Die 4 Gesellen

The time for exams is finally over! Four young graphic designers have completed their four-year training. Now it's time to prove themselves in the independent advertising industry in the metropolis of Berlin. Since that isn't so easy, the four friends set up a joint advertising company without revealing their identity as female advertising graphic designers. But the four young women have not reckoned with love and the tempting life as a wife and mother.

In 1938, the aspiring Swedish actress Ingrid BERGMAN was to shoot her only film at Europe's leading film company UFA in Berlin, which was already dominated by National Socialism. With her almost accent-free German, Ingrid BERGMAN's role as Marianne is a great asset to the lightly accented film comedy. BERGMAN is relieved of the burden of asserting herself as a woman in a male-dominated industry. Her colleagues Sabine PETERS and Carsta LÖCK escape to the harbor of marriage with obvious relief, while Ursula HERKING's great career as a painter was written into the script.

Of course, even a rising world star like Ingrid BERGMAN, who has won three OSCARs, doesn't stay alone for long in a film like this. Her sweetheart is played by Hans SÖHNKER, who, as a professor of graphic design, naturally chooses the most beautiful student. Leo SLEZAK and Erich PONTO also appear in other roles.

After this film, BERGMAN moved on to Hollywood, and the rest is film history. Nevertheless, the film is worth watching just for the Berlin pictures with the world star. And as a light drama about a working woman, the role played by Ingrid BERGMAN is reminiscent of later comedies that Doris DAY (as an interior designer in PILLOW TALK or an advertising professional in LOVER COME BACK) would shoot in Hollywood.

Not only recommended for nostalgics!