Das zweite Leben des Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Platow (1973)

Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Platow is 57 years old and has been a crossing keeper in the small village of Luege for 34 years. Now the line is to be electrified, and Zolle, the official in charge, considers Platow incapable of further training. Not only because he is too old for the changeover: many years ago, he was already offered a training course and turned it down. The employee Rennmark, however, insists that Platow’s case cannot be understood solely from his personnel file and wants to give him a chance to qualify. When Rennmark unexpectedly dies, Zolle gets his way. Platow is now to work on a branch line, a job his son Georg Friedrich Wilhelm has held until now. Platow’s son, in turn, is to be sent on the qualification course. But, true to family tradition, the son refuses, and Platow secretly decides to attend the several-week qualification course at the railway school in his son’s place. He changes his hairstyle and clothes (leather jacket, white jeans, sunglasses) and heads to the course. On the train to the railway school, he meets Malvine and tests her reaction to his age. She sees through him, however, and gives him tips on how to look younger, telling him to walk differently and change his manner. At the railway school, he actually passes for someone in his late thirties and shares a room with Ditfurt. He struggles with the coursework, cheats, and fails the simulation on the model railway layout. He is close to giving everything up, but he also wants to be near Malvine, with whom he has fallen in love. His teacher, Schildt, is a rival for her affections. Schildt, Malvine, Ditfurt, and Platow go to a classical concert and to a disco where the Puhdys play for dancing; Platow and Malvine also visit a railway museum together. At an old railway embankment, Platow finds a railway handcar that has been put in storage. He wants to get it running again and donate it to the railway museum. There is a problem, however: the handcar can only be taken to the museum by rail. In the end, Malvine chooses neither Platow nor Schildt, as she wants to return to her former husband, a famous actor in Berlin. In the conversation between Schildt and Platow that follows, Platow accidentally reveals his true age. The case of fraud causes a stir and even brings an investigative reporter to the railway school. The institution discusses the case and decides that something like this must not happen again. Platow is to be expelled from the course, since he has not understood the principle of electronic switching anyway. Platow leaves, puts the handcar on the tracks, and sets off on it. Because the electrification of the railway has automatically blocked certain sections, Platow has a clear run. Whenever he is diverted onto a branch line, he lifts the handcar back onto the main line. The men in the control center realize that the person they are dealing with must be someone who understands electronic switching very well. Schildt and his students happen to be in the control center and finally see Platow on the handcar. Schildt runs after him and begs him to get off the handcar at last. He has proved that he can handle modern technology and will pass the qualification course with a grade of 1. A little later, Platow is seen working for the railway—in a large city.