Unsere tollen Nichten (1963)

For six months, the musicians in the Sonny Boys—Max Rettich, Gus Sunday, Paul Kippenroth, and Pitt van Rees—have had no bookings when an offer arrives from Davos: they are to perform as the Jolly Sisters at the pop music festival there. Hotel manager Mägerli once saw the men perform in women’s clothes and thinks they are real women. Pitt, a commercial artist, is especially opposed to dressing up again, but then learns that his fiancée, Susi Güden, recently traveled from Denmark to Arosa for a skiing holiday. He cannot afford a vacation, but wants to be with her, so in the end he agrees to the masquerade. The Five Great Aunts are completed by bird seller Hyacinth Grad, since the real fifth Sonny Boy now lives in the United States. Meanwhile, the shortage of women at the hotel is causing discontent. In particular, an oil sheikh who has arrived with his entourage is about to leave again: he had planned to set up a harem there. He changes his mind when he hears that a group of women is arriving; at Mägerli’s suggestion, they are now calling themselves the Jolly Sisters. The first day at the hotel passes in a state of restrained chaos. The next morning, Pitt secretly goes to Arosa, where he meets Susi. He does not want to tell her what he is doing in Davos, but promises to explain everything in three days. He knows Susi would never forgive him for dressing up again. However, the tomboyish Felicitas has become suspicious and follows Pitt. She follows him to the hotel, where she finds not only Pitt but also Max Rettich dressed as a woman. Back in Arosa, Felicitas tells the others what she saw, and Susi is distraught. The group—which includes Felicitas and Susi, as well as Gus’s girlfriend Evi, Brigitte Branier, and Jutta—quickly decides to get even with the men. They plan to go to the hotel as the “ladies’” nephews. The Jolly Sisters quickly recognize who the “nephews” are. Various mishaps follow, and the young “gentlemen” are now surrounded by the hotel’s older female guests. The Jolly Sisters have to fend off several men, including the sheikh and the doctor, Dr. Heribert Wippel. When a group of fashion models cannot get to the hotel because of a snowstorm, the Jolly Sisters step in as models and make an unusual sight, as do Max and Hyacinth on the ice the next day. The “nephews” are supposed to prove they are real men in a bobsled race for the hotel guests, but the real men take their place and finally drop their disguises at the finish line. Mägerli is horrified, locks the men in the hotel cellar, and also intends to imprison the fake nephews, who now reveal themselves to be young women. In the end, it is singing star Gerd Savona who saves the women and men from the police. He is married to Brigitte, and would not perform if his wife were arrested—a financial loss Mägerli cannot afford. At the end, the men perform as agreed as the Jolly Sisters and amuse the audience. Couples have formed: Brigitte and Gerd are married, Susi forgives Pitt and Evi forgives Gus, while Max and Hyacinth vie for Felicitas.