Struggle for Life – Fragment of silent movie starring Béla Lugosi in the NFI – Film Archive collection

To mark the 140th anniversary of the birth of Béla Lugosi, the world’s best-known Hungarian actor, the NFI – National Film Archive is publishing a fragment of film from the silent work Struggle for Life (Küzdelem a létért) preserved in the Film Archive. All that is left of the 1918 drama is this 50-metre section of film, but even this short strip is extremely valuable because it represents the only surviving Hungarian role played by Béla Lugosi. Béla Lugosi was one of the most important male stars of the Hungarian silent era, although many primarily associate him with his later role as Dracula.