Junge Leute in der Stadt (1985)

Emanuel, a young man, hangs around outside a Berlin railway station during the Great Depression in the late 1920s. There, taxis turn around and slowly move up in line while their drivers hope for a good fare. The drivers barely pay any attention to their unemployed colleague. When he asks if he can at least take a turn driving, he gets a weary wave of dismissal. At last, one of them lets him take the wheel, but only so the car won’t be left unattended while the driver runs to a public urinal. After two years of unemployment, Emanuel decides to go back to the countryside and live with his parents. Before leaving, he wants to drive through Berlin one last time. His friend Fritz, a taxi driver, lends him his cab; Fritz has problems of his own, namely with his fiancée, Frieda. She works in a department store, where her boss is constantly sexually blackmailing her. Emanuel has some luck. A ballet troupe arrives at the station and, after several performances out of town, is now able to work at a Berlin hotel again. Two of the dancers ask him to drive them home. When they arrive, the girls realize that Susi has left her suitcase at the station and so cannot pay the fare. But Emanuel needs the money because he has to settle the fare with Fritz. He locks the girls in his apartment and goes to retrieve the suitcase. However, the lost-property office will not hand it over to him. So he lets the dancers go and hopes to receive his unemployment benefit so he can pay his debts. At the benefits office, the officials’ arrogance sparks a disturbance. A police squad is sent in to restore order to the demonstration. In the turmoil, a policeman is seriously wounded with a large dagger. Emanuel, who is standing nearby, is suspected of having struck the blow and flees. Policeman Korn wants to marry Gerda, who shares an apartment with Susi. Gerda does not love him, but at this time a civil servant is a safe prospect. Once at the police station, Korn claims he saw Emanuel deliver the stab. A witness who says the opposite is himself grilled until he withdraws his statement. On the strength of his claim, Korn is promised a promotion. That evening, Korn goes to the revue to watch Gerda in the show. Emanuel is there too, backstage, because he has fallen a little in love with Susi. He also wants to tell her that he will stay in Berlin. A taxi driver’s accident has opened up a job at the company, so Emanuel can start there the next day. Frieda is also at the hotel, struggling with herself and her boss, who has taken a room there for the night. She even flees the building. Standing in the hotel entrance, she is seen by her fiancé, who nevertheless drives on. But to keep her job, Frieda goes back to Reinhardt’s room and gives herself to him. Emanuel is sent away from backstage because he has no business being there. Once in the auditorium, he is recognized by Policeman Korn and arrested after a brief chase. At the same time, Susi is raffled off to one of the guests, who has thus won a night with her. Out on the street, Susi, in the car of the man who won her, and Emanuel, in the police car, are still able to wave briefly to each other as they drive away.