Hotel Allotria (1956)

The young Hamburg musicians Franz, Max, Egon, and Paul decide to take a holiday together in Upper Bavaria. The reason is that Sonnyboy Max has fallen in love with the fetching Christl, the niece of the owner of the lakeside hotel there. On their way, traveling in their miniature vehicle called the “Spatz,” they break down with the engine boiling and steaming. They meet three pretty young women, who are also heading for the hotel. One of them, the equally spirited and pretty Steffie Holthaus, has very personal reasons for making the trip to the mountainous south: her father, a wealthy Hanseatic merchant, has been corresponding with the hotel owner for some time, and Steffie wants to know whether there is more to it than a casual acquaintance. Few people know that the elegant lakeside hotel is on the verge of bankruptcy. The reason is personal: the powerful farmer Kagerer has had his eye on the hotel owner for a long time, but she regularly turns him down. In revenge, the rejected suitor has since sabotaged the hotel’s success in all sorts of ways; for example, he has all the access roads crossing his property summarily blocked. The hotelier has found another admirer in Herr von Krachenfels, who is also staying at the hotel. But he only wants to fleece her, as does an as-yet-unknown thief who has been visiting the hotel at night for some time to rob its wealthy guests. By now, only the farmhand Toni and the former medical corps privates Neumann and Altmann remain loyal to the hotel as employees, keeping things running as before. Since the two former privates pulled a “shady deal” before the currency reform, they are in a sweat when Criminal Councillor Enzinger takes up residence at the hotel. But the detective is not after the two former crooks; he is pursuing the marriage swindler Krachenfels. The musicians’ arrival livens up the place, and with their musical flair Franz, Max, Egon, and Paul thoroughly overhaul the sleepy lakeside hotel and turn it into the “Hotel Allotria.” Farmer Kagerer has no choice but to face the new reality. The four young women find new life partners in the four young men, and Enzinger, with help from none other than Neumann and Altmann, manages to apprehend the shady Krachenfels just as he is about to make off.