Gazdag may be unique among Hungarian film directors in his talent for trouble; The Whistling Cobblestone was publicly criticized and The Resolution was banned for ten years. But he really touched a nerve with Singing on the Treadmill, a presumably safe send-up of Hungarian operetta-as it turns out, an institution as sacred as, and perhaps more enduring than, politics. (They loved it in the provinces.) This mock operetta-done up in color-coordinated, mostly pink, tones-contains its share of light-hearted jabs at the bureaucracy as well, and in theme falls into that uniquely Hungarian genre of housing-shortage films. In a rural village, two dark strangers carting a load of furniture interrupt the dull daily routine-slate quarrying-mesmerizing the local folks with their mysterious activity. The furniture movers easily manage to persuade no fewer than four couples to buy a new house-the same house. The chaos that ensues is resolved only when the families decide to time-share.