City
assemblyman Theodor Mylius is the “owner” of a fat belly, an
ambitious wife, and a pretty daughter named Alice. He is also the boss
of a Beaver and the future father in-law of an Alligator.
In
fact, Beaver is the name of his loyal office clerk, silent ally of the
fat but nonetheless agile old sinner Mylius against his strict wife.
Alligator
is a rich, young leather manufacturer who, unfortunately, doesn’t
impress pretty Alice very much. When a chap named Hanns Mertens suddenly
appears on the scene, she falls in love with him… and the
feeling is mutual. Hanns is a childhood friend of the somewhat
stupid Alligator and has always managed to seduce away his female
conquests.
Daddy
Mylius, despite his big belly is notorious for his amorous escapades;
and he has developed a most ingenious system for escaping his wife’s
watchful eye. Only the loyal Beaver knows where the overweight sinner
really goes when, dressed in the full regalia of a Mountain Climber, he
pretends to visit his beloved Alps. Beaver also is the only one who
knows that the enthusiastic descriptions of snowy peaks that fill
Mylius’s letters home are copied, word for word, from a paperback
novel. In reality, the alpine resort frequented by this tourist consists
of an attic apartment in Munich, where, in the company of artist friends
drinking wine and champagne, he is guaranteed not to find any edelweiss
growing.
Now
once
again, he is living the high life under this Munich rooftop. This time
it is the charming Lore Heller, a young actress, who enchants the
corpulent City Assemblyman from Würzburg. Also Lorchen falls for him,
because she is ambitious and Mylius misrepresents himself to be casting
director of the Würzburg theater, offering to hire her on the spot.
Blumenreich, who really is casting director in Bresslau, is also
at the party. He finds his colleague from Würzburg a bit strange, but
the amount of alcohol that he has consumed prevents him from seeking
clarification. Finally both of these theater directors fall fast asleep
side by side in a hammock, and dream about Lore Heller, who is napping,
in a suit case.
But
then something horrible happens. Mrs. Mylius has planned a very special
birthday surprise for her husband. She’s had his letters from the
mountain retreat reprinted and wants to hand this gift to him at the
foot of "his" mountain… pressed against mother nature's
bosom. Beaver is horror-stricken and tries to convince her to give up
this plan. But, Mrs. Mylius becomes frightened and suspicious.
Why doesn’t Beaver want her to go to her “fatty”? Has
something happened to him? Well, if anything has, all the more reason
immediately to go and look after her audacious mountain climber. Alice
will accompany her. In fact, Alice would prefer to stay in Würzburg
near Hanns Mertens, but mother Mylius puts her foot down. Beaver’s
only hope is quickly to take the first train to Munich and warn the City
Assemblyman, who side by side with Blumenreich, still sleeps a
sinner’s gentle slumber.
Once
there, Beaver shakes his boss awake; there is no time to lose. Mylius
quickly changes into his mountaineer's outfit and off he travels to the
lovely alpine village from where an accommodating innkeeper has been
mailing all the enthusiastic letters sent home. The high altitude
tourist gets there just in the nick of time, ahead of his wife, and
continues on to a nearby mountain hut.
But his pursuers catch up to him. On the one side there’s his
wife and daughter… and on the other Blumenreich and Lore, who both by
now have realized the truth about Mylius. Finally, there’s Hanns
Mertens, who has just noticed that the book that Mrs. Mylius printed
from Mr. Mylius’s letters, is a copy of his own book.
Mertens
is determined to make the old sinner pay for this affront by granting
him the hand of his daughter. He corners the big man and finally,
hanging on a rope along a snowy cliff, the bogus mountain climber acquiesces
and gives Alice permission to marry her beloved Hanns.
As
for Lore Heller, she has found a new patron in Blumenreich and therefore
she too is content. The high altitude tourist can now celebrate his
birthday with his family in the midst of his “beloved” mountains.
“Berg Heil”!
