Lovesick trip to the Black Forest? - West German film comedy with Heinz Erhardt and GOLDEN GLOBE winner Christine Kaufmann
Finally holidays! The somewhat aging Gottlieb Singer (Heinz Erhardt), archivist at the trendy Zeitblick magazine in beautiful Hamburg, is, like Bolle, looking forward to his hiking holiday in the Black Forest. On the train, however, a lovely older lady (Käthe Haack) puts her precocious granddaughter in the care of him. And this Kiki Cornelius (Christine Kaufmann) has it all behind her ears. Instead of continuing on to boarding school, she follows the die-hard bachelor, whose relaxing hiking vacation now runs into one complication after the next. Kiki pulls out all the stops, gambles away all the money in the casino, picks up two young students (Michael Lenz and the singer Peter Wegen) and doesn't take the truth too seriously. In the meantime, the unsuspecting Gottlieb sends his friend Hiss (Werner Finck), editor at Zeitblick, his photos, which of course also feature the enchanting Kiki, to be developed. He uses the recordings to create a whole series about the "last pedestrian", which promptly hits like a bomb and becomes a sales success for the ailing magazine. But that's just where the problems for Gottlieb and the little brat begin...
What turbulent fun! With humor and catchy singing, beautiful images from the Black Forest and harmless misunderstandings, this film, released in 1960, still breathes the spirit of the 1950s. The entertaining film was directed by Wilhelm Thiele in the film studios in Göttingen. In one scene you can see Heinz Erhardt walking down the stairway in the bustling neighboring town of Kassel.
With Christine Kaufmann (1945-2017), the comedy star had a busy colleague at his side in those days. The year before she played at 14 years old! The enchanting lover of muscle god Steve Reeves (1926-2000) in "The Last Days of Pompeii". A year after the hike with Heinz Erhardt, she played the wife of the German blonde Joachim Hansen in "Via Mala". After that, she was ready for Hollywood and her momentous marriage to Tony Curtis (1925-2010).
By the way, Käthe Haack (1897-1986), who played the mother of the title hero in the outstanding film version of "Emil und die Detektive / Emil and the Detectives" (1931), can be seen as Kiki's trusting grandmother.
The appearance of the magnificent Trude Herr (1927-1991) as a cheeky Rhinelander on the train is obligatory. The Cologne veteran had already appeared in front of the camera with Heinz Erhardt for "Drillinge an Bord" and "Natürlich die Autofahrer / Naturally the Drivers" (both 1959). When the old Erhardt films were shown on television in 1984 and surprisingly (for the television producers) achieved ratings records, Trude Herr in particular benefited from the renewed popularity (Heinz Erhardt had unfortunately died five years earlier after a long period of suffering). Her health-related move to the Fiji Islands in the summer of 1987, which the die-hard Cologne resident celebrated with her farewell hymn "Niemals geht man so ganz / You never go quite like that," will be unforgettable. Goosebumps still today!
