Hungary's one masterpiece of neorealism, and the film that put Hungary on the map of postwar international cinema, was cowritten by the famous theorist Béla Balázs. Like De Sica (but in fact influenced by the Soviet film Road to Life), Balázs and director Radványi found their subject in the homeless war orphans whose lives incarnate society's contempt for the unfortunate. Because they have never known human dignity, they are thieves by profession and wily animals by nature. A gang of vagabonds find refuge in a ruined castle, only to discover it inhabited by an eccentric musician, himself destroyed emotionally and physically by his wartime experiences. With food and comfort he wins the boys (and himself) over to a sense of purpose and community before bringing them back to "civilization" that proves itself as cruel as ever. The film was Radványi's last before leaving Hungary, and Balázs died prematurely soon after.