User Reviews

Upper Bavaria, in the days of King Ludwig II: the inhabitants of a small village mock Huber, called the "Wegscheidbauer" (Beppo Brem), who is an important magistrate, because he has made a young girl pregnant. - In a meeting of the village council with Huber and Thomas Stangassinger (Joe Stöckel), they decide about Christian Süssbier, a poor day laborer (Günther Lüders), who they want to get rid off. Christian secretly reminds two of the counsillors of their own transgressions, and so is eventually acquitted.

The secret that he shares with Stagassinger is that Christian's illegitimate 19-year-old daughter, Vevi (Renate Mannhardt), is really Stangassinger's child, a fact that he has eagerly concealed from his henpecking wife Theres (Elise Aulinger) for many years. The Stangassingers have two sons, Sepp (Thomas Reyer), from earlier marriage of Thomas, and Toni (Albert Rueprecht), who are both in love with Vevi. When Stangassinger learns that Vevi is going to marry one of his sons, he does everything to prevent the marriage, knowing that she is his daughter.

One of his ideas is bringing in an unmarried girl from a neighboring valley with Christian's help, Afra (Hanna Hutten), who has been abandoned by her unknown mother before and has been raised by Vogelhuber (Wastl Witt). She is supposed to marry Sepp.

Now, in a "sinful village" (title) everyone has his share of sins but if you think you can guess the rest there are still some surprises to come. The humour certainly stems from the pairing of Stöckel and Aulinger, a regular couple in "Bauernschwänken" of the day, but the rôle of Christian is beautiful for any comedian and tailor-made for Lüders.

From a modern point of view, the story is hopelessly outdated and humour laid on a trifle too thick, but still I laughed a lot, which was basically due to the burlesque character portraits. Stöckel and Aulinger repeat their stage (screenplay is based on Max Neal's eponymous play) and cinema rôles (of the first filming in 1940, directed by Stöckel), as do Brem and Witt. The treatment of human misdemeanors and the resulting mendacity is dealt with in a funny way that had its followers in 1954.

Notable are some of the original interiors, including the Stangassingers' marital bed (sets by Max Mellin and Wolf Englert) and the traditional folklore dances which belong to the genre as much as a proper innhouse brawl.