Die Wirtin zur Goldenen Krone (1955)

In the small town of Sonnenthurn-Weißenfels, the seat of the reigning princess, people have long since stopped whispering that Princess Pia Maria and Maria Lindner, the landlady of the Golden Crown Inn, look remarkably alike. Instead, the rumor that the beer tax is going to be raised is causing widespread talk and discontent. Maria Lindner pays no heed to rumors, but if it turns out to be true, she would personally go to the princess’s castle and protest. The princess herself knows nothing of her subjects’ discontent or of the proposed law. It is being pushed forward by Prime Minister Barthel and Finance Minister Bollemann, who want to turn the state brewery into a limited-liability company whose owners would be none other than the two ministers themselves. Officially, however, the conversion—which would enrich them—is intended to put the state budget back on a sound footing; it is in debt to the tune of six figures. Barthel blames not only the tuition fees for the princess’s nephew, Prince Karlheinz, but also the princess’s many trips. She is a scholar with a keen interest in fossils and is regularly invited to speak at conferences. One day, Pia Maria travels to Vienna with Weckenberg, her scholarly confidant, to have a dinosaur bone identified. As she is leaving, a film crew led by an American named Blackwell arrives, hoping to make a feature about the princess. She brusquely refuses. However, Lord High Marshal Clewing learns that the fee for the short film would immediately put the state budget back on track, and persuades Maria Lindner to impersonate the princess for the film crew. Since a balanced state budget would also mean the end of the beer tax, Maria agrees. She gets through the first scenes without any major problems, until Prince Karlheinz suddenly appears in front of her after filming has ended. In Vienna, he has fallen in love with Maria’s daughter Lore, who is currently working at a hotel there as an intern at a hotel-management school. Karlheinz asks Maria, whom he takes for Pia Maria, for permission to marry a commoner. Maria agrees, driving Clewing to despair. Because Karlheinz also wants to ask the innkeeper Maria for permission to marry, Maria quickly changes her clothes and tells him that the princess herself must say that she approves of the match between Karlheinz and Lore. When Karlheinz then sets out to visit the princess again, he learns that she has travelled to Vienna. There, in turn, he realizes that she has already been in Vienna for several days, so he cannot have spoken to her. Confused, he, the princess, and Weckenberg return to Sonnenthurn-Weißenfels. Meanwhile, Barthel and Bollemann have tried to trick “the princess” into signing the beer law. They gave Maria the document she was supposed to sign on camera as if it were a historical contract. Maria fakes a signature and then summons both ministers to her office. She makes it clear that she has seen through their tricks, but in doing so gives herself away as the innkeeper. She now declares that she will get the princess to oppose the law. Barthel and Bollemann arrange for Maria to be arrested, but the guards arrest the princess instead when she arrives at the castle. A rumor now spreads through town that the innkeeper has been arrested, and an angry crowd sets off for the castle. Meanwhile, Karlheinz is with Lore, who has also arrived in town and cannot understand her mother’s behavior. Clewing appears and tells them about the innkeeper’s arrest, but Maria enters the room shortly afterward. She realizes that the princess has been taken into custody and steps into the princess’s role one last time. At the castle, she has the prisoner brought to her. The two women talk things through. The princess has realized that, as ruler, she must hold the reins of power and cannot hand her authority over to her ministers. She, too, opposes the increase in the beer tax. She has no objection to Karlheinz and Lore marrying, especially since both women know that, owing to the former prince’s promiscuous love life, they are half-sisters. When the angry crowd reaches the castle, Pia Maria steps out before them. She calms the crowd, assuring them that the innkeeper was never under arrest and that the beer tax will not be raised. She also announces that the ministers responsible for the chaos have been dismissed and that from now on she will handle the affairs of state herself. The people are reconciled and celebrate the princess.