Der Kaiser und das Wäschermädel (1957)

Vienna in 1910: The unsuccessful painter Hans Herrlinger loves young Franzi Stiglmeier, who works as a delivery girl at a clothing store. She takes new clothes to the customers, who rarely pay. Instead, Franzi receives only marriage proposals and kisses from the gentlemen, even though she is already engaged to the senior teacher, von Schwan. Franzi’s boss, clothing merchant Ludwig Springbrunn, is desperate about his staff, since even the cashier, Thusnelda, who occasionally has to model the old-fashioned clothes, shows little enthusiasm for her work. Before long, Springbrunn’s store is on the verge of closing, especially as Springbrunn himself regularly dismisses his staff, only to hire them again later. One day, Hans plucks up the courage to tell Franzi that he loves her. She rejects him, but a little later Hans manages to get her to dance with him at a café. Franzi’s aunt Rosa, who works as a laundress for the imperial household, and Franzi’s fiancé, von Schwan, are also there, and they eventually see Hans kiss Franzi after an exuberant dance. Rosa is horrified and fears that her niece’s honor is in danger. She does not know who Hans is, and reports him to the police and then to various ministries. When no one deals with her complaint, she writes a letter directly to Emperor Franz Joseph I, hiding it in a freshly ironed imperial nightshirt. A house servant finds it there and reads the letter aloud to the entire staff. In it, Rosa, who originally comes from Berlin, gushes about her niece’s beauty and the crime of the kiss. The letter’s contents, which also provoke much laughter, soon spread throughout Vienna. Shortly afterward, everyone at Springbrunn’s store wants to be served by Franzi and no one else. She knows nothing about the letter or the commotion, but has met Hans again while she was on her way to deliver some hats to customers. Hans was appalled by the models’ dowdy style and redesigned them in a modern way. The hats sold immediately. With business suddenly booming, Springbrunn appoints Franzi head saleswoman. She insists that Hans be hired as the creative mind of the business, and he gets the store back on its feet. After a makeover, a new collection follows, with daring cuts that anticipate the styles of the 1930s through the 1950s and cause a stir in Vienna. Demand for a date with Franzi remains unabated, and the doorman Anton promises every admirer a meeting with the mysterious beauty. Soon he has collected dozens of business cards and tips, and finds himself in a bind. On the spur of the moment, he hires all the fashion house’s models, who pass themselves off as Franzi Stiglmeier. Ludwig Springbrunn’s fashion house, now renamed Louis Lafontaine, flourishes, and Franzi has plenty to do in her newly appointed role as the company’s authorized signatory. In addition to handling accounts and orders, she regularly has to dine with important clients or suppliers to negotiate prices and make contacts. Her relationship with Hans suffers as a result, until he has had enough. He breaks up with her because she has put work ahead of their relationship. Franzi’s love affairs—which are actually those of her many stand-ins—soon fill the newspaper gossip columns and become the talk of the town. The fashion house’s reputation suffers, especially as the city’s conservatives turn against Franzi. At a café, Hans hears Franzi being insulted at a men’s regulars’ table. He goes over to the men, starts a fight, and slaps one of them—Archduke Max himself. Hans is arrested and, as a Munich native, is to be deported to Germany for insulting the monarch. Franzi is distraught. She finally sees through the game Anton has been playing at her expense. One of the models, who had always been posing as Franzi when she met the Archduke himself, arranges an audience for her with him. Franzi asks him to pardon Hans. The Archduke relents, especially since the Emperor himself has by then learned about the many doubles. By order from the highest authority, all the Franzi lookalikes must marry the lovers they have found in a mass wedding, in order to restore Franzi’s reputation. Franzi herself also ends up at the altar: she marries her Hans, while her aunt Rosa has found a man for life in Ludwig Springbrunn.