Die Prinzessin von St. Wolfgang (1957)

Princess Josi of Leuchtenberg returns to her home village of St. Wolfgang—and to her parents’ castle, Leuchtingen—after spending several years away studying law for six semesters. At the railway station, she is welcomed not only by her little brother Franzl, but also by her childhood friend Toni Leitner. Toni is friends with Franzl and has since established himself with a small car repair shop. During Josi’s absence, the family matriarch, Princess Isabella, has arranged her marriage to her distant relative, Prince Georg Alexander. The wedding is to take place in Cannes. Josi’s mother wants her to be able to drive to Cannes in her own car, so Josi takes driving lessons from Toni. On their first long drive, Josi, unsure behind the wheel, damages a reporter’s car. In a fit of rage, he photographs the two of them. Later, when he learns at the inn that the couple in the car are a mechanic and a princess, he has an article published in his newspaper alleging that the two are having a love affair. This causes a scandal in the noble family. Princess Isabella herself arrives in St. Wolfgang, ensures that Josi stops taking driving lessons from Toni, and officially announces Josi’s engagement to Georg Alexander. She then continues on to Cannes. Meanwhile, Toni leaves the ducal castle, disappointed, since he does not know why he is no longer allowed to give Josi driving lessons. Franzl wants to tell Toni everything in secret and sneaks off with the keys to Josi’s car. Later, distraught, Josi turns up at Toni’s because Franzl has disappeared. Together they find the car hanging from a tree on a steep slope. Franzl is trapped inside, but Toni manages to rescue him at the last moment. Josi’s mother now has qualms about forbidding Josi’s relationship with Toni. The two go to Salzburg to present one of Toni’s inventions to an uncle of Josi’s, causing another stir in aristocratic circles. Josi’s mother is now worried too, especially when Josi confesses that she loves Toni. Only when Josi realizes that her reputation and her family’s would be ruined forever does she break things off with Toni, despite admitting that she loves him. By this time, Josi’s uncle, influenced by Princess Isabella, has offered Toni a job in Australia, and Toni accepts it. Josi goes to Cannes, where she meets Georg Alexander at the engagement party, hastily arranged for the occasion. She admits to him that she loves someone else, but says she will nevertheless be a good wife to him. Only when the reporter hands Princess Isabella a photograph of Josi and Toni in a loving embrace—an image whose composition exactly matches a picture of Isabella with the one great love of her life—does the princess relent. The next day, she travels with Georg Alexander and Josi to Marseille, from where Toni is due to sail for Australia. Soon afterward, Toni and Josi marry in St. Wolfgang. Josi loses her noble title, but to the locals she becomes “the Princess of St. Wolfgang.”