Marika on AllMovie

Istvan Zagon's stage play Marika achieved great popularity in Hungarian thanks to the starring performance of Franceska Gaal. By the time the play made it to the screen, however, Gaal had defected to Hollywood, and the role was inherited by the less charismatic Lia Szepes. The daughter of a gamekeeper, the tomboyish Marika grows up in the forest, never having any contact with outsiders. When a worldly author (Paul Javor) comes to the forest for rest and relaxation, he is quite taken by the unspoiled Marika and sets out to educate her in matters of etiquette and propriety. Eventually Marika blossoms into womanhood, whereupon the author falls madly in love with her. Consummately produced, Marika might have been better with a more persuasive leading lady.