Két lány az uccán

I can see why the Film Foundation spent some money bringing back Two Girls on the Street (or as they might say in Hungary, Ket lany az uccan), it's rather astounding. Directed by Endre Toth (or as they might say in Hollywood, Andre De Toth) in the cinematic miracle year of 1939, it tells the tale of two women, one jilted by her two-timing lover and forced to play violin in an all-girl gin joint band and the other a newly minted orphan who is broke and broken by a stream of grabby heels, as they move up from their crummy street to the Budapest equivalent of Park Avenue.

What is so extraordinary is the frankness De Toth brings to the story. After getting impregnated by her caddish boyfriend, Giyongyi (Maria Fekete) does not waste a minute and pays an immediate visit to an abortion clinic to rid herself of his baby, which we experience in full right there with her. Yikes. Her youthful ward, Vica's (Bella Bordy), own encounters with her creeps are equally frank. Comparisons with the hard edged depression themed films that were coming out of Warner Brothers in the early '30s are hard to miss, although this is no gold digger film and honestly has more of an MGM vibe, although nothing like this would ever come out of that studio, particularly that far into the Code.

There are some problems with the story to my way of thinking, particularly Vica's attraction to one of her early man problems, but they are easy to overlook when contemplating the whole. All in all well worth tracking down.