Budapest?
Does anyone know why this movie took place in Budapest? I was just wondering...
shareI think there are enough movies being set in, say, New York, for no apparent reason at all. And that's fine, but people don't question the fact that a given movie is set in New York without a reason. I quite like the fact that this one is in keeping with the original story. I'm not surprised that the remake is set in New York, but that doesn't make it better than this version (which is far superior IMO).
share[deleted]
When I did this play in November, I was Johnson who was Frank Morgan's character with a different name and it was set in Maryland. Adapted, I guess.
shareHey folks,
It seems that most of you think using Budapest as the location for this film was quite natural and the correct thing to do. However, I have to agree with the original poster and the few others in this thread who had a problem with using Budapest as the location. In my case, I was aware the film's location was Budapest prior to watching it, but right from the very beginning when all the characters were waiting in front of the store for the owner to open it, all I could think of was, "What are all these Americans doing working in this store in Budapest?"
The story was interesting and fun for me, but I was continuously distracted throughout the film because I thought the Budapest setting was just wrong. Had the setting of the film been in New York, Chicago, and several other American cities, every one of these main characters would have been credible due to the "melting pot" character of so many American cities.
In any case, I still enjoyed the story.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
As a Hungarian I can see a lot of scenes reflecting the Hungarian mindset and the way people interact with each other which I know a lot of foreigners don't bother to get know and won't pick up on those lines, maybe they would be able to find it "more Hungarian" if they knew anything about the people. This movie is about peoples' lives, not a documentary about the architecture of Budapest so they should aim to find the "Hungarian-ness" in the characters, not in their surroundings first and foremost. Also if you changed the location you would have to change the names, etc..
shareWell said.
This thread is rather ridiculous. Particularly people saying that the location "threw them off" or that being set in an American city would make it "more relatable". Totally ridiculous.
Yeah, much of this thread is really annoying or worse--the ignorance, intolerance and xenophobia of Americans is really on display here. (FWIW, I'm American born and bred for 60+ years, though Brooklyn and New Jersey might not count to some posters here. And in light of recent events, I might not want to count it either.) Why does it bother people that the film adaptation of a play written by a Hungarian and set in Budapest is ... set in Budapest? It has an entirely American, or at least Hollywood based, cast speaking vernacular English and the setting merely retains a little of the color of the original play. For the life of me, I can't understand why this would subtract from anyone's enjoyment of this movie. BTW, legendary, and German born, director Ernst Lubitsh set most, though not all, of his films in Europe.
shareI'm watching it right now on TCM and have no problem with the setting or the accents. The quality of the actors and their commitment and enjoyment is quite enough to bring me into the story and to keep me there.
Incidentally, did anyone catch the line about Mr. Matuschek last being seen in a balloon with two blondes? If it isn't in the original script, then we are enjoying a little in-joke about the Wizard of Oz.
Thank You and Archer for saying this, I didn't want to sound harsh but the rest of the world goes through the same thing when they start watching American movies, it takes some time and effort to get used to it. Every culture and country is a bit different but I find it ridiculous that it would bother someone things like they pay with pengő instead dollar for example, it's not like you can't look it up on the internet in two seconds if it's really that crucial to the enjoyment of this movie..
I don't go and comment under American Christmas movies that how weird in the US that Santa brings the gifts instead of the baby Jesus or that I can't enjoy this movie because Americans open their gifts on the morning of Christmas Day instead of Christmas Eve, like we do.
I've always thought that I can only benefit from learning about other people's cultures, the world does not spin around the US and Europe is more than just GB and France.