It is Budapest in the early thirties. A strange, solitary young man, Istvan Peterssen, living in one of the older suburbs, is without work. He wants no concessions from life, and will not accept alms. The situation is transformed by Vera, a pretty girl who dreams of becoming a dancer. They fall in love and his misery and poverty no longer matter. But Vera's dreams lead her to leave Istvan for a carefree, more attractive life, and although they meet again and acknowledge their love, Istvan will not accept the sacrifice of her realized hopes to a life together.

This film, the second by this promising young director, is based on short stories which are treasures of Hungarian literature. The director communicates the quality of the original by fluently handling the love story in such a way that the film takes on a subdued, tender glow beautifully reflected by the camera work. Mari Torocsik gives a delicate in¬terpretation of the part of Vera and Zoltan Varkonyi makes her elderly seducer an almost pitiable figure. The Iron Flower was screened at Cannes.