Der Jäger vom Roteck (1956)

Mayor Attenberger wants nothing more than for his daughter Johanna to marry Georg Rüst, the owner of the sawmill, since he is the richest man in the village. To his regret, however, Johanna cannot feel any affection for Rüst, because she suspects that he acquired his wealth by dubious means. One day, Johanna meets Bert Steiner, the new gamekeeper, in the Roteck forest. The two young people take to each other at once, so they meet more and more often in the woods and eventually fall in love. Christl, a dairymaid, is pregnant by Rüst. When she tells him and reminds him of his promise to marry her, he rejects her. The girl then tries to drown herself in the nearby reservoir. Matthias Feldner, a woodcarver and friend of the new forester, notices her. At the last moment, Feldner manages to save the dairymaid. At the church fair, Rüst and Steiner get into a fierce quarrel. The mayor manages to separate the two only with great difficulty. By chance, Steiner overhears a conversation between some farmers and the drunk Jadriga. Jadriga works for the sawmill owner and is devoted to him. The conversation concerns the fire at the Holdinger farm twenty years earlier, in which Rüst is said to have played a disreputable role. At his master's request, Jadriga topples the statue of the Madonna from its pedestal up by the mountain stream. Steiner and Johanna are the first to notice the sacrilege. As Steiner tries to stop the statue from being swept down the stream into the valley, Rüst suddenly appears. Rüst is about to push Steiner into the stream, but gives up only when Johanna points her rifle at him. In the end, justice prevails. Johanna and the gamekeeper from Roteck decide to share the rest of their lives.