Sag’ die Wahrheit (1946)

Architect Peter Hellmer and his estranged wife Vera are due to divorce the next day: Vera has fallen in love with wealthy bank director Viktor, while Peter is already engaged to the pretty Maria. Everything would be ideal if Maria didn’t have one glaring flaw: she lies constantly, usually for no reason. After one more lie, Peter has had enough and wants to break up with her. Maria then makes a bet with her fiancé: she wagers that he himself can’t manage to tell the truth continuously for even 24 hours. Peter thinks this will be no problem, but soon realizes that the whole truth and nothing but the truth can cause all sorts of problems. Before long, his honesty has offended and even insulted people. Others take advantage of Peter’s love of truth to pry professional secrets out of him. His obligation to tell the truth even leads the court to reject the divorce petition, because Peter has to admit that he spent the previous night with his estranged wife—a fact the court interprets as an act of reconciliation. But things get worse. Peter has to buy out his business partner because his love of truth led him to disclose confidential business information to the competition. Since he doesn’t have the money needed for this, he tries to borrow it from Maria’s father. When the old man arrives, Peter introduces another woman who is there, besides Maria, as one of his former lovers. Maria’s father is furious. The consequences of the bet soon leave Peter on the verge of a nervous breakdown, as everything in his life seems poised to go wrong. Finally, he has a full-blown fit of rage and is admitted to a psychiatric clinic. The head of the institution, Professor Kiekebusch, takes a personal interest in this strange case. Before everything gets completely out of hand, Peter’s friend, attorney Dr. Klimm, is the one who manages to put things right and clear up the misunderstandings through his decisive intervention, so Peter can get properly divorced and is finally free to be with Maria. They both realize that sometimes a lie does have its justification.