Der Mann mit dem Objektiv (1961)

In the year 2222, a group of researchers is experimenting with the ZSW (Time-Ray Wall), which enables them to look back into the past. In the first tests, they see the actor Martin Marten changing a tire on a young woman’s car on the highway. After this scene ends, the ZSW shifts to a lake, where a couple are arguing on a pier. The man then drives away in his car. Os, a rocket pilot who is interested in the new, still-imperfect device, gets too close to its range of effect and is transported to the year 1960. He lands completely naked in the lake and frightens the startled Anita. Although she does not believe his story, which is meant to explain his sudden appearance, she lends him her bathrobe so he can buy some clothes. In a menswear shop, he asks a saleswoman for clothing appropriate to the period. She cannot make sense of his request, thinking Os is not quite right in the head, and calls over the store manager. Os is now outfitted from head to toe, but he cannot understand why he is supposed to pay for the clothes. The police are therefore called, and take him to the station. There, he tries to convince the local police officer (ABV) of his story, but fails. When asked for witnesses, however, he can point to Anita, who, as it happens, is the police officer’s neighbor. Her friend and colleague Böckchen, from the “Bright Future” women’s clothing factory, is convinced that Os is the actor Martin Marten. After consulting the director of the local theater, the ABV passes on to the clothing-store manager the request that he send the bill to the theater. Anita and Böckchen decide to take Os to their workplace, since they do not often get a celebrity like him (as they now believe him to be) close at hand. Benno, the department head who had argued with Anita at the lake that morning, is told truthfully by Os that he is not an actor. Benno takes this information to the company director, and the two suspect that Os is an employee from the higher-level agency. During a discussion between the director, Anita, and Os about the fashionable style of the clothes they produce, Anita points out that all they make are sacks. Although Os can use his GGO (Feelings and Thoughts Lens) to read the director’s thoughts, he discovers that the director has new, attractive designs in his desk by his former colleague Maja Mayer. After being delegated to study and successfully completing her studies, she now works as a lecturer at the Fashion Institute in Berlin. The director defends the unattractive designs until Os presents the drawings. Benno, who has been called in, is of the opinion that no one would wear these clothes, but the director arranges to meet the supposed superior that evening at the “Weltfrieden” Hotel, hoping to settle the matter in a relaxed setting. The evening in the hotel bar descends into complete chaos. The actor Martin Marten, who is staying at the hotel, has returned from Berlin, leading to constant mix-ups with the rocket pilot Os, starting with the concierge. Maja Mayer is also staying at the hotel; she is the young woman Martin helped on the highway that morning. Anita and her colleagues, as well as the ABV, are there too, and Os gets into a physical altercation with Benno. That evening, Anita and her neighbor become a couple. Os falls in love with Maja and wants to prove to her the next morning at nine o’clock in the theater that he and Martin are two different people. As he walks up the theater steps, a whistling sound is heard and he is transported back to the year 2222. Only his clothes are left behind.