Meine Freundin Sybille (1967)

The film is about a tour group from East Germany on a Black Sea cruise. It revolves, on the one hand, around the comic character Hurtig and, on the other, around the unconventional love story of the young Ronny and Sybille. The group consists mostly of “privileged” people—doctors, professors, and so on, travelling with their families. Hurtig (the lead role, played by Rolf Herricht) steps in at short notice as a substitute tour guide for a friend, and is visibly out of his depth even on the flight from Berlin-Schönefeld to Odessa. Later, aboard the cruise ship Ivan Franko, his disorganization earns him constant criticism from both the “head tour guide” and several members of the group. After a day at the beach in Batumi, where Hurtig tries to set the two young people up (Ronny initially does not return Sybille’s advances because he is interested in a beautiful blonde aboard the ship), Sybille and Ronny miss the cruise ship’s departure. Hurtig, too, is left behind while searching for them. Ronny and Sybille then try, independently of one another, to reach the next port, Sochi, overland along the Georgian/Russian coast, and have a few adventures along the way. Particular emphasis is placed on the hospitality, friendliness, and generosity of the local people in the Soviet Union. After a few days, everyone finally makes it safely back aboard the ship and eventually returns by air to Berlin-Schönefeld. There, Ronny and Sybille decide to see each other again, while tour guide Hurtig is astonished to find that his “new friend”—a dog that had followed him since a train journey on the route between Batumi and Sochi—is already sitting in the taxi.