Rauschende Melodien (1955)

Recently, Gabriel Eisenstein humiliated Notary Falke after a drinking bout, and Falke now wants to take playful revenge. Not least, he hopes to make Prince Orlofsky laugh again after several weeks. Gabriel, meanwhile, is in no mood for laughter. He is to spend several days behind bars for insulting a public official. Falke asks prison warden Frank to grant him a reprieve: As part of his revenge, Gabriel should attend Prince Orlofsky’s dance that evening and only begin serving his sentence the next morning. In return, Falke gives him an invitation to the prince’s ball. Frank, however, is supposed to assume the name of a French nobleman. Invitations also go, unbeknownst to one another, to Gabriel, who is to appear under the name of a French nobleman; to his wife, Rosalinde; to her maid, Adele; and to Rosalinde’s lover, the tenor Alfred. Gabriel pretends that he has already been arrested earlier and now secretly heads to the ball. Frank is supposedly at a ministry meeting, while Adele claims that her aunt is ill so she can sneak off to the ball. Rosalinde, in turn, is pleased that the house is empty: This allows her to meet Alfred without interruption. At the ball, Frank and Gabriel meet for the first time. They pretend to be interested in each other because each takes the other for a Frenchman. Gabriel spots Adele, who is introduced to him as Olga, and tries to win her over. Adele, in turn, mistakenly believes Frank is a theater director and seeks his company, since she would like to make it big onstage like her sister. Falke signals to prison director Frank that Gabriel will inspect his prison the next morning in his capacity as a French official. Frank now wants to revoke Gabriel Eisenstein’s reprieve at once. He goes to Gabriel’s house, where he finds Rosalinde with Alfred, mistakes Alfred for Gabriel, and arrests him. Now alone, Rosalinde decides to go to the prince’s ball in a mask. There, she presents herself as a Hungarian countess, sings a song, and puts up with her husband’s flirtations. She manages to take his pocket watch before leaving early to go home. The next morning, Frank arrives at his prison office hungover. Alfred has been complaining all night. Adele and her sister now show up and ask to audition for the supposed theater director. Prison warden Frosch, however, takes them both for criminals and locks them in a cell. A short while later, Gabriel arrives, and he and Frank reveal their true identities. Gabriel acts devastated when he learns that his wife has cheated on him with Alfred, but Rosalinde soon shows him the pocket watch she took from him while posing as the supposed Hungarian countess. He, too, has not been entirely faithful. Alfred, Adele, and her sister are released from prison, and Notary Falke explains that he staged the entire comedy of mistaken identities. Prince Orlofsky has been thoroughly amused by the complications. In the end, Gabriel begins serving his sentence as ordered, while Rosalinde and the others continue celebrating.