Briefträger Müller (1953)

The everyday life of the postman Titus Müller is shown against the backdrop of Meersburg, a town on Lake Constance that remained undestroyed during the Second World War. After delivering to himself a letter from his unknown aunt, Anna Hackbusch, in Italy, the postman sets off for Italy by bicycle with his wife and their three children. At Anna Hackbusch’s castle, he has to join many other people named Müller in filing past the wealthy aunt. Because he has hidden a sausage from the buffet in his jacket pocket, Hackbusch’s dog, Ambrosia, greets him joyfully. Since the wealthy aunt knows nothing about the sausage, she interprets this as the dog’s spontaneous affection for Titus Müller. This qualifies him, among the assembled Müllers, to inherit. When Anna Hackbusch dies, her dog Ambrosia inherits her fortune, which is to pass to the World Animal Protection Society after the animal’s death. Under the terms of the will, Titus Müller receives the dog Ambrosia and thus access to the fortune. He quickly settles into the world of the wealthy, falls out with his wife, “Kaninchen” (“Rabbit”), and takes the dancer “Mira Belle” as his mistress. Without knowing what it actually means, at one of the lavish parties he writes a check to the Salvation Army. When Ambrosia’s heart cannot withstand the strain of giving birth and stops beating, Titus Müller is suddenly a poor man again. He is not even invited to his daughter’s wedding, which has just taken place in Meersburg—now back against the town-square backdrop by the Upper Gate. The only thing he has left is a little puppy, which he names Ambrosius. In the meantime, the check Müller wrote to the Salvation Army has been used as the founding capital for the Titus Müller Foundation. The foundation tracks Müller down as an ordinary man and honors him; he reunites with his wife and becomes a postman again. Now he is on the road with Ambrosius, who is tirelessly by his side. The film’s song, “Yes, if only the good old post weren’t there …,” seals this parable about life’s ups and downs.