Lügen haben hübsche Beine (1956)

As actor Paul Hörbiger works on his memoirs, his gaze wanders to his secretary’s shapely legs, bringing back memories of the comedy of mistaken identities Lügen haben hübsche Beine. He explains to his assistant that what is interesting about it is not the film’s plot, but how the film came to be made. Three very pretty young women, short of money, share an attic apartment: Francis, an aspiring actress without an engagement; Lixie, an advertising designer who is working on a poster for silk stockings in the hope of selling her design; and Fräulein Dr. Johanna Eiseler, a young doctor who has just passed her exams but is unemployed. When the three spot a newspaper ad seeking a ski instructor in Oberirl, Johanna, an excellent skier, applies for the job, but pretends to be her own brother because the ad explicitly asks for a male applicant. Although getting started proves difficult, Johanna gets the job as Johann. While out in her free time, Johanna meets little Hans, who needs her help. She takes the child to see Dr. Philip Hackenschuh. The young doctor quickly realizes that something is not right about Johanna. Keeping his eyes and ears open, he soon guesses what secret she is hiding. Through some careful investigating, he finds out what he wants to know. When film people suddenly appear in the idyllic countryside to shoot some missing scenes against the tranquil natural backdrop, Simon Daxenberger, owner of the Sonnenhof Hotel, rubs his hands together, hoping to make a tidy profit from the film crew, led by the chaotic director Waldemar Bonislawsky. Annie Rosar and Rudolf Carl are also part of the crew, as is Vera Bella, who is supposed to be established as the film’s star. But once they arrive, it turns out that Vera Bella has lied and cannot ski at all. They have to replace her, and the choice falls on “ski instructor Johann.” The prop master is sure he can turn Johann into a pretty woman in no time, and says it is all just routine. In the end, however, Johanna makes sure that her friend Francis gets the role. The shooting schedule calls for Annie Rosar to perform a scene in which she is to ride a sled down into the valley. When she flatly refuses to do it, the director assures the seasoned actress that nothing can happen and demonstrates how risk-free it is. Annie Rosar gets on the sled, they rehearse, and everything goes well. But when they are ready to shoot the scene, something goes wrong, and the sled starts down the mountain with Annie Rosar unable to do anything. After the actress escapes with nothing worse than a fright, another problem proves less easy to resolve: Phantomfilm has, so to speak, vanished into thin air overnight, and its financier, Piepedanz, has fled to South America. It also comes to light that the man who fled is the husband of the wealthy vacationer. But Johanna and Dr. Philip Hackenschuh get their happy ending. Because of her deception, he tries to make Johanna understand that he has always known that lies have pretty legs—and that she is exactly the right woman for him.