Lauter Liebe (1940)

Marlies Nathusius and Hans Haeberling have known each other since childhood. Somehow, though, they never really became a couple and remained merely “good friends” who could tell each other anything. Now, however, there is a state of high alarm in both the Nathusius and Haeberling households. The two young adults are to be matched—but not with each other! Mrs. Nathusius is determined that her daughter, who currently has a crush on the opera singer Enrico Battini, should marry the refined but dull Traugott Himmelsteig. She has already reached an agreement with his parents, Edwin Himmelsteig and his wife. Marlies is horrified and refuses, so she is promptly put under house arrest. The dashing Hans fares little better. His parents have chosen a prospective bride for their son, who has so far avoided commitment: the stiff Agathe Gackstetter, who comes from a good family but is just as eccentric as her surname sounds. Hans has long had someone else in mind, too: he has fallen for the dancer Sylvia Gaden. Since his father, Mr. Haeberling, is just as opposed to this choice as Mrs. Nathusius is to Marlies’s, Hans is put under house arrest as well. The two confined “children” next door begin communicating across the balcony. They promise to help each other win over their respective dream partners. Then they come up with a brilliant idea for a pact: they decide to marry each other and enter into a marriage of convenience for a time, not least to thwart their parents’ marriage plans. Marlies and Hans’s intention to marry is announced before the engagements of Marlies to Traugott and Hans to Agathe can be announced at the annual summer party. Mrs. Nathusius is especially appalled by Marlies’s decision, since Hans Haeberling is considered a heartbreaker of the highest order. Hans and Marlies firmly intend to divorce soon after the wedding. Their marriage is to exist only on paper—in other words, to be completely sexless. Not wanting to appear slighted and rejected, Traugott and Agathe decide to marry as well. Hans and Marlies stick to their intention to separate even during their honeymoon, and plan to get together with their respective loves, Enrico and Sylvia, once they return. But eventually they realize what they have in each other, and their marriage of convenience develops into a deep love relationship.