Der Glockengießer von Tirol (1956)

Georg Gruber starts work as a journeyman at the bell foundry run by Schwaiger. He falls in love with Schwaiger’s daughter, Monika. Schwaiger has gone into debt to old Ampflinger while casting two bells, and Ampflinger is also willing to lend him the money to cast a third. The two men had agreed that Ampflinger’s son, Paul, would be allowed to marry Monika one day. She knows nothing about this; she had fallen in love with Paul anyway, but now gets together with Georg. Actress Lia Serrana arrives in the village with her film crew to shoot a Heimatfilm. She takes a liking to Georg, but he turns down a role in the film. When Ampflinger suddenly demands immediate payment for the casting of the third bell, threatening otherwise to claim Monika for his son, Georg and Monika secretly sell an old statue of St. Christopher, which is supposed to bring good luck during a bell casting, and replace it with a copy. The buyer, in turn, pays for the bronze for the bell, temporarily averting Ampflinger’s threat. But Paul discovers the forgery and wants to expose Georg to Schwaiger, who is in the middle of casting the bell. The men fight, and Paul falls into the molten metal and dies, though Georg had not wanted this to happen. The villagers now shun Georg. Monika also turns away from him, so Georg goes off with actress Lia Serrana. Two years later, they are a couple, and Georg is appearing in supporting roles in films. He cannot shake his calling, whether in Munich or Hamburg. He climbs bell towers and unsuccessfully applies for jobs at bell foundries. One day, in an antiquarian bookshop, he sees the St. Christopher statue they sold back then. He buys it and sends it to Monika. She places it in the abandoned bell workshop, and soon old Schwaiger regains his former zest for life. The third bell is cast. Georg, who had meanwhile planned to emigrate to Canada, returns to the village. There he meets Monika, who now has a two-year-old boy. He realizes the child is his and gets back together with Monika.