Feuerwerk (1955)

In August 1909, a traveling circus arrives in a small German town. Its director, Sascha Obolski, is none other than the brother of local garden-gnome manufacturer Albert Oberholzer, who disappeared twenty years earlier. Alexander Oberholzer, as Sascha Obolski’s real name is, has now come to congratulate his brother on his 50th birthday, as have his other brothers, who are arriving too. The bewildered townspeople also meet his enchanting wife, Iduna, who sings about her father, a famous clown. She turns the heads of several respectable husbands, stirring up conflicts with their wives. Meanwhile, Anna, Albert Oberholzer’s daughter, is fascinated by the circus and its director. Although she is actually in love with Robert, the gardener, she runs away from home to join the circus as a performer. She also hopes this will help her escape being sent to live with an aunt she dislikes, Paula. Paula is portrayed as a forceful woman who keeps her husband, Gustav, a civil servant, firmly under her thumb. Iduna, however, watches the growing closeness between Anna and her husband suspiciously and goes to the station, intending to leave disappointed for her home in Paris. Anna is torn and, in a nightmare, already imagines herself as a daring circus performer in dangerous situations. Eventually, everyone’s troubled feelings settle down: Iduna abandons her plan to leave, Anna finds her way back to Robert, and the circus gives a dazzling farewell performance. The circus moves on, and right at the very end it turns out that another member of the family has joined it after all: Uncle Gustav, who gives up his position as a government councillor.