Die Csardasfürstin (1951)

The Hungarian chanson singer Sylva Varescu is adored by Boni Kancsianu, for whom she feels only friendship. She does not see him as a man, or at least not a proper one, and he wants to prove her wrong. During a ride together, he hires locals to disguise themselves as robbers and attack Sylva. Boni had meant to intervene heroically and rescue her, but his horse bolts. Instead, Sylva falls into the arms of cavalry captain and military attaché Edwin von Weylersheim, who plans to spend the night with the disoriented Sylva in an abandoned hut. Boni arrives because the hut is only a few metres from the hotel. He and Edwin are friends, but Boni does not reveal Sylva’s name, suspecting that if he did, he would have no chance of winning her love. Edwin nevertheless discovers Sylva’s identity. He declares his love for her, but shortly afterwards has to leave on military duty. He promises to marry her when he returns. Sylva is now considering not going on her planned tour of Australia after all. Meanwhile, Edwin’s aristocratic parents have learned of their son’s planned match with a “music-hall girl” and are appalled, especially since Edwin was supposed to marry Stasi Planitz, a trained doctor. His father, Leopold, goes to see Edwin and meets Sylva and Boni there. After a misunderstanding, they pretend to be married, while Sylva remains incognito. In this way, Sylva learns of the parents’ disapproval and Edwin’s planned engagement to Stasi. She now decides to go to Australia after all. Her farewell concert is held at the same hotel as Stasi and Edwin’s engagement party. Leopold innocently invites Sylva and Boni to the party too. During the celebration, Stasi and Boni get together, and Sylva and Edwin also reconcile after some initial tension. As Stasi and Boni flee the hotel in disguise to go to the airport, Sylva reveals her identity. The parents are horrified, and Sylva gives up, since they will always stand between her and Edwin. After her final performance, she hurries to the airport. Edwin arrives too and once again declares his love for her. Just as the two are about to flee together, Sylva’s friend Feri von Kerekes arrives at the airport with news that the parents have agreed to Sylva and Edwin’s marriage: Edwin’s mother, Mathilde, was once a famous chanson singer herself, and had left Feri for Leopold.