Titus Muller loves dogs, but as a postman he gets little love in return. Still, he has a lovely wife and lots of red haired offspring. When all of them get invited to see their auntie Anna in Italy, they travel there by bicycle. It soon becomes clear that wealthy old Anna has invited no less than 132 members of the Muller family to her enormous mansion to find out which one of them is best suited to look after her dog. All of them line up in a degrading line so this nasty Queen Elizabeth II lookalike can dismiss them one by one. I bet you can guess which family she picks, or else the movie would be over pretty soon.
When they finally sign the contract, the soundtrack score blazes like some kind of biblical epic. Obviously money is holy to these people. The dog sets it's paw print and the family moves into the mansion. Some time later, and for no good reason at all, the old bankers sing a song for Titus, and after this Dick van Dyke routine Heinz Ruhmann gets to do his Chaplin imitation once again when he stumbles home drunk.
Now a national hero, women start throwing themselves at Titus feet but he remains true to his Kaninchen (as he calls his wife). Unfortunately, when one of their own little Opie's accuses him of infidelity, his 'bunny' sides with the kid. Actually, the dog is the frisky one in this family: after a romp in a haystack with another canine (thankfully only implied), this spoiled rich pup goes home, closes the door behind him (!) and leaves another knocked up girlfriend standing on the porch.
A depressed Titus gets drunk again (but less amusingly so) and wakes up next to Miss Belle, the cabaret star. From there on it is all downhill for Herr Muller, because the usual message in these comedies of inheritance is: a simple hard working life is better than a stack full of money. The exception is if you use your wealth for one good deed early on in the picture, then everything will turn out alright.
3 out of 10
