Saxophon-Susi (1928)

Anni von Aspen, the daughter of a respectable aristocratic family, has her head full of fancies: without knowing exactly what the world of show business is like, she is determined to become a dancer. She looks up to her friend Susi Hille, who performs as a showgirl at the city’s revue theatre. But, contrary to expectations, Susi hates her job, because she would much rather learn something “respectable” and eventually work as a teacher. She keeps dancing only for her father’s sake; he works as a stoker at the theatre where she performs. Baron von Aspen is far from pleased with what he considers his spirited daughter’s crazy career ambition, and plans to send Anni to a boarding school for girls from well-to-do families in London. At the same time, Susi also heads to the British capital, reluctantly, to improve her dancing skills there. Both are so dissatisfied with their lot and so long for each other’s life that they come up with the idea of swapping not only their clothes and destinations, but their lives as well. In the company of two gentlemen, the two German girls now begin to enjoy each other’s lives. Susi’s companion turns out to be as serious-minded as she is, almost a philosopher, and the two secretly celebrate their engagement. And the show-crazy Anni eventually becomes “Saxophone Susi,” who falls in love with the elegant Lord Herbert Southcliffe. One day, everyone is due to return home, and a series of mix-ups ensues. They arise because two lives that have been completely swapped and intertwined must be disentangled again, so that neither set of parents—the von Aspens nor the theatre folk Franz Hille and his wife, who works as a wardrobe mistress at Susi’s theatre—gets the shock of their lives. In the end, the parents are won over, and two young couples celebrate their union in marriage.