Kleiner Schwindel am Wolfgangsee (1949)

The academically trained painter Walter Pichler has a problem: for years, his uncle Vinzenz Grillmayer has been financing his studies, believing that Walter studied medicine. Now Grillmayer invites the supposedly newly graduated Walter to his hotel in St. Wolfgang. Reluctantly, Walter accepts, but brings along his best friend, Peter Kurz. Peter really did study medicine and has just successfully completed his doctorate. The two work out a strategy for gently telling the uncle the truth. When they arrive, they are unable to clear up the misunderstanding—especially since Grillmayer is now doing his best to find patients for Walter without even asking him. One night, Grillmayer gets Walter out of bed because the young Trixi is supposedly at death’s door. Walter takes her out into the fresh air, and she soon feels better. Now everyone is talking about Walter’s skill. The cause of Trixi’s fainting spell was a telegram announcing the arrival of her fiancé, Dr. Egon Rittersheim. He is a lawyer and considerably older than Trixi. She does not like him, but her mother is delighted with him; she was also the one who arranged their engagement. Walter falls in love with Trixi and is no longer in a hurry to give up his role as a doctor, especially since Trixi fakes several fainting spells in front of Egon to get rid of him. When he is not giving simple advice for harmless ailments, Walter works on a promotional poster for holidays in Austria. It is to be his entry in a tourism advertising competition, whose winner would receive 5,000 schillings. Soon, he gets the idea of drawing Trixi against the backdrop of St. Wolfgang. Before long, Peter has to pass himself off as a painter to Grillmayer, and he gets into a bind when the esoteric Anny Bird insists on posing for the artist. When a guest falls ill, Grillmayer presses Walter to examine him. Meanwhile, Egon has grown suspicious, particularly because his fiancée is spending so much time with the supposed doctor. He has a doctor brought from town to examine the hotel guest. In a trick, Peter pretends to be the patient and prompts Walter with both his symptoms and the treatment already given. The doctor is satisfied with the treatment, but Egon does not give up. He telegraphs the university in Vienna to ask whether Walter was ever enrolled. In the meantime, Grillmayer organizes a mountain hike which, after a storm, leads to numerous cases of colds. The young Susanne Thomas, whom Peter has fallen in love with, is particularly badly affected. Although Walter is once again called in to treat someone, Peter steps in, since it is no longer a joke. He treats Susanne and confesses that he is the doctor and Walter is the painter. The situation comes to a head when Peter’s fellow student Marion Hanisch turns up in St. Wolfgang. Meanwhile, Egon tells Walter and Grillmayer about an impostor who has been arrested for pretending to be a doctor. Walter has had enough and leaves without anyone noticing. Shortly afterward, Marion appears at the hotel and congratulates Grillmayer: Walter has won first prize in the poster competition. Initially puzzled, Grillmayer then expresses his delight at having such a successful nephew. Egon receives a telegram confirming that Walter never studied medicine. He reports Walter to the police. The hotel guests also learn about the deception, but have to admit that Walter never actually claimed to be a doctor. They themselves were the ones who always called him one. Grillmayer, in turn, now says that Walter had only wanted to paint in the area incognito and had posed as a doctor. The actual medical advice, he says, came from Peter, whom Walter had brought along as cover. Egon arrives with a police officer, but the officer can find no crime. Trixi and Peter chase after Walter and get him off the train. The three of them travel back to the hotel, where they are greeted with cheers. Walter learns that he has won first prize. Soon afterward, Walter and Trixi get engaged, and Grillmayer now persuades his guests to let Walter paint them in oils.