The Magvető Publishing House’s series From Idea to Film put out its volume about Miklós Jancsó’s and Gyula Hernádi’s work, The Round-up, in 1968. The book contains, in addition to the so-called literary script, the sources of the film, and the contemporary reviews and essays discussing it. My paper is an examination of the volume from a source criticism perspective, which gives me an excellent opportunity to analyse the cultural policies of the Kádár era, and to rethink the myths about Jancsó’s image that became canonical after the regime change.