2 x 2 is sometimes 5

So you think there are no real mainstream soaring movies? That you must be satisfied with a few seconds in the Thomas Crown Affair (which, after all, is not about soaring)?

In 1954 Hungarian Film Studios produced a 90-minute, full-length sailplane musical, with the country's best known movie actors, lots and lots of flying, a funny plot, you name it, this movie has it. It reasonably represents what soaring, and the life of the clubs was like in that age, where funding for soaring came from the government, and, at least by our US standards of today, was just about unlimited... (well, it shows that life about as realistically as American musicals of the same age show life in, let's say, Oklahoma...).


Club members and instructors rush András to the University... He is late for the math exam!	"What are you? An admiral?" asks math professor Dr. Anna Toth. "No, a pilot. A pilot with a Gold Badge"	Aerobatics in the Lunak by András at the Air Show.

The movie opens with the landing approach of a "Junius 18" high-performance sailplane at the Hármashatárhegy gliderport in the hills above Budapest. Our hero (András - an instructor with a Gold Badge) must land to get to his mathematics examination at the University of Budapest. He is designing a new, high-performance two-seater, the Sárgarigó (Golden Oriole), and he wants to set a new altitude record in it! The math professor (Violetta Ferrari - a Hungarian and German star in the 50s to 80s - in Cabaret, Irma la Douce, Ophelia in Hamlet, etc...) is not quite what he expected... But, she flunks him!

From here on, the plot goes on... What do the movie critics say? Well, the only American critic I know that saw it is my 13-year old daughter, who rated it above "Crouching Tiger"...


Pirike, instructor & tow pilot, flying formation aerobatics in Lunak	Zlin 381 (Bücker 181) formation at flight show	Anna wins a sightseeing flight... András hides behind goggles

The plot is funny, full of unexpeted turns, with lots and lots flying, by todays standards it deserves four stars. How do you get the video? Well, I got it through a friend in Hungary (a new NTSC VHS print by MAFILM)... Perhaps, this site is the place to order it (costs about $12.-): http://www.folio.hu/info/031000/I315073.HTM


Pirike explains to Anna's geek friend Lajoska some facts of life	An argument leads to unplanned landing in the trees with the Koma	Is this now love? Don't worry, there is plenty of trouble coming...

The plot has just barely started at this point.We are 15 minutes into the movie...