Am Abend auf der Heide (1941)

Composer Jürgen Holsten, author of the successful song “Am Abend auf der Heide,” is a carefree rogue who lives from day to day with his circle of friends. One day, when his publisher Fischer refuses to give him another advance, explaining that Holsten always delivers the same music and that he wants something new for a change, the composer remembers that he has been the owner for some time of the Holstenhof in the Lüneburg Heath, which he inherited. His plan is immediately settled: he will turn the inheritance into cash. At the estate, Holsten meets the country doctor, Dr. Brandt, who, in his own inimitable way, manages to awaken Holsten’s interest in the estate and his ambition concerning it, making the composer waver in his resolve. This is also because Holsten is very taken with Änne Brandt, the country doctor’s niece. Änne is the Holstenhof’s housekeeper. She is not pleased with the new owner, however, since in the past she had told him in several letters that the estate was in a rather poor state. She had never received a reply. Dr. Brandt shows Holsten his late uncle’s impressive clock collection, which is one reason the estate is burdened with mortgages and also in need of repairs, since his uncle cared only about his clocks. Holsten has to accept that the dairy owner Jensen has his eye on Änne, as well as on the estate. The difficulties and resistance spur him to devise a completely different plan from the one that brought him to the Holstenhof. He wants to preserve the estate and, above all, win Änne’s affection. When Klaus, a former farmhand at the estate, returns, driven by homesickness, his hard work proves a great help to Holsten, as does the maid Fite, to whom Klaus is very devoted. Klaus also makes sure that the auction of the clock collection raises money for the creditors and for renovating the estate. Difficulties arise, however, when film people arrive from Berlin to shoot footage for a film about the heath at the estate. Among them are Holsten’s friend Knoll and the actress Evi Birkner, a friend of his. Various circumstances lead Änne to believe that there is more than friendship between Holsten and Evi. Änne, who had just begun to believe that Holsten loved her, is hurt. The two have a terrible argument, with the result that Änne decides to leave the Holstenhof she loves. Before she can carry out her plan, however, sparks caused by the heath railway start a spreading fire that puts the estate in danger. The solidarity of the heath’s inhabitants now becomes clear: in a joint effort, with the film crew also taking part, they manage to put out the fire and save the estate. Jürgen and Änne also get a happy ending: they find their way back to each other and are certain they can make the heath estate one of the most beautiful and profitable farms in the area.