Einmal ist keinmal (1955)

Composer Peter Weselin travels from Düsseldorf in West Germany to the small Vogtland town of Klingenthal, in the Musical Corner, where he plans to vacation with his uncle Edeltanne. After years of accompanying boogie-woogie on the piano, Peter needs a break from light entertainment music and is even plagued by boogie-woogie nightmares during the train ride. Still half asleep, he falls from the moving train, lands in a haystack, and waves away a woman driver who would have taken him to Berlin. After briefly dozing off, he is discovered by the Klingenthal girls Anna and Elvira, who kiss him exuberantly. Peter loses track of the two young women. Klingenthal turns out to be a musical place: the Klingenthal Music Days are approaching, and before long Peter has several commissioned works to compose. Uncle Edeltanne wants a piece for his traditional amateur music society, the Aeolian Harp; the accordion factory asks him for a classical composition for its in-house symphony orchestra; and the factory’s newly formed dance band urgently needs a hit song to perform at the Music Days. Peter’s adamant refusal to write a hit song particularly angers Anna, who is the band’s singer and also performs as a classical singer with the orchestra. She now refuses to sing Peter’s new composition, especially since a series of coincidences have given her the impression that Peter is pursuing her. Edeltanne, too, thinks Peter is having an affair and sends his nephew home. However, Peter finds a place to stay with Erwin, a music enthusiast who happens to live right next door to Anna. Anna believes Peter has actually left town, but Erwin arranges for them to meet, and they eventually confess their love for each other. Meanwhile, Peter has secretly composed a hit song for the dance band, which he plays for Anna for the first time on the eve of the Music Days. She is delighted. She is less pleased when he shows her his rhapsody for the symphony orchestra. He says he wrote it only for his great love—but the name “Marie Alvert” is written above the score. Marie is a well-known accordion player, for whom the piece includes a solo. Peter manages to convince Anna that he has never met Marie and did not write her name on the score, but it turns out that Marie is the woman who had offered to take him to Berlin shortly after his rough landing in the haystack. When Marie tells Anna about a funny encounter in the hay, Anna misunderstands what happened and leaves Peter on the eve of the Music Days. On the day of the performance, both Anna and Marie are missing, and Peter sees his rhapsody’s performance heading for failure. Suddenly, both women appear on stage, having used the time in between to clear things up, and the piece is a great success. Anna returns to the meadow where she first saw Peter. He runs after her, and they kiss.