The Hurdy-Gurdy

Two poor men who make their living with a barrel organ move from fair to fair through the Greek countryside. On the road they meet a rich girl who has run away, and learn that her father has promised a large reward to whoever finds her. The choice is plain: take the money, or help her with the love her family will not accept. Alekos Sakellarios’s film counts among the best-loved comedies of postwar Greek cinema, and its title carries that dilemma: the barrel organ, poverty and honour. Mimis Fotopoulos and Vasilis Avlonitis play the pair and Jenny Karezi the girl. It opened on 12 December 1955 and finished second at the box office that season. Its success produced a sequel in 1957, counted as the first sequel in the history of Greek cinema.