Der 90. Geburtstag oder Dinner for One (1963)
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A butler must impersonate four deceased friends to serve a birthday dinner for his mistress.
The story
Miss Sophie is celebrating her 90th birthday and has invited her four closest friends to a birthday dinner: Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr Pomeroy, and Mr Winterbottom. However, she has outlived all of them, requiring her butler James to impersonate the guests. James must serve Miss Sophie the four courses à la russe while also serving the four imaginary guests the drinks chosen by Miss Sophie. He must slip into the role of each guest and drink a toast to Miss Sophie four times for each course, leading to a comedic situation as he becomes increasingly intoxicated.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Miss Sophie celebrates her 90th birthday by inviting four friends to dinner: Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr Pomeroy, and Mr Winterbottom. Since they are all deceased, her butler James must impersonate each one. James serves four courses—mulligatawny soup, North Sea haddock, chicken and fruit—while providing the specific drinks requested by Sophie (sherry, white wine, champagne, and port). As James drinks toasts for each imaginary guest, he becomes increasingly intoxicated, losing his dignity, breaking into song, and accidentally drinking from a flower vase. The sketch features running gags, including James tripping over a tigerskin rug, his sarcastic compliance with Sir Toby's drink requests, and his painful attempts to knock his heels together as Admiral von Schneider. The evening concludes with Sophie retiring, and James, still tipsy, gives a final sly grin to the audience before they retreat to the upper rooms.
- First release year
- 1963
- Runtime (minutes)
- 18
- Production countries
- West Germany
- Original languages
- English; German
- Directors
- Heinz Dunkhase
- Writers
- Lauri Wylie · writer
- Cast and characters
- Freddie Frinton · James; May Warden · Miss Sophie
- Genres
- comedy; sketch
- Themes
- loneliness; tradition; alcoholism
- Tone and mood
- comedic; absurdist
- Premise and plot tags
- comedy sketch; two-hander; New Year's tradition
- Source material / true-story basis
- A British stage revue sketch by Lauri Wylie
- Reception
- The sketch is a massive New Year's Eve tradition in several European countries, particularly Germany, where it was the most frequently repeated television programme in 1995. It is well-known in Europe but relatively unknown in the UK.
- Production trivia
- It was the most frequently repeated television programme in Germany as of 1995.; The sketch was originally a stage revue piece from 1934.; Google added an easter egg to the film's Knowledge Panel in 2021 featuring a tiger's head.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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