Die Geierwally (1956)

Wally, the daughter of the wealthy Höchst farmer, is supposed to marry the farmer Vinzenz. But she loves Josef, the hunter, whom everyone has called Bear-Josef ever since he successfully fought a bear. When she refuses to go through with the marriage to Vinzenz, which her father has secretly arranged, he banishes her to the Jochalm, a mountain pasture belonging to the estate. On the way up, she meets Josef but conceals from him the real reason she is there. While Wally rescues an abandoned vulture chick from its nest and raises it in the alpine hut, the Höchst farmer’s staff are being mistreated. Convinced that Wally will return to the farm in remorse, her father has already handed its management to Vinzenz, who treats the staff badly. When Wally—already nicknamed “Vulture Wally” in mockery because of her devoted vulture—hears about this, she returns to the farm. Trying to protect old Lorenz from Vinzenz’s blows, she knocks Vinzenz down. Before the Höchst farmer’s staff can lock her in the cellar as her father ordered, Wally manages to escape. As she flees, she sets fire to the estate’s barn. Wally is now notorious. A conversation with a priest prompts her to offer her services as a maid in the surrounding villages, but she is turned away everywhere because the vulture follows her. She collapses on the doorstep of the farmers Leander and Benedikt, who take her in. Later, she hires herself out to them as a maid. Although both men are in love with her, and marrying one of them could protect her from her father’s anger, she rejects them because she loves Josef. She is allowed to tend sheep on their high mountain pasture. One day, Josef and the young Afra happen to come to the pasture. Wally immediately suspects Afra is a rival. In fact, however, Afra is Josef’s niece and is supposed to take a position as a maid in the village. Wally is appalled that her sacrifices for Josef have now been in vain. In the midst of her disappointment, news arrives that her father has died and that she is now the new head of the Höchst farm. Wally returns to her parents’ home and takes charge of the farm and its staff. She rejects Vinzenz, but at a marksmen’s festival she again notices how close Afra is to Josef. In front of the villagers, she insults Afra, calling her a woman who throws herself at men. A few days later, at a dance, Josef humiliates Wally in front of everyone, without Afra’s knowledge. In her hatred, Wally promises Vinzenz that she will marry whoever kills Josef. At Afra’s request, Josef goes to Wally to apologize. Vinzenz shoots at him several times, and Josef falls into a deep gorge. By now Wally’s anger has subsided; she climbs down to Josef and brings him to safety. When it becomes clear that he has survived, she returns, aware of her guilt, to the high mountain pasture where she lives with her vulture. After recovering, Josef goes there to bring her back, forgives her, and proposes to her. When Wally tells her vulture that from now on the three of them will have to live together, the bird flies away.