Salzburger Geschichten (1957)

In the early 1930s, in the midst of an economic crisis, people wishing to travel between Germany and Austria are not allowed to spend more than ten marks a month. This is particularly frustrating for the city of Salzburg, because during the festival, tourists from Germany have little money. Georg, a wealthy academic from Berlin, is initially stunned to have to travel to Salzburg with just 10 marks in his pocket, but there he meets his good friend Karl, who can lend him money if necessary. One day, by which time Georg has long since spent his ten marks, he and Karl are waiting in two different cafés, so Georg has to ask his attractive neighbor Konstanze to pay for his coffee. At the end of their conversation, they arrange to meet the following day. Konstanze tells Georg that she works as a maid at Roitenau Castle near Salzburg, and Georg is delighted. What he does not know is that Konstanze is actually the daughter of Count Léopold, the castle’s owner. Because he is a passionate playwright who draws ideas from observing his surroundings, the family has turned their home into a hotel and taken on the roles of its staff. One evening, after a trip to the Salzkammergut, Konstanze and Georg discover that Georg’s last bus to Bad Reichenhall has already left. Konstanze secretly takes him to the castle, where he sleeps in her room. The next day, Georg asks Konstanze to marry him, and she agrees. However, since she is working late, she decides to arrange to meet him that evening. Georg and Karl go to see Don Giovanni, while Konstanze, whom her father has given the evening off, goes with her brother to see a ballet. At the casino, Georg sees Konstanze in a dress that makes her unrecognizable and realizes she has lied to him. The next day, they talk things over. Since Léopold is desperately looking for a comic conflict for his comedy, Georg, Konstanze, and her brother Franz decide to stage one: a new, tall guest arrives at the castle, falls in love with the maid, and the two run away together. The masquerade succeeds, but when Léopold finishes writing the play, he realizes that the father is foolish and, disillusioned, destroys his work. Only his sister Karoline tells him that Georg and Konstanze probably already knew each other. Relieved, he invites them to the castle and accepts Georg as his son-in-law. He now wants to adapt the play. When an American family that has been staying at the hotel for some time says goodbye, it becomes clear that all along they knew about the game Count Léopold’s family was playing: the Roitenau family portrait is published in a newspaper article about Austrian castles and their owners.