Der Herr Kanzleirat (1948)

Leopold Bachmayer, a regional court judge, is an extremely law-abiding man. So he completely loses his temper when his landlady serves him butter she has bought on the black market. The unmarried judge is also a woman-hater. That changes abruptly when, shortly before his vacation, he is captivated by the seductive Marianne Seewald, whom he has to question over a brooch allegedly stolen by the maid. Earlier, he had berated her husband, Fritz, calling him a “henpecked husband” and a “wimp” for not being strict enough with his wife. The Seewalds quarrel, whereupon the lovestruck Bachmayer sees his chance and follows Marianne to Velden on Lake Wörthersee. There, he saves her from the advances of a guest at the boarding house and, to avoid causing a scandal, passes himself off as her husband. Fritz Seewald also turns up in Velden and presents himself as Judge Bachmayer. The president of the district court, Waltersheim, is determined to marry off his daughter Lilly and sees the (fake) judge as a suitable candidate. But Fritz Seewald will only go along with this adventure if he is made a senior regional court judge. Lilly, however, is in love with Dr. Hofstätten, who had briefly served as Bachmayer’s clerk and whom Bachmayer had thrown out of his office the day before. The once almost pedantically law-abiding judge Bachmayer is completely thrown off course: he makes a false report, insults a mail carrier, gambles, embezzles money, fights a duel, and steals a car. Meanwhile, Waltersheim has put his connections to work. Bachmayer, having returned to Vienna, is promoted to senior regional court judge and transferred to his new jurisdiction on Lake Wörthersee. There, he is supposed to preside over the case that has meanwhile been brought against the (fake) Mr. Seewald. The real Mr. Seewald eventually gets him out of trouble, and the deception remains undiscovered.