Der Bauerndoktor von Bayrischzell (1957)

The story is set in the tranquil Upper Bavarian village of Bayrischzell. Here, the popular but rather gruff Dr. Sebastian Doppelsieder runs a tight ship. Despite his brusque manner—which means he is never at a loss for a blunt word—he is much loved by the rural community. He always tells his patients the truth without pulling any punches and regularly gives them a good talking-to. Doppelsieder’s prescribed “horse cures” have served the villagers well, but one day the Bayrischzell country doctor reaches his limits, too. The grumbling Pfundtner, the wealthy farmer from the Guldenhof, has had enough of his wife giving birth only to daughters. He already has seven of them! Now, Pfundtner says, it is high time they had a boy; after all, tradition dictates that the farm should one day be passed on to a son. So the Guldenhof farmer demands that country doctor Doppelsieder do nothing less than help his wife along with a “miracle potion.” But Pfundtner simply refuses to accept Doppelsieder’s explanation that this is beyond his control. In desperation, the big farmer then turns to Kräutersepp, a local man known for always having a supposed natural remedy for every little ailment. The shrewd old man sees a great business opportunity in all this superstition and naivety, and sells Pfundtner an expensive “boy-making elixir” concocted from bizarre ingredients, which the farmer’s wife, Franziska, is supposed to swallow. But she stubbornly refuses, since she is nowhere near as gullible as her husband. New hope arises with the return of Pfundtner’s eldest daughter, Leni, who has just completed her agricultural diploma and is in a relationship with Stephan Doppelsieder, the doctor’s son. He, too, has earned his diploma and wants to join his father’s village practice as a young doctor and designated successor, bringing in new treatment methods. The two young people have secretly married, but nobody in the village knows. And they are already expecting a child as well. One day, the old country doctor runs into serious trouble when the Berlin chanson singer Charlotte Wille arrives. She has come to Bayrischzell to recover her strained voice. When Dr. Doppelsieder senior gives her a stern talking-to as well, Charlotte—unused to being treated that way and unwilling to put up with it—is outraged and plots revenge. The singer spreads the false rumor that the elder Doppelsieder is doing business in dubious miracle elixirs. As a result, the country doctor is hauled into court and charged with quackery. But Dr. Federmann, the senior medical officer from Rosenheim, has secretly made inquiries about his rural colleague and is able to prove his innocence. In the end, everyone makes peace when it finally becomes clear that Leni is giving birth to a male heir, thereby making the country doctor a grandfather and giving farmer Pfundtner an heir to the farm.