Paradies der flotten Sünder (1968)

Framing story: Ignaz Hirnbeißer visits the Dolce Vita travel agency, owned by Alfonso Jäckele. Jäckele complains about business being slow: people would rather drive to their holiday destinations in their own cars. Mr. Hirnbeißer wants to take a holiday without his wife, but has only managed to save 800 marks. Jäckele advises him to go by car (followed by the episode “The Driving Test”), advises against Vienna (“Apartment for Rent”) and Mexico (“Happening in Meciko”), and tells him that the Salzkammergut is paradise for lively sinners (“Crowding Under the Canopy Bed”). Although Hirnbeißer would like to go wherever the “Playgirls” hang out, in the end he doesn’t book a holiday. He tells Jäckele, who is at the end of his tether, that he too owns a travel agency. Mr. Hisel has reason to celebrate. The father of numerous children is about to take his driving test for the 25th time. Mrs. Hisel hopes her husband will pass this time, since the family wants to go on holiday. Mr. Hisel shows during the theory test that he hasn’t got a clue. Even so, he is allowed to take the practical test, for which he has already worn out numerous examiners in the past. The test descends into chaos: among other things, Hisel turns the wrong way into a one-way street and eventually crashes into a gas pump after the exasperated examiner directs him to a service station. Petrol spills out, and Hisel causes an explosion when he lights a cigarette and carelessly tosses away the match. At the end, Hisel and his family are seen hiking to their holiday destination on foot. Heinz Haller lives in a spacious apartment in an old building in Vienna. He goes to a party and won’t return until the following day. His housekeeper, Elsa, is to look after the apartment in the meantime. Shortly after Heinz leaves, Elsa’s boyfriend turns up. Elsa is a thief who has already sneaked into numerous homes disguised as a maid. Now she wants to skip town with her boyfriend once again, but there is no cash in the house. On the spur of the moment, they pose as the Hallers and rent out the apartment that same evening to the young Helga. Helga is supposed to live with her Aunt Grete, but doesn’t want to. She pays Elsa the requested 10,000 schillings as a deposit and is taking a full bath when Heinz comes home. After a good deal of confusion, everything is cleared up, and the two are just about to eat together when Aunt Grete arrives. Helga locks Heinz in the bathroom, where he finds Elsa’s hidden disguise. He quickly dresses up as a woman and introduces himself to Grete as the maid. She is so delighted that she takes the fake Elsa to her estate, where Helga now lives too. Heinz is courted by both the chauffeur, Franz, and the Baron. When Grete reads in the newspaper that Elsa is wanted as a swindler, she decides to have Heinz arrested. She surprises him just as he has taken off his disguise and, startled, falls into the swimming pool. In the end, everyone winds up in the water, and Heinz and Helga kiss. Singing star Nick Dreamer travels to Mexico with his British butler, Percy, where he is due to take his first film role in “Happening in Meciko.” Sam Vogel of Rinaldo Film is already waiting for them at the airport and directs them to their car. However, they get into the wrong car. A short time later, they find themselves in the hands of kidnapper José Uraga, who plans to extort a $200,000 ransom from Sam Vogel for Dreamer’s release. Vogel, however, is unwilling to pay that amount and would rather recast the role. Before long, Nick and Percy find themselves stuffed into sacks aboard a small boat. Uraga intends to throw them overboard at sea with the help of his two henchmen. But his sister, who briefly takes over watching the two prisoners, frees Nick. He sings her a song and then knocks her unconscious. An avid reader of crime pulp novels, Nick frees Percy and soon afterward knocks out Uraga’s henchmen, who end up in the sacks themselves and are shortly afterward thrown overboard by Uraga. Uraga and the helmsman also wind up in the water, and Nick and Percy reach the film set half a day late. Vogel is annoyed but is willing to give Nick a second chance. Paul Topper from Castrop-Rauxel is on holiday in the Salzkammergut. He wants to enjoy unspoiled nature and bathes naked in a mountain lake. Two children steal his clothes, so he enters the villa of a Dutch cheese manufacturer wearing only foliage, hoping to find something to wear. In the bathroom he finds a towel and wraps it around himself. Suddenly he hears voices and hides under the canopy bed in the adjoining bedroom. A little later, Laura and her lover Bobby arrive and, much to Paul’s dismay, begin making love on the sagging bed. They are interrupted when Laura’s husband, Lodewig, unexpectedly returns from a trip. Bobby also hides under the canopy bed, where, to his surprise, he discovers Paul. The men introduce themselves to each other while Laura and Lodewig begin a long lovemaking session above them. Later, Lodewig goes into the bathroom, and Paul and Bobby hide behind the curtain and in the wardrobe before managing to escape. Lodewig is satisfied and goes to bed. Laura, meanwhile, summons her next lover—Lodewig’s chauffeur, who has been waiting beneath the balcony the whole time. He throws himself onto the canopy bed, which promptly collapses beneath him.