Heute blau und morgen blau (1957)

In the tranquil small town of Lieberich, town councilor Hugo Bunzel and his wife Elfriede are active members of the “Society for the Prevention of Alcoholism” and do everything they can to ban alcohol from public life. Hugo is particularly annoyed that Mayor Jakob Selbach has been blocking a bypass for some time, since the trucks passing through Lieberich—making the lamps wobble and the plaster crumble in Hugo’s home—also supply Jakob’s inn with strong liquor. One day, Hugo receives word that his brother Wilhelm has died. Hugo is supposed to go to Mainz for the reading of the will, but he thinks he has inherited debts, since the brothers once fell out over Wilhelm’s love of alcohol and his work as a liquor salesman. In Mainz, Hugo learns that Wilhelm eventually became a commercial councillor and made and left behind a fortune by selling his sparkling-wine businesses. The inheritance of one million marks goes to Hugo, but on one condition: For one month, he must drink three bottles of sparkling wine every day, without changing his usual daily routine or telling anyone about the will or its conditions. At first Hugo refuses, but then decides to go through with it so that his three sons, Dieter, Hermann, and Klaus, and his daughter Lilo can have a secure future. The young Werner Ott is assigned to him to keep a record of Hugo’s daily sparkling-wine consumption. Hugo brings Werner into his house under a pretext. The first sparkling wine is secretly consumed in Lieberich’s local history museum, leading to severe intoxication and an even worse hangover the next day. Even so, Hugo manages to get through the first four weeks without any major mishaps. Over time, however, Elfriede begins to worry about his health, as he sometimes sways and has trouble speaking. The family doctor, Dr. Schluck, says that in such cases half a bottle of sparkling wine a day can help people who abstain from alcohol, and prescribes it for Hugo. Elfriede secretly orders some bottles of sparkling wine from a shop and, while doing so, sees Werner Ott buying Hugo’s daily ration of three bottles. She now suspects Werner is an alcoholic, and Hugo confirms it. He says he took Werner into his house only to reform him. Werner now also becomes an object of interest to Hugo’s daughter Lilo, who falls in love with him as a “case in need of care.” Mayor Jakob is not at all pleased, since he is planning a marriage between Lilo and his son Wilfried in order to win Hugo over to his side. Jakob does not know that Wilfried has long been in love with Evi, the daughter of Hasenbein, the town’s notorious drunk. The start of the “medical treatment” with sparkling wine leads Hugo to suddenly drink six bottles at once, and Dr. Schluck calls off the treatment. Instead, he prescribes Niederwalder medicinal spring water. Hugo secretly fills these bottles with sparkling wine so that he can continue drinking his three daily bottles without being discovered. At the next meeting of the “Society for the Prevention of Alcoholism,” the sparkling-wine-filled Niederwalder water puts everyone in a cheerful mood, and Hasenbein is so delighted that he spontaneously resolves to become a teetotaler. At Lieberich’s big winegrowers’ festival, the day before the will is to be carried out, things come to a head when the society’s drunken members storm the festival and Hugo accidentally sets off the grand finale fireworks. Lilo is drunk too; she wanted to find out at last what Werner goes through every day. Jakob, meanwhile, wants to force Lilo to marry and plans to lock her and his son Wilfried together in the wine cellar, but instead catches Wilfried and Evi. His grand announcement that, by opening the wine cellar, he will bring about the forced wedding of two lovers is met with enthusiasm by Hasenbein, since Evi will now become the mayor’s daughter-in-law. Jakob, however, is devastated. The day also ends badly for the Bunzels: When Hugo throws his own money out of his study window, he is arrested because Jakob believes he has embezzled public funds. Every attempt to smuggle the last three bottles of wine to Hugo in prison fails. Hugo is finally released at exactly the time the will takes effect. Dr. Schluck is required to take a blood sample from him and check its alcohol content. Although Dr. Schluck accidentally takes Elfriede’s blood instead, she too has no alcohol in her blood, so Hugo does not inherit Wilhelm’s fortune. In that event, a new provision in the will, unknown to Hugo, takes effect: The million will now be divided equally among Hugo’s four children, and Lieberich exuberantly celebrates the town’s first millionaire.