I ragazzi della via Pál

Hungarian inscriptions. Italian dialogs. Virna Lisi. good performance of children - Gaspar Meses is brilliant -. and that is all. at first sigh, a nice film. games, dramas, moral lessons, only sin - it is not a Ferenc Molnar novel adaptation. the atmosphere of a movie for everybody is not the perfect way to present image of a time, faces of a memorable age and delicate atmosphere of an universe. sure, a lot of novel crumbs are present but difference is great. not for lost of accuracy lines. not for the ambition to create a touching drama. but for the fake recipes for easy success. The boys from Pal street is a real legend in East Europe literature for children . so, it is very difficult to change all for impose your version about a legendary book. sure, if you do not read the novel, the film is interesting, amusing, full of seduction pieces. but it is so Italian that can be considered adaptation of Edmondo de Amicis. and this fact is not OK.

the basic sin of this film is the manner to ignore the book. the good thing remains the presence of Virna Lisi and the performances of boys. because it is a decent film if you do not read the novel. in rest, the desire to create an universal story about childhood, too Italian to be Hungary, to soft to impress, to conventional to not define it as one of films in which the presence of actors and the costumes are more important than the story. and, if in other cases this vision works, in this case exactly the story must be essential. maybe, because it is one of the most generous in artistic suggestions from the children literature genre.

This film is good only by the concepts of acting, directing, sets and photography. But the story and the entire picture is unworthy to the original classic which it was loosely "based on". It maybe enjoyable for Italians who aren't read the original Ferenc Molnar novel, but for Hungarian whom read in in childhood and enjoyed it for decades it is really a disappointment.

First, they changed the age of the main characters, but the question is that how the hell can 11-12 year old characters make the same adventures, actions, etc. as 14-15 year old kids (originally portraid in the novel)? Second they made some very big mistakes which are really the forges even history. Feri Ács wearing a Beatles-style haircut in 1905? Divorce in a family like Nemecsek's? Ridiculous! Third, the characters are really not like themselves in the original story. The kids, like Csónakos (who was a tall and humorous kid in the novel) or Ács (who was enemy to the Pál Street Boys, but totally a loyal young man) are two-dimensional cliche characters. They even made an adventurer from Janó, the keeper of the ground!

The film is like a spoof of the original classic, it isn't even have got the same storyline somewhere! I don't say anything for the crew, but this isn't a fair thing for Italians to go to Hungary and ruin a classic, generation's favorite book into this. Gave it another title, another characters, but as "Pal Street Boys" it is simply not fair.

If you want to enjoy the real classic of adventure, loyalty and beautiful story, go and see the original, 1966 Hungarian-English film version of it. But for this "piece of art": watch it if you really want a disappointment from good filmmakers.

What a waste of money and talent ...

It is not a bad film as a film, but most - I must repeat, the most - of the film deals with events and characters that are not in the book and were added to the script by some mediocre Italian writers who know nothing about Hungary, where the story takes place. Some of dialogue seem to be simply cut and pasted from a brasil soap opera.

Why ? What is it good for ? Ferenc Molnar's classic novel is a masterpiece on its own. Why to ruin it?

To say something positive, the child actors and the cinematography was good and it was nice to see Virna Lisi again.

The novel has already been adapted to film back in 1968. That film is a lot better than this remake.