Vier Stunden vor Elbe 1 (1968)

Four hours by ship from the lightship Elbe 1 lies the southern entrance and lock of the Kiel Canal. There, in Brunsbüttelkoog, is a home for sailors’ wives, run by Klara Andresen. This is the film’s main setting. The sailors’ wives wait there for their husbands to return. Klara Andresen looks after not only the worries of the women waiting for their husbands, but also those of her brother-in-law, Gustav Andresen. Gustav has spent years at sea as a ship’s cook and now wants to get married. So he wants to place a marriage advertisement. Klara is puzzled by her brother-in-law’s change of heart, since he had always been convinced that he was happy on his own. In a clothing store, Gustav meets Lore Elgers. She has been seeing Horst Lohmeyer for some time, and he unexpectedly proposes to her. At the same time, he tells her that he has signed on to a ship and will be going to South America for six months. She wants to give him a proper farewell, and rents a room for one night at the sailors’ wives’ home so she won’t miss the ship’s departure. The farewell does not go as Lore had imagined. After Horst has achieved his aim and spent the night with her, he abruptly breaks off their engagement. Downcast, Lore returns to the sailors’ home to collect her things. There she meets Gustav Andresen, who is desperately trying, together with his sister-in-law, to come up with a suitable text for his marriage advertisement. Klara consoles the thoroughly distraught former sailor’s fiancée, who now has to accept that Horst had lied to her completely. So disappointed, she does not want to go back home, but stays at the sailors’ wives’ home for a while and takes a job as Klara’s housekeeper. Meanwhile, Gustav receives the first responses to his marriage advertisement, but none of the candidates appeals to him. He is gradually beginning to doubt whether wanting to get married was such a good idea after all. But then he runs into Elli Mewes, whom he already knows from confirmation classes. Shyly, he tells her about his intention to get married, and clearly seems inclined to choose Elli for the role. Elli finds it all a little sudden and does not quite know what to say. Inwardly, though, she is pleased, and she and Gustav quickly come to an understanding. Klara is more than surprised, and suddenly she is not so sure she likes the idea. After all, she is very fond of her brother-in-law and has grown used to him over the years. Gustav, however, grows increasingly impatient, and when his bride-to-be does not show up for work the next day, he becomes very worried. He has no idea that Elli is pouring her heart out to his sister-in-law because everything is moving much too quickly for her. But when she realizes how worried Gustav has been about her, she becomes sure that things will work out between them. They marry surrounded by their friends and relatives, and Gustav prepares the wedding roast himself. He was determined not to miss out on that. After the wedding, Gustav goes back to sea and entrusts his wife, who remains behind, to his sister-in-law’s care.