Embassy of Hungary, Washington, D.C.

San Francisco's historic Castro Theatre is proud to announce the first major film festival in the United States honoring the work of Hungarian born composer, Miklós Rózsa. In his lifetime, Miklós Rózsa won three Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture Score of the year, and garnered sixteen Oscar nominations in a career spanning forty five years in film composition, and sixty years writing or the concert stage. The spectacular, nine-day, seventeen-film festival will begin December 26th, 2007 and run thru January 3rd, 2008. During a sweeping, comprehensive series capturing many of the finest, most memorable motion pictures of Rózsa's distinguished career, the composer's daughter, Juliet Rózsa, as well as his granddaughters, will be present for the gala salute which includes proclamations, honors, and tributes from the Hungarian Ambassador to the U.S. and a very special in-person declaration from the Mayor of San Francisco representing both the city and her people.

"In this Centennial year of my father’s birth there is a wonderful renaissance of his music which is taking place among young, talented and dedicated musicians both for the music he scored for film and for the concert hall. There is a new generation of musicians, concert goers and film enthusiasts who are being give the opportunity to discover the many facets of my father’s musical “double life”. My family and I want to thank the city of San Francisco, the Castro Theatre and all the other people involved who made this Rózsa film festival possible. It will introduce to many for the first time the music that my father scored so magnificently for the many different genres of film for a period that extended over forty years. We are so very pleased that his musical legacy will continue for many more years to come.

My father’s music was greatly influenced by his Hungarian roots especially the Hungarian folk song. As he said in his autobiography, Double Life, “melody means song and song, especially folk song, is the essence of music….my music brings joy to people, stimulates pleasure in life and pride in life”. My family and I are so very proud and honored to be able to share a part of my father’s rich Hungarian heritage."

Juliet Rózsa
December, 2007

Proclamation by the Ambassador of Hungary to the U.S. on the Centennial of Miklós Rózsa's Birth

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” was, perhaps, the first mainstream Hollywood film to deal relatively seriously with psychoanalysis. The film concerns the strangely erratic behavior of a newly arrived psychiatrist, taking over a mental institution from its previous administrator, who has suffered a nervous breakdown. Gregory Peck stars as the curiously troubled physician, while Ingrid Bergman plays his smitten, yet suspicious colleague. The film offers Miklós Rózsa’s most celebrated romantic score, for which he won his first Academy Award.

“Last Embrace” is a wonderful psychological thriller in the Hitchcock tradition, combining New York Yiddish culture with a generously convoluted murder mystery. Directed by Jonathan Demme (“Silence of the Lambs”), the film pairs Roy Scheider and Janet Margolin as mismatched lovers thrown together to solve a bizarre series of killings against the torrential backdrop of Niagra Falls. Rózsa’s music is rapturous.

"The Killers,” based upon the short story by Ernest Hemingway, introduced Burt Lancaster to the motion picture screen. Told largely in flashback, Director Robert Siodmak’s sizzling vision of betrayal and revenge weaves a tangled trail for insurance detective Edmond O’Brien, investigating the murder of a small time hoodlum. Ava Gardner is darkly sensual as the woman at the seedy center of this violent Noir thriller. Miklós Rózsa’s powerful theme was later “lifted” for the popular “Dragnet” television series.

Carl Reiner’s comedic homage to the cherished Noir thrillers of the nineteen forties features Steve Martin as a quirky private detective sharing screen time and space with classic film clips and notable film stars of the period, happily re-imagined and re-invented in this clever spoof. Ironically, many of the genre films satirized were scored originally by Rózsa, himself. In his final film, the composer adds a fresh, yet lovingly faithful, musical summation of his long career.

Political intrigue, family corruption, and death in a small town all but smother Barbara Stanwyk, Van Heflin and, in his film debut, a youthful Kirk Douglas. Heflin is the bad penny who returns to his home town after years of absence, finding himself immersed in a suffocating quagmire that threatens his freedom. Stanwyk is the rich matriarch ruling both the town and her family with an iron hand, while Miklós Rózsa’s music supplies a haunting accompaniment to the provocative drama.

Gustave Flaubert’s controversial novel about a woman’s willingness to sacrifice everyone around her in an elusive search for status and wealth. Beautifully interpreted by director Vincente Minnelli, with a lush, rhapsodic score by Miklós Rózsa, Emma Bovary’s psychological descent into eventual madness and depravity is sensitively enacted by Jennifer Jones, with Van Heflin as her emotionally weak husband and Louis Jourdan as her lover. The spectacular waltz sequence, in which Emma all too willingly surrenders to her suitor, is memorably choreographed and scored, as her heart beats feverishly to the escalating rhythm of seduction’s climax.

Arguably, one of the greatest films in screen history, William Wyler’s masterpiece presents a towering saga of “brotherly” love turned to hatred amidst an inspirational Tale of the Christ. This beautifully realized version of the literary classic is as spectacular as it is moving. Charlton Heston stars with Stephen Boyd as lost friends whose bitter rivalry nearly destroys them both. Miklós Rózsa’s glorious, spiritual score is, perhaps, his most memorable, winning him a richly deserved third Oscar.

Vividly drawn from Spain’s heroic history, Anthony Mann’s valiant canvas presents a colorful, romantic, yet tragic portrait of the martyred warrior who sacrificed personal happiness for his country’s survival. Charlton Heston is the noble champion whose love of homeland precludes any hope of happiness with the ravishing Chimene (Sophia Loren). Miklós Rózsa’s thrilling score remains an exhilarating testament to the courage and stature of one of history’s most revered warriors, creating a virile, brilliant, and unforgettable symphonic tapestry.

Walter Scott’s classic tale of the gallant knight whose noble quest to find and rescue his imprisoned liege, Richard the Lionheart, leads him to epic adventure and forbidden love with the beautiful Rebecca, whose Jewish descent precludes the culmination of their unspoken promise. Elizabeth Taylor is the radiant Rebecca, George Sanders, ever the impeccable villain, and Robert Taylor as the dashing Ivanhoe. The score by Miklós Rózsa is both stirring and rapturous.

A wondrous, tantalyzing, science fiction fantasy gem from writer/director Nicholas Meyer. H.G. Wells chases Jack The Ripper from nineteenth century England through time and space to modern San Francisco where each discovers unexpected consequences, irony and culture shock from their journey. Malcolm McDowell is Wells in the most sensitive, gentle performance of his career. David Warner plays the White Chapel slasher, while Mary Steenburgen is the street wise native who falls for Wells in the film, and married McDowell in reality after shooting wrapped. Rózsa’s music is sublime.

Billy Wilder’s final masterpiece, an under appreciated jewel in the crown of one of the screen’s greatest directors. Starring Robert Stephens as Holmes, Colin Blakely as Watson, and Christopher Lee as Mycroft, this romantic gem was built around Rózsa’s most exquisite work, and designed by Wilder as a love letter to both Arthur Conan Doyle and Miklós Rózsa. The composer can be seen conducting “Swan Lake” as Holmes and Watson take in the ballet. Stephens’ vulnerability as the flawed detective brings the fragile character lovingly to life.

Scripted by Raymond Chandler from a novel by James M. Cain, Billy Wilder’s savage depiction of lust, murder, and betrayal is the very definition of Cinema Noir. Dark, brooding, and sexually explosive, this scintilating view of moral corruption ignites the screen like few other films of the period. Barbara Stanwyk is the cold, calculating succubus luring Fred MacMurray into her murderous tentacles, while Edward G. Robinson steals the film as the brilliant insurance investigator too close to the truth to acknowledge its tragedy. In the end, it is the enduring love of two friends that offers any hope of moral redemption. Rózsa’s unrelentingly powerful score is the emotional trigger igniting this psychological weaponry.

Directed and co-written (with Charles Brackett) by Billy Wilder, “The Lost Weekend” remains one of the most realistic, disturbing films ever made about the disease of alcoholism. Ray Milland offers an emotional tour de force, in his Oscar winning performance, as a struggling, insecure writer unable to conquer his debilitating addiction, nearly destroying his own life, and the lives of all those around him. Jane Wyman, breathtaking in her youthful, innocent beauty, is the sensual breath of sanity surrounding a deepening well of intoxication, while Miklós Rózsa’s hauntingly expressive score is both ground breaking and unforgettable.

Sexual intrigue set at a London airport as emotions clash, and unravel. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton star as a bitterly challenged couple on the verge of divorce, as both planes and accusations fly in tail winds of discovery. It’s a grand, glossy, operatic morality play, set at England’s busiest intersection, with larger than life, often vulnerable performances, by Burton and Taylor, and a lush, memorable, romantic serenade by Miklós Rózsa.

A bittersweet trilogy, directed by Vincente Minnelli, and remembered in flashback, recounts the heartbreaking stories of three tumultuous love affairs, resolved either in dissolution or renewal, as eloquently enacted by James Mason and Kirk Douglas. This lovely, if largely forgotten, confection is poetically interwoven with some of the most tender melodies of Miklós Rózsa’s maturing romanticism, and is a wonderfully sensual cinematic tableau.

Vincente Minnelli’s crowning dramatic achievement, and one of the most profoundly passionate films ever made, “Lust For Life” is the director’s ethereal love letter to the tortured soul of Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh. Brilliantly performed by Kirk Douglas in his most searingly intense realization, and majestically caressed by the exquisite melodies of Miklós Rózsa, this unforgettable, tragic masterpiece is a heartbreaking homage to the nobility of artistic genius, and to the selfless beauty of Theo’s enduring love for his emotionally tortured brother.

Surprisingly powerful, all star adaptation of Shakespeare’s play about political intrigue, corruption, and assassination in ancient Rome with Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud, Greer Garson, and Deborah Kerr in the leads. Brando’s “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech is a revelation, a remarkable and poignant interpretation, stunningly performed by one of the greatest actors of his time. Rózsa’s accompanying score is vividly brooding and expressive.

Colorful, exciting picturization of a long days journey into knighthood, and the eternal romantic triangle plunging Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot into disgrace and banishment from the legendary kingdom of Camelot. Robert Taylor is the fabled warrior, while ravishing Ava Gardner offers indiscretion and forbidden love. A handsome score by Miklós Rózsa brings adventure and romance to this classic, Arthurian tale.

The Embassy hosted a concert in tribute of the 100th anniversary of Miklós Rózsa's birth, featuring Anastasia Khitruk and Emilio Colon, as well as an introduction by Grammy Award winner musician János Starker, on April 14, 2007. Click here to read about the concert.

Click here to read about the newly released recording of Rózsa's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, published for the 100^th anniversary of his birth.