Gaby Banschenbach

Kurt Gerber is attending his final class and gets into trouble with the math professor, a frustrated self-assured petty bourgeois sadist. The duel ends in catastrophe.

Zorika's father has arranged for her to marry a wealthy acquaintance. Before the engagement, she goes for a walk along a mountain stream, and there meets a handsome gypsy; but will her affection go unrequited? GYPSY LOVE is an operetta by Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár (1870–1948). This 1974 production is a cinematic version with a star cast.

This first film adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s play about class distinctions was made in 1955 in the Vienna Rosenhügel studios, but it was only premiered five years later. Curt Bois plays the rich capitalist Puntila who only becomes somewhat agreeable when he is drunk (which he is most of the time in this film). In his inebriated state, Puntila not only gets amorously involved with three different ladies but also suggests that his daughter Eva marries his chauffeur Matti. The chauffeur, however, doesn’t really agree…

The social worker Luise Gottschalk dedicates all her passion to the Viennese caretakers and derailed young people. Tirelessly, she advertises to adults for understanding the needs of adolescents. She is particularly committed to a girl named Elfie Breitner who is at risk of drifting into prostitution.

The young engineer Peter and his best friend, the mountain guide Anderl, are passionate mountaineers. When Peter falls in love with Clarissa, the girlfriend of his student friend Marius, it leads to a fatal chain of dramatic events. Peter tells Clarissa that he is planning an ascent with Anderl on the dangerous Eiger north face. She does not want him to go, so finally Anderl decides to overcome the mountain alone. Halfway up Anderl has difficulties and Peters come out to help him and to finish the climb together. During the ascent, a storm brings the two men in mortal danger. Marius joins the rescue team, but he is still full of resentment and jealousy towards Peter.