Grenzstation 58 (1951)

Bavaria–Tyrol border region: In postwar Europe, the vastly different taxes on certain goods lead to a thriving trade in highly sought-after items such as cigarettes and alcohol. A gang of smugglers keeps the upright senior border guard Xaver Reitlechner and his colleagues Mitterer, Mayer, Gschwendtner, and Schulze very busy. The government officials have so far found no way to stop the crooks and are always one step too late. People in the community are already making fun of the border guards’ ineffectiveness, especially since they have no interest in the customs officers succeeding: many villagers profit from the smuggling or are even involved in it. Reitlechner is romantically involved with the respectable Anna Leitner, whose father, the Leitner farmer, is known as a rough-tempered hothead. Reitlechner has already put the perpetually sullen farmer behind bars once for smuggling. So the farmer is not pleased at the prospect of a “Green”—the name locals use for customs officers because of the color of their uniforms—soon becoming his son-in-law. Reitlechner’s colleague Mayer was once in love with Anna and still is, but she shows no interest in him. That is why he cannot stand Reitlechner. Mayer has told his superior, Border Police Inspector Hirzinger, that he suspects there must be an informant within the border police who is working with the smugglers. Now Mayer has fallen into the clutches of the landlady Retta Schwaiger. None of the customs officers yet knows that she is actually the leader of the smuggling gang, which sells its contraband on to the merchant Springer. One day, border guard Mitterer is shot dead while on duty in the mountains; he had just caught a smuggler. Reitlechner is the first to reach the scene, and he comes under serious suspicion because he had recently argued with Mitterer, believing that Mitterer was pursuing “his” Anna—a rumor that Reitlechner’s scheming old adversary Mayer had spread among their colleagues. To prove that he is innocent of Mitterer’s murder, the senior border guard breaks out of pretrial detention. Reitlechner hurries to Anna’s room at the Leitner farm to tell her he is innocent. She helps him escape and believes him. Before that, however, the two get married in the village. While Reitlechner hides in a hut high in the mountain forest, the police question Anna about his disappearance. Reitlechner intends to overpower the gang high in the mountains and prove his innocence at the same time. Meanwhile, the police have tracked down Sepp, the Leitner farmer’s hired hand, as a suspected murderer of Mitterer, because the police dog reacted to him. Since the border guards are also likely to attend Mitterer’s funeral, Reitlechner believes the smugglers will not pass up the opportunity. He therefore plans to catch the gang red-handed on his own. And indeed, Reitlechner encounters Sepp in the mountains. Sepp shoots at him with a stolen carbine and wounds the customs officer. The hired hand flees and hides in a cave, where Reitlechner finds him. They fight. Mayer arrives and now realizes he wronged Reitlechner. Mayer and Sepp fight hand to hand. Both fall into the depths and die. Then the other border guards from Border Station 58 arrive and arrest the entire smuggling gang. Shortly afterward, the border guards catch the merchant Springer on the road. Finally, the Leitner farmer is also caught in the mountains. The last member of the gang to be arrested is its leader, Retta Schwaiger, who is apprehended in her office.