Das weiße Abenteuer (1952)

Close to the Austrian border lies a small Bavarian ski resort. There, retired Chief Inspector Josef Stutzinger runs the Alpenrose Hotel. The people of the little town of Firnau find it hard to get used to Stutzinger no longer being responsible for law and order, which the retiree sometimes finds rather exhausting. One day, a Dr. Peter Wiedemann checks into the hotel. He tells Franzi Schlott, who works there, that he is a Doctor of Philosophy. Stutzinger’s niece Lotte Wendel, who works as a ski instructor there after her father—also a police officer—was shot and killed on duty, immediately catches Wiedemann’s interest. He signs up for her ski class, but proves very clumsy on the slopes. Stutzinger notices that, despite being a beginner, he has strapped on racing skis. Wiedemann deftly evades his question about it. Franzi isn’t the only one interested in the smuggling stories circulating around town. Katharina, wife of ski manufacturer Alois Brandl, also has news about the smugglers and the border guards to share, and is amused that they even take ski poles apart at the border to inspect them. Much to her husband’s dismay, she likes to spend a great deal of money on stylish clothes, which he has to earn first. During a card game, the mayor tells Stutzinger that a young, dark-haired, very handsome man is supposedly a member of the smuggling gang. Lotte overhears the conversation and feels a thought rising in her mind, but quickly pushes it aside. Later, as Stutzinger is walking home, his dachshund Jockel barks and catches the scent of something in the snow. It is a medal for the winner of the 1949 Tyrol Slalom Championship. The glamorous Lydia Bartnik is a regular customer at Brandl’s workshop. She makes sure that Wiedemann is arrested, accusing him of stealing something from her room. Lotte does not believe the accusation and stands up for Peter. She also visits him in jail and gives him a stern talking-to, in case he really is involved in the smuggling. Peter is pleased by her concern, but does not seem like someone who is worried about his future. Meanwhile, Lotte speaks with her uncle and reminds him that he promised her father he would always be there for her. She asks him to make an exception in this particular case and investigate. Stutzinger agrees, but sets two conditions. First, no one must know that he is investigating. Second, even if Peter is guilty, she must accept the result without pleading with him if it turns out differently from what she hopes. Lotte firmly believes in Peter and agrees. Stutzinger begins his inquiries at the Austrian Alpine Club in Salzburg, where he learns that a certain Dr. Karl Holzmüller won the slalom in 1949. When he sees a photograph of Holzmüller, his suspicion that Wiedemann is Holzmüller becomes a certainty. On the day of the celebration marking the end of the ski season, Lydia Bartnik once again turns up at Brandl’s workshop, holding a small package, and disappears with it into another room. Later, she attends the celebration and runs into Wiedemann, who has escaped from jail. When she asks what role he plays in the smuggling operation, he indicates that he is involved, which clearly pleases her, so she withdraws her complaint. Franzi, who has been watching the two of them, tells Lotte all about it in no uncertain terms, and Lotte leaves the celebration, disappointed. Peter follows her, and from the safety of a log cabin they watch a man unstrap a ski and send it sliding down the mountain, straight toward the border fence. The next day, Peter encounters Katharina Brandl on only one ski. She explains that the other one has just broken. Stutzinger, who also notices this, starts to form his own suspicions. During a search of Lydia’s room, he and Franzi find the second ski, but put it back for the time being. Unbeknownst to them, Peter watches them through a window. Brandl, whom Lydia Bartnik has repeatedly persuaded to smuggle a small package across the border inside the front of a ski, has only now realized that it contains cocaine. He refuses to help again, but Lydia coerces him with threats into doing it one last time. She will be gone tomorrow anyway, she says, and he could certainly use the not-insignificant payment for his services to support his demanding wife. When Lotte and Peter meet on the slopes and see another ski whizz past them, Peter takes off down the steep slope after it, to Lotte’s alarm. Stutzinger is waiting at the bottom by the border fence and takes possession of the ski. Then Lydia appears with her accomplice and manipulates the situation so that, when the border policeman arrives, Peter appears to be the smuggler. As the policeman is about to arrest him, Stutzinger steps in and slips Peter a document identifying him as Dr. Karl Holzmüller, a border policeman with the Bavarian State Police, fully authorized to act. The deceitful pair are arrested, and Lotte gets her Peter. What began as a white adventure takes the young couple to Venice on their honeymoon.