Three Swedish Girls in Hamburg (4 Stars)

Now this is strange. The picture on the right is the official DVD cover for the 2011 release of this film. And yet the pretty girl in pink doesn't appear in the film. The cover below it, the 2008 release, is even worse. Three girls who don't appear in the film. There's no Swedish flag anywhere in the film. No speed boats. I don't understand it. Does the company responsible for the DVD think customers are completely stupid?

There were seven "Schwedinnen" (Swedish Girls) films from 1977 to 1983. They've been released for a relatively cheap price in a box set, but they don't really belong together.

1. Three Swedish Girls in Bavaria (1977)
2. Hurra, the Swedish Girls are here! (1978)
3. Three Swedish Girls in Hamburg (1980)
4. Six Swedish Girls on Holiday (1979)
5. Six Swedish Girls at the Gas Station (1980)
6. Six Swedish Girls in Ibiza (1981)
7. Six Swedish Girls in the Mountains (1983)

(The original titles are written below for my German readers).

No, I didn't make a mistake. That's the order the films are numbered in the box sets, even though the fourth film was made before the third.

The first two films fall into the category of typical Bavarian sex comedies. This was a genre in itself in the 1970's, which I can't go into here. Three different Swedish girls are featured in the two films, but many of the supporting characters are the same. Including the wonderful Rosl Mayr.

The last four films build a series in which (mostly) the same girls appear. These are films in the more pornographic style typical for German films in the 1980's.

The third film, which I'm reviewing here, falls into a category by itself. It's a coming-of-age drama with a touch of comedy added. If anything it's more in the style of American films made in the 1980's and later. It's the story of Lil, a Swedish girl at a boarding school in Germany. She has a crush on her Geography teacher,  Dr. Heilmann. She fantasises about him, and even though he rejects her advances she tells her friends Kirsten and Moni that she's having an affair with him. She tells them that she's going to meet him in Hamburg at the weekend, and they insist on coming along, so she has to sneak away pretending to spend time with him.

At the same time three boys from the same school, Pit, Dicky and Atze, travel to Hamburg in the hope of losing their virginity in the red light district. Pit meets Lil wandering around the streets, and a romance develops.

This is a very simple story, but somehow moving. Of the seven Swedish Girls films it's the one I watch the most often. I love stories about naive teenage romances. They make me feel good inside. I wonder what happened to Tanja Scholl, who plays the lead role of Lil. She's a beautiful young girl and a talented actress. This was her first and her last film. What a shame.

And, as promised, the original German titles of the seven Swedish Girls films:

1. Drei Schwedinnen in Oberbayern (1977)
2. Hurra, die Schwedinnen sind da (1978)
3. Drei Schwedinnen auf der Reeperbahn (1980)
4. Sechs Schwedinnen im Pensionat (1979)
5. Sechs Schwedinnen an der Tankstelle (1980)
6. Sechs Schwedinnen auf Ibiza (1981)
7. Sechs Schwedinnen auf der Alm (1983)