Donner, Blitz und Sonnenschein (1936)

The wealthy farmer Jacob Greizinger and the tailor Huckebein are at odds. The tailor, who is constantly short of money, still owes Greizinger 100 Reichsmarks. Secretly, the farmer hopes Huckebein will be unable to pay back the 100 marks, because then his house would be auctioned off to settle the debt. Greizinger sees a fine business opportunity in this. It is no help that Greizinger’s son Andreas begs his father to show Huckebein mercy. He has good reason for intervening: young Greizinger is in love with Huckebein’s daughter Evi. One day, someone passes Greizinger a counterfeit 100-mark note; then a town council meeting does not go his way, and on top of that, his waistcoat has been so badly affected during their last boozy get-together that it has to be taken to the tailor. When Huckebein finds the counterfeit banknote, he struggles with his conscience—but only briefly. Then, a little the worse for drink, he slips the note back into the waistcoat, but the wrong one: his journeyman Franzl and Huckebein’s wife have since tidied up the workshop a little and hung up the dance teacher Sonnweber’s suit, which needs mending, in place of Greizinger’s waistcoat. When Sonnweber hears from Franzl how financially hard up the Huckebeins are, he cheerfully hands them back the hundred-mark note he has just found and adds a few good words of advice. When Greizinger turns up, hoping at last to wrest the house from Huckebein, he is annoyed when the tailor puts the counterfeit hundred-mark note into his hand as repayment—without knowing that it is actually Greizinger’s own counterfeit note. Greizinger’s displeasure gives Huckebein’s journeyman an idea. They ought to give the wealthy farmer a real taste of his own medicine. Franzl suggests that they tell Greizinger that iodine water has been found on Huckebein’s property, that it could make a fortune, and that the neighboring municipality of Altenbrunn has already been made prosperous by it. To prove the discovery, Franzl hands the farmer a bottle of iodine water … supposedly taken directly from a spring on Huckebein’s property. Greizinger suddenly becomes extraordinarily friendly toward his old adversary. He even gives him back the 100 Reichsmarks and finally asks whether Huckebein would sell him his property. Under the influence of alcohol, Greizinger lets himself be bargained up to 10,000 Reichsmarks, just as journeyman Franzl begins to feel a twinge of guilt and tries to stop the sale at the very last second. But the deal has already been sealed. Later, when Greizinger learns from a chemist he has hired that he has been tricked, he wants to undo the deal. During a merry drinking spree with his new “friend” Huckebein, Greizinger yells at the tailor, calling him a swindler and threatening to drag him into court. Greizinger now refuses even to pay the bill for the celebration of their abruptly ended brotherhood. Tailor Huckebein has no choice but to pay for the champagne party out of his own pocket—with the returned counterfeit hundred-mark note. After changing hands repeatedly, the forgery is discovered, and Huckebein has to spend the night in a prison cell. The next day, the police commissioner questions the Huckebein family, Franzl, and Mr. Sonnweber about the matter. It soon becomes clear that Huckebein is innocent. Meanwhile, Franzl intercepts the chemist, who is on his way to farmer Greizinger with some good news. He learns from him that soil samples have revealed an iron-bearing vein, rather than iodine, on Huckebein’s former property. Franzl sends the chemist to a café and secretly informs his master that his former property really does contain a valuable mineral. He must accept Greizinger’s demand to buy it back! The tailor, however, makes it a condition that the farmer agree to an engagement between his son Andreas and the tailor’s daughter Evi. The deal goes through. At the evening summer ball, the impending marriage is being celebrated when the chemist interrupts. He cheerfully tells his client Greizinger that the property he bought so cheaply is worth not 10,000, but well over 100,000 Reichsmarks. Greizinger rages with fury, while the Huckebein tailor family is set up for life once and for all.