Did You Know?
The movie was made in 1969 and is a satire of the "dark years" (Stalinist regime) of the early 1950s. The Ministry of Culture allowed filming only with them monitoring it. They even forced the filmmakers to re-write some scenes and cut out others. Suprisingly the film - made as they "ordered" it - was banned and not released until 1979. During those 10 years it have become a "legend" which can explain it's instant cult status after it's release.
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A newspaper in Hungary is called Hungarian Orange, named after the "orange project" in this movie. The tone of the newspaper is satirical. It was founded in 1989.
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Several quotes from the movie, especially the ones "the international situation is intensifying" and "life is not a whipped-cream cake" have become part of everyday speech in Hungary.
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Director Péter Bacsó tried to get as many roles to be played by non-professional actors as possible. In the finished movie there are at least seven cast members who never or rarely had acting experience before: writer/director Zoltán Fábri, stage director Béla Both (who began an acting career after this movie), acting teacher Ida Versényi, language teacher Georgette Mertzhradt, stage director László Vámos, opera singer István Novák and graphic artist József Pecsenke.
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Several scenes, including a visit by Pelikán (Ferenc Kállai) at Dániel's (Zoltán Fábri) prison cell was cut by state-censorship.
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Director Péter Bacsó wanted 76 years old singer-legend Hanna Honthy to appear as herself during the "Csárdáskirálynö" performance scene, but she asked too much money which the film couldn't afford. Instead they only used her prerecorded voice from an LP album.
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The character Comrade Virágh is the satire of the all powerful secret police general of the era Gábor Péter. This is very obvious when Virágh is speaking highly of Pelican's jacket as the civil job of Péter was a tailor.
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The character Comrade Bástya is a satire of Army General Mihány Farkas, Secretary of Defence of the era but some elements of his character refers to Army General Czinege who was Secretary of Defence during the making of the film. (hunting with automatic rifles, closing down the pool for swimming, etc.)
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