Bomben auf Monte Carlo (1960)

After playboy and captain Eddie Cronen runs a ship aground yet again, he and his friend Dr. Swaart are stuck in a small boarding house. He has not paid his bill for weeks, and the innkeeper has since taken their trousers so his delinquent guests cannot run away. This pleases the innkeeper’s daughter and the young Giuletta, both of whom are vying for Eddie’s affection. Eventually, Eddie receives a letter from the Kingdom of Dorado offering him the position of commander of its fleet. Without Eddie’s knowledge, Dr. Swaart had replied to a newspaper advertisement for the job. The innkeeper now fawns over Eddie, and he and Dr. Swaart get their trousers back. A short time later, they set off for Dorado. The fleet turns out to consist of the old gunboat Persimon, and its crew is undisciplined. They threw their previous captain overboard, so Eddie, a daredevil, seems to the prime minister a suitable choice for the job—especially since Eddie uses a trick to get all the other applicants sent out of the palace. Eddie gets the position and learns that the very next day he is to take Princess Marina to Portugal. Marina will come of age the following day and from then on will rule in place of the prime minister. He intends for the inexperienced young woman, who has so far been kept from the people, to find a husband in Portugal. Eddie sees the gallery of ancestors in the palace and is horrified: the princess can only be an ugly woman. Marina learns from her maid that Carnival is being celebrated in Monte Carlo that evening. Since everyone there can be someone they are not, she secretly dresses as a maid and flees the palace. She runs into Eddie, who takes her with him to Monte Carlo. Believing he has the princess’s maid in front of him, he makes a few disparaging remarks about the probably unattractive princess and falls in love with Marina. They go out to eat and dance, and in the end he gives her a valuable necklace. That evening they meet again, visit a casino, and eventually end up aboard the Persimon, where Eddie and the crew are celebrating. During the day, the princess’s belongings have been loaded, and Marina becomes suspicious when she hears about the enormous number of crates supposedly packed with her things. She has herself taken to the storeroom and discovers gold bars in the crates—the entire fortune of Dorado. The next morning, she holds court. The prime minister asks permission to take a vacation while she is away, and Marina suspects he intends to spend it in Tangier. Tangier was also planned as a stop on the voyage. Because the prime minister intended to seize the crates of gold during that stop and disappear with them, Marina orders his arrest. But the minister knows how much power he has and has Marina and her confidante, Contesse Tamm, locked in her room. He disguises his lover Olga, with whom he has prepared the theft, as the supposed princess. Marina gives Olga the necklace Eddie gave her. Eddie sets sail aboard the Persimon. At a captain’s dinner, he spots the necklace he gave Marina. He now knows that the woman posing as the princess aboard the ship is not the real princess, and that Marina must in fact be the ruler of Dorado. At first, they cannot establish a radio connection with the mainland because the prime minister is meanwhile speaking to the people over the radio. He claims that Marina wanted to steal the funds and that he stopped her from escaping. Before long, an angry mob gathers outside the palace. Eddie eventually demands by radio that the princess be released and says he wants to speak to her. Otherwise, he will bombard Dorado. Marina refuses to speak to Eddie, but the prime minister forces her to appear before the people, who throw stones at her. She then speaks to Eddie, but warns him about the minister. When the minister grabs the microphone, she shouts that Eddie should bombard the city. Eddie gives the order to fire. Amid the turmoil, Colonel Joseph Ward, Contesse Tamm’s lover, finally manages to knock down the prime minister. Marina appoints him as the new prime minister. Meanwhile, Eddie has hurried to the palace with his sailors to rescue Marina. By the time they arrive, it is all over. Marina has put on her finest dress for her beloved, and they are joyfully reunited. Eddie soon realizes that Marina now has other duties as regent, and lets her go. He says he will return and anchor at a particular pier. Marina orders that the spot always be kept clear. Eddie and Dr. Swaart sail away together.