Sirius Blu-ray marks a remarkable rediscovery of Hungarian cinema, presenting Ákos D. Hamza’s 1942 romantic time-travel fantasy newly restored and released on Blu-ray in the U.S. for the first time. Long considered a lost or forgotten work, the film emerges as an unexpectedly tender and imaginative precursor to later genre classics, blending period romance with speculative fantasy.
 
Set during the 1940s, a brash Hungarian playboy agrees to an experiment that sends him two hundred years into the past, landing him in the powdered wigs and courtly excess of the mid-18th century. There, he falls deeply in love with a struggling opera singer while antagonizing the aristocracy around him — including his own great-grandfather. With dawn approaching, he must decide whether to return to his own time or risk losing both his future and the woman he loves.
 
At the heart of the film is Katalin Karády, one of Hungary’s great screen and musical icons, whose real-life history adds profound weight to her performance. Beautifully shot in black-and-white and restored from the original 35mm nitrate negative by Hungary’s National Film Institute, Sirius stands as a poignant blend of romance, fantasy, and cultural history. Deaf Crocodile presents this restoration with a suite of contextual extras that explore the film’s production, preservation, and legacy.
 
directed by: ákos d. hamza
starring: lászló szilassy, katalin karády
1942 / 105 min