Der schwarze Blitz (1958)

The master cabinetmaker and passionate skier Michael Kirchner meets the wealthy Uschi Bauer again after a year. She has returned from the city to Kirchner’s Alpine village and checked into the local hotel. While Uschi still believes they have a future together, Michael has long since fallen in love with Gretl Mittermayr, the hotel’s new young all-rounder. He turns down Uschi’s offer to join the ski club funded by her father. Former ski star Herbert Thanner arrives at the hotel. He lives in the United States with his wealthy wife, Daisy, and had given up skiing while at her side. He sees his trip back to the mountains as an escape from a life of wealth that had reduced him to little more than his wife’s chauffeur. He tries to recapture his old successes in the village, especially with a major race coming up. The competition matters because it serves as a qualifying race for the national team. Michael also wants to take part. A föhn wind is forecast for race day. Herbert is delighted, since he has brought a special wax from the United States that lets his skis glide well on wet snow. A trial run indeed shows Thanner with a substantial lead over all the other skiers. Thanner guards the secret of the wax and gets irritable when little Andi tries to find out more about its formula. Michael and Andi try to make a similar wax together. When Michael demonstrates it to some friends, he finds the bag of Thanner’s wax in his cabin; it has obviously been stolen. His friends pretend to know nothing, so Michael decides to sort things out himself. When he secretly slips the bag into Thanner’s jacket, Thanner catches him in the act. They get into a fight. Michael is now regarded as a thief. He accepts Uschi’s offer to go with her to the city. In the meantime, he plans to move to a mountain hut. That evening, Gretl arrives there completely exhausted; she believes he is innocent. They spend the night together in the hut. The next morning, a trial run for the ski race is held on the mountain. Because of the föhn, the course has been moved, and a particularly dangerous spot is marked with a flag and protected with straw bales. Little Andi wants revenge on Thanner, who had recently suspected him of stealing the wax and had also driven Michael into the mountains. When Thanner is on the course, Andi and a friend remove the warning flag, causing Thanner to crash badly and lie injured. Horrified by what he has done, Andi flees to Michael’s mountain hut, but it is empty. Michael had gone skiing with Gretl and said goodbye to her at midday. When he reaches the hut, two police officers are already waiting to take him away. He escapes them on skis and turns himself in to the chief constable. Confronted with the suspicion that he was responsible for Thanner’s accident, he can only offer as an alibi that he was at the mountain hut and has a witness to prove it. He withholds Gretl’s name. Andi’s friend is taken to the station and tells them about the prank they pulled together. Andi has also been missing since that morning. At the hotel, too, Gretl clears Michael of responsibility for what happened to Thanner: she announces that she was with Michael throughout the night and morning. Uschi then packs her things and leaves. The men gather to search for Andi. They follow his tracks and find him below a mountain slope. It is Michael who finally manages to rescue the freezing boy. Michael’s friend Hans Rofele confesses that he stole the wax, and Michael forgives him. Meanwhile, Thanner decides to return to his wife. He broke his arm in the fall and has realized that he cannot bring back his successful years as a skier—or force a victory. The big race takes place the next day. Rofele, who holds the course record, is beaten by Michael, who starts last. Michael is celebrated and eventually finds Gretl and Andi in the crowd; he leaves with them.