Die Sennerin von St. Kathrein (1955)

Martin, the owner of the Haflinger stud farm, has won the shooting competition for the third time. According to old custom, at the celebration afterward he may choose his “queen” from among the village beauties in attendance. He chooses Liesl, a newcomer who works as a dairymaid at St. Kathrein. This does not sit well with the innkeeper’s daughter, Johanna, who has set her sights on the handsome landowner herself. Consumed by jealousy, she makes such a scene in front of the modest Liesl that Liesl leaves the festivities without a word. The next day, Martin meets Liesl again on his way up to the mountain pasture. The girl lives up there with old Hiasl and the shepherd boy Hansl. Martin and Liesl soon confess their love for each other, and it is not long before they become engaged. One day, Liesl’s brother Franz, who has run afoul of the law, turns up unexpectedly at the mountain hut. Since he has disappointed Liesl so many times before, she initially refuses to give him shelter, but in the end she lets herself be persuaded to put him up temporarily. Word soon spreads through the village that Liesl is sheltering a lover in her hut. The innkeeper’s daughter started the rumor and is very good at continually giving it fresh fuel. Even Martin gradually begins to doubt that his fiancée is being faithful to him. One day, while out stalking game, he hears a shot and suspects that a poacher is operating nearby. He investigates and finds Franz, badly injured, in a rocky crevice. While fleeing his pursuers—the hunter Loisl and his assistant—Franz had fallen into the crevice. Martin carries the seriously wounded man to the dairy hut. There, he hears Franz declare in his delirium that he is fond of Liesl. Martin is now convinced that his fiancée is cheating on him with another man, and he breaks off their engagement. That is exactly what the scheming Johanna has been waiting for; now she feels she is very close to achieving her goal. But things turn out differently from what the innkeeper’s daughter had imagined. Martin learns that Franz really is Liesl’s brother. His love for the girl, which he had merely suppressed, rekindles. He asks her to break with her criminal brother. Defiantly, Liesl says she cannot abandon Franz. But he cannot give up poaching and, as soon as he recovers, takes up the forbidden hunt again. After an adventurous chase, the gendarmes finally manage to catch the culprit and take him into custody. Martin, meanwhile, leads his Liesl to the altar, with the villagers turning out in great numbers.