I am trying to locate a movie that was popular in Hungary in the
1950's.  It was an Italian (or French-Italian?) production.  I don't
remember the director, or any of the actors.  The title, literally
translated from the Hungarian, was "The Little Conductor".  It is the
story of a little street kid in Rome who turns out to be a musical
wunderkind, finds a mentor in a church organist, ends up as a
spectacular miniature orchestra conductor.  The film ends with a fine
presentationb of Liszt's "Les Preludes".  I would like the English
title and the director, please

Hello peterss,

It sounds like "La Grande Aurora" (The Great Dawn) directed by
Giuseppe Maria Scotese (1946).

An IMDB user sums up the plot:

" LA GRANDE AURORA (THE GREAT DAWN) is a semi-biographical account of
a nine-year-old boy's musical genius. The boy is Pierino Gamba and he
plays himself. Before and after making this film he conducted (often
without use of a score) in major cities in Europe, attracting huge
crowds and becoming a genuine musical phenomenon. In the movie he
often appears to be very tense and ill-at-ease, but he has many
charming, boyish moments as well. His musical abilities are discovered
by Roman priest Don Terenzio "

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038572/

The following slightly defunct site has some interesting trivia about
Pierino's life and the clothes he wore:

Costumes of Boy Musical Prodigies
http://histclo.hispeed.com/act/music/pro/pro-gamba.html

The NY Times lists the distributor of "La Grande Aurora" as Superfilm (Italia): 
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=93728

Hoping we have a winner here! Ciao.

* j *

Well, I don't think so.  The movie I am talking about is also a
melodrama.  A young boy  spends time with a street musician and learns
to play the guitar a little.  His father, very poor, sees how
important music is for the boy and buys him a a guitar, but eventually
they have to pawn it to buy food.  The boy steels money from a store
to get the guitar back, mostly so his father won't feel so bad.  He is
chased by the police, running all over Rome, and eventually dives into
a church to get away.  Here he is mesmerized by hearing Bach's toccata
in E flat (I think).  The old organist takes him under his wings and
the boy starts learning music seriously, and he is a creative genius. 
Somehow a pompous modern composer discovers him and starts exploiting
him by having him conduct his awful music on commercial tours. 
Meanwhile the old organist is getting sick and frail, while the
concert tour is coming back to Rome.  The boy visits him, his mentor
encourages him to be true to the old classics, and the boy rises to
the occasion by changing the evening program to Liszt's Les Preludes
in a maginificent performance. Mind you, this is a recollections from
about 50 years ago, so there may be some inaccuracies...
petersss-ga

Here's another review of "La Grande Aurora":
 
"In this Italian melodrama, a young musical prodigy who wants to
become a professional finds himself arguing with his wealthy
grandfather, who wants him to pursue other paths. The boy's dad, a
composer with little talent, becomes a clown in Paris so that he can
help the lad's mother get custody of the boy from the grandfather. The
boy has other plans. Enlisting the aid of a local priest, the boy
organizes a full orchestera which he conducts during their open air
concert. After the concert the mother and father are reunited and the
grandfather changes his mind."

http://www.angelfire.com/stars3/brazzi/aurora.htm

But you're right, the key details are a bit off. I guess we'll have to
keep looking.

:-)

* j *