Fleeing Man

Sándor Vedres, a painter, learns that his success is not due to his talent, but to the intervention of his model, the flirtatious Marianne, and flees to the Transylvanian mountains with a disappointed heart and shaken self-confidence. His calm is disturbed by the appearance of Klara, who looks exactly like Marianne. His barely healed wounds are torn open by the encounter, he runs away upset and falls into an abyss. She is found unconscious. Marianne's sister, the noble-hearted Klára, carefully tends to the stricken man, who soon recovers but remains mute. The mute painter discovers pure love alongside the kind-hearted girl, and his paintings of the mountains are rewarded with a prize at the exhibition in the capital. News of his success attracts the old lover, but not the love of Klára and Sándor.

Directed by Ákos Ráthonyi, Fleeing Man leans on a strong ensemble — Andor Ajtay, Klári Tolnay, János Görbe — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 1943.