Roter Mohn (1956)

The Vienna theater run by the Ritter brothers is on the brink of ruin. Its owner is Baron Stefan von Reiffenberg, but they have not paid him rent for two months. Now Ottokar Scheidl, owner of the Eldorado amusement businesses, is interested in the theater and wants to buy it from Stefan. The theater company fears that, given its desperate financial situation, Stefan will have to agree, and they want to prevent this at all costs. Ottokar plans to catch Stefan at a restaurant, and the actress Gina is supposed to stop him from going inside. She claims to know Stefan well and says she can act as an intermediary. Ottokar believes her. When the two of them miss Stefan at the restaurant, however, Ottokar follows him to his estate. The second part of the plan revolves around the young actress Marina. As Stefan leaves the restaurant after having dinner with Barbara, his longtime girlfriend, Marina, wearing a wedding dress, jumps into his car. She pretends to have run away from her bridegroom, who has always treated her badly. She says she wants to go to an acquaintance in Rust, and Stefan reluctantly takes her there. On the way to Rust, two of Stefan’s friends see him in the car with Marina dressed as a bride. They believe Stefan has secretly got married and notify his servant Anton, who now prepares a grand celebration. The wedding fulfills a lifelong dream, especially for Stefan’s elderly aunt Theresa, who has always feared that Stefan would remain a bachelor. Stefan and Marina search in vain in Rust for the invented relative, so in the end Stefan takes Marina back to his estate. There, the two are taken by surprise by the big celebration and, especially when it comes to the elderly aunt, cannot bring themselves to clear up the misunderstanding right away. After the celebration, they are shut in the bridal chamber. Stefan reluctantly sleeps on a chair, while Marina gets the marital bed. The next morning, Stefan is already out in the fields and has had a dress brought for Marina, since she has only her wedding dress with her. That day, the farm staff welcome Marina, and tradition requires her to take Stefan his meal in the fields. Meanwhile, Stefan has taken a liking to Marina and can imagine a life with her, especially since the servants also seem to have taken her into their hearts immediately. In the end, Barbara is the one who exposes the deception. She herself had always hoped to marry Stefan and is now astonished that the confirmed bachelor supposedly got married just after their last meeting. In the wedding dress she spots a label identifying it as a prop from the play The Switched Bride. She confronts Marina. Believing that Marina is only after Stefan’s money, she claims that Stefan is in debt and therefore has to marry a rich woman. When she threatens to reveal everything to Stefan, Marina leaves at once. In the end, Marina’s friends from the theater bring the truth to light, and Stefan is devastated: he had already once fallen in love with a woman from the theater who had deceived him. He now travels to the Riviera with Barbara. Marina goes to Ottokar Scheidl in Vienna and begs him to buy the theater. Only that way can Stefan pay off his debts and avoid being forced to marry the wealthy Barbara. Ottokar goes to Stefan’s estate and wants to buy the theater immediately. Anton makes it clear to him, however, that it is not for sale and Stefan has no money problems either. When Ottokar explains that Marina told him about Stefan’s situation, Anton realizes that Marina was not after Stefan’s money. Meanwhile, Stefan is unhappy on the Riviera because he is not suited to the jet-set lifestyle. Anton’s explanatory telegram brings him back home, and Barbara also lets him go, having realized that Stefan truly loves Marina. Stefan eventually attends a performance of The Switched Bride with Anton. During the curtain call, Marina sees him and tries to flee the theater in her wedding dress. He is waiting for her in his car outside the exit and lets her get in. Then he slips an engagement ring onto her finger, and they drive off together.