The Devil: A Tragedy of the Heart and Conscience

by Ferenc Molnár

Ferenc Molnar (1878-1952), originally Ferenc Neumann, was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. His Americanized name was Franz Molnar. He emigrated to the United States to escape the Nazi persecution of Hungarian Jews during World War II. As a novelist, Molnar is remembered principally for The Paul Street Boys, the story of two rival gangs of youths in Budapest. His most popular plays are Liliom (1909, tr. 1921), later adapted into the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play Carousel (1945); The Guardsman (1910, tr. 1924), which served as the basis of the film of the same name (1931); The Swan (1920, tr. 1922) and The Good Fairy, which was adapted by Preston Sturges and filmed in 1935 with Margaret Sullavan, and subsequently turned into the 1947 Deanna Durbin vehicle, I'll Be Yours.

Genres: Plays

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

Ferenc Molnár (Americanized name: Franz Molnar) was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. During the World War II he emigrated to the United States to escape the Nazi persecution of Hungarian Jews.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, this was a disappointment. I am giving up after Act One. I need a play to capture me from the first line, and this one simply did not.

The plot is trite, even for its day, and nowhere near as captivating as Liliom, another play written by this author. That one eventually became the movie Carousel, and was stunning. This one is boring.

An artist, an old friend, her husband, and the Devil. Temptations, intrigues, the danger of losing wealth and security, not to mention (gasp) being embarrassed in front of Society. Sigh.

Not for me.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 1908 play by the author of The Play’s the Thing, The Devil lacks the latter’s charm. I don’t know if that’s because Molnár was still searching for his voice when he wrote The Devil or if this is an example of how much a translator / adaptor can make or break a work (I read the Oliver Herford translation), but The Devil doesn’t wear its age well.

The plot is more or less that the devil comes and mucks with a bunch of people’s lives. It’s a conflict that’s been done in other stories with more success, so I can’t say I’m shocked The Devil isn’t well known over a century later. Not recommended.