio of baby owls are born, and the red one (Uhuka) becomes obsessed with watching television. He watches it at home, during class and even past his bedtime. He misses out on important lessons like learning to fly and avoiding sneaky foxes, and almost gets eaten by a fox when he gets carried away imitating characters from the TV. He’s rescued by his siblings, who learnt how to fly and avoid foxes, but he still imitates the TV characters.
I quite liked this short, mainly due to its art direction and adorable character designs. The way the owls are drawn makes them identifiable as owls, but with enough stylized human traits to allow for some great expressions. I find the look reminiscent of what I’ve often heard about UPA’s work, though I can’t really comment any further in that regard since I’ve only watched one UPA cartoon, and that was a few years ago.
What I can say is that the look works really within this short. I’d even argue that since the short is based around a child’s perspective, perhaps the artstyle represents how they see the world. The idea of the aesthetic resembling the intended perspective or emotion is something that’s fascinated me for some time, and I think this is a basic, pleasing example of that concept.
These are all the shorts by Macskássy that I happen to have, though there’s plenty more from him out there. Perhaps I’ll return to him someday, but until then, look forward to another article on Hungarian animation in the future when I cover short films and commercials by the renowned Attila Dargay!
Included below for historical interest are the credits for the featured shorts, translated to the best of my ability.
SOURCES:
Animation: A World History: Volume II: The Birth of a Style – The Three Markets by Giannalberto Bendazzi
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macsk%C3%A1ssy_Gyula
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macsk%C3%A1ssy_Katalin
https://twitter.com/bobjinx/status/1140420010537619456 (in regards to what “Tervezte” means in an animation context)
Special thanks to ibcf for looking over the article and suggesting how to make for a more interesting, less cluttered piece.
FrDougal9000 writes for hardcoregaming101.net as Apollo Chungus. When he isn’t writing about video games, he is cultivating his love of animation that’s only increased over the last few years as he’s explored the wide, weird and wonderful world of the medium.
Okos lány / “Clever Girl” (1955 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy)
Készitették (Made by):
Gyula Macskássy
Attila Dargay
György Várnai (credited as ‘Gy. Varnay’)
Szabolcs Szabó
K. Kozelka
Gizella Vörös
Zene (Music):
Gusztáv Ilosvay (Credited as ‘Ilosvay-Tomka’)
Szines kónia (Colour Lab):
H.D.F labor ~ J. Végh
Egér és oroszlán / “The Mouse and the Lion” (1957 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy)
Aesopus meséje alapján irta (Adapted from Aesop’s tale by):
Ernö Benczés
Gyula Macskássy
György Várnai
Terverzte (Designed by):
Szabolcs Szabó
György Várnai
Rajzolta (Animated by):
Gréte Máday
Gizella Vörös
Andor László
Beáta Kiss (credited as ‘Bea Kiss’)
Ida Kozelka-Mocsáry (credited as ‘Ida Mocsáry’)
Erzsébet Jedon
Éva Bátai
Ferenc Dlaŭchy (credited as ‘Ferenc Dlauchy’)
Kati Spitzer
Judit Szabó
Magda Vásárhelyi
Pál Nagy (not to be confused with Balázs Pál Nagy)
Háttértetvezö (Background Art):
László Molnár
Operatör (Photography):
András Cseh
Erzsi Király
Zene (Music):
István Farbinger
Hangmérnök (Sound Engineering):
Miklós Császár
Gyártásvezetǫ̈ (Production Manager):
Miklós Bártfai
Laboratóriumi munka (Colour Lab):
Magyar Filmlaboratórium
Szines technika vezetöje (Head of Colour Technology):
Géza Dobrányi
Képteruező*, rendezte (Storyboards(?) and directed by):
Gyula Macskássy
*Translates to Image Designer; as there are already Designer credits, I suspect this means Storyboard Artist
A telhetetlen méhecske / “The Greedy Bee” (1958 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy)
Irta, rendezte (Written and directed by):
Gyula Macskássy
Tervezte (Designed by):
Attila Dargay
Rajzolta (Animated by):
Magdi Cselle
Ferenc Dlaŭchy
Pál Nagy
Andor László
Beáta Kiss
és még sokan mások (and many others – this is what’s actually written!)
Háttér (Background Art):
Tibor Csermák
József Nepp
Operatör (Photography):
András Cseh
Erzsi Király
Vágó (Edited by):
János Czipauer
Zene (Music):
Gusztáv Ilosvay
Hangmérnök (Sound Engineering):
Miklós Császár
Gyártásvezetǫ̈ (Production Managers):
Miklós Bártfai (credited as ‘Miklós Bártfay’)
Irén Henrik
Szinestechnika (Colour Technician):
Géza Dobrányi
Párbaj / “The Duel” (1960 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy)
Irta (Written by):
Gyula Macskássy
György Várnai
Rajzolta (Animated by):
Gréte Máday
Szabolcs Szabó
Gizella Vörös
András Cseh
Beáta Kiss (credited as ‘Bea Kiss’)
Éva Bátai
Kati Spitzer
Erzsebet Egresi
János Mata
András Szemenyei
László Török
Zene (Music):
Gusztáv Ilosvay
Hangmérnök (Sound Engineering):
István Bélai
Operatör (Photography):
István Harsági
Mária Neményi
Vágó (Edited by):
János Czipauer
Gyártásvezetǫ̈ (Production Manager):
Miklós Bártfai
Asszisztensek (Assistants):
Andor László
Klári Paál
Irén Henrik
Háttér (Background Art):
László Molnár
Laboratóriumi munka (Colour Technology):
Magyar Filmlaboratórium
Tervezte (Designed by):
György Várnai
Rendezte (Directed by):
Gyula Macskássy
Uhuka, aki egész nap a tévét nézte / “Uhuka, who watches TV all day” (1969 – Dir: Gyula Macskássy & György Várnai)
Irta, tervezte, rendezte (Written, designed and directed by):
Gyula Macskássy
György Várnai
Rajzolta (Animated by):
Gréte Máday
Kati Spitzer
Háttér (Background Art):
Zsolt Lengyel
Zene (Music):
Tamás Deák (who composed what became the theme tune to the Russian cartoon series “Nu, pogodi!” and is still alive despite being born in 1928! That’s so cool!)
Operatör (Photography):
Irén Henrik
Vágó (Edited by):
János Czipauer
Hangmérnök (Sound Engineering):
Domonkos Horváth
Gyártásvezetö (Production Manager):
Sándor Gyöpös
Felvételvezetö (Recorder):
Jutka Tóth
Szines technika (Colour Technology):
Magyar Filmlaboratórium