Corvin Film
Corvin Film was a Hungarian film production company which operated during the Silent era. It was founded by Jenő Janovics in 1914 in the city of Kolozsvár, although the company later moved to the Hungarian film capital of Budapest. The company's name was a reference to the 15th Century Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus.[1] Corvin's production programme concentrated largely on adaptations of popular and classic literature. A distribution agreement was reached with Projectograph, the leading Hungarian firm.
An increasingly dominant presence at the company was the young film director Alexander Korda, who joined Corvin in 1916. He directed White Nights, one of the first Hungarian films to be shown outside the country.[2] The following year he acquired the company's naming rights, and split from Janovics. Korda oversaw most of the company's biggest productions until in 1919 he was driven out of Hungary in the White Terror in the wake of the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The company continued until 1925 when it went bust during a general slump in the Hungarian film industry. Its Budapest studio was later taken over by the Hungarian government.[3] As the Hunnia Film Studio it became the centrepiece of the state-owned film industry.
Korda's wife, actress María Corda starred in several Corvin productions. Corvin also employed the director Michael Curtiz.
Selected films
- The One Million Pound Note (1916)
- Miska the Magnate (1916)
- White Nights (1916)
- St. Peter's Umbrella (1917)
- Mary Ann (1918)
- Oliver Twist (1919)
- Number 111 (1919)
References
Bibliography
- Cunningham, John. Hungarian Cinema: From Coffee House to Multiplex. Wallflower Press, 2004.
- Kulik, Karol. Alexander Korda: The Man Who Could Work Miracles. Virgin Books, 1990.