Zwei Bayern im Harem (1957)

The two true-blue Bavarians, Jonathan, a cook, and Michel, a ship’s mate, work aboard a passenger steamer plying the Mediterranean. Also on board is an elderly gentleman named Hieronymus Walden, who is traveling to Adana in the Middle East to have his missing granddaughter Kathi searched for there. His nurse, Lucie, looks after him. Once in Adana, Walden hires the detective Aristoteles Xylander to find Kathi. Meanwhile, the two Bavarians go ashore and end up in a back-alley dive, where the two pals are first drugged and then robbed. When they wake up half-naked, their ship has already sailed. Only Mr. Walden can help them now, so he rents them a room at the hotel where he is staying. In the meantime, the private detective quickly tracks down Walden’s granddaughter, but does not want to tell his client, even though he is to be paid $5,000. He has an idea for a much bigger score: since old Walden does not know what his granddaughter looks like, Xylander plans to pass off his blonde girlfriend Cora, who performs at Adana’s Semiramis nightclub, as Kathi. Walden is in poor health, and Xylander hopes that, by presenting the fake Kathi as a relative of Walden’s, he can get his hands on a million-dollar fortune if the old man dies. In the meantime, newly dressed, Jonathan and Michel head to the Semiramis bar to enjoy the music and belly dancing. The villainous private detective has also lured the real Walden granddaughter there, while two of his henchmen overpower her fiancé, Toni. To get rid of her, Xylander intends to sell the sought-after Kathi Walden to a potentate named Halim Pasha, who owns a large harem. The two Bavarians immediately realize that Xylander is plotting something rotten and that the real Kathi has just passed them by. Feeling indebted to Walden, they set out to free Kathi from Xylander’s clutches, but his henchmen ambush and capture them. The two well-fed Bavarians promptly end up at the next slave market. Jonathan is bought and put to work as a cook in Halim Pasha’s kitchen, while Michel proves impossible to sell. The sheikh finds Jonathan’s steamed dumplings delicious and rewards him handsomely. Jonathan uses the money to buy his friend Michel’s freedom. Now the two must enlist the help of Leila, a Bavarian entertainer at the Pasha’s court, to rescue Kathi from the harem. Meanwhile, the resourceful Toni has escaped from captivity and makes his way across the city rooftops with an acrobat’s skill, until he has shaken off Halim Pasha’s pursuers. Jonathan, who is quite stout and resembles Leila in build, takes her place in a veil and plays the zither for Halim Pasha, hoping to snatch the key to Kathi’s gilded cage when the opportunity arises. He manages to temporarily incapacitate the ruler with a burning concoction. Then Toni also arrives at the harem palace, and together they finally succeed in freeing Kathi. At the same time, elsewhere, Xylander presents Cora to Mr. Walden as the supposed Kathi. When Jonathan, Michel, and Toni arrive with the real Kathi, there is great confusion for a brief moment. Xylander and Cora quickly realize that their scheme has been blown and try to flee. But Toni is faster and drives the two of them straight to the police in a car. At last, Jonathan and Michel can return to their ship, where Walden and his two Kathis have also arrived. With the reward for their good services, the two Bavarians can finally afford to travel aboard the ship as passengers too. Thumbnail|300px|left|Filming location: Schlangenburg (Yılankale) near Adana