Alpenglühen im Dirndlrock (4 Stars)

This is a Bavarian erotic comedy made in 1974. I had a surprise when I looked up the word Alpenglühen in my dictionary: the English translation is alpenglow, a word I'd never heard before. So what does it mean? It's an optical phenomenon that only occurs at sunset in areas with high mountains. When the sun goes down behind a mountain, but not below the horizon that would be seen if the mountain weren't there, the sky becomes red opposite to the sun. So the film's title means "Alpenglow in a Dirndl skirt". That's a strange title, because we hardly see any Dirndls in the film.

The film is about a small town in Bavaria called Vögelbrunn, which is deeply in debt. The village is fictional, but it's supposed to be located close to Kitzbühel. The mayor hopes that the problems will be solved if the town is made a market town, in German a Marktgemeinde. This is something that only exists in Austria and Bavaria, not in the rest of Germany. It doesn't mean that a market will necessarily be run in the town, because that could be done immediately. It means that the town has a minimum size and is recognised as providing services to neighbouring towns. For instance, a town could qualify as a market town if it's the only town in the area that has swimming baths or a large shopping centre. Vögelbrunn has built swimming baths and a sauna, the main reason for the town's debt, but it's still too small. The population needs to increase by seven before the next census in ten months time.

If I were the Mayor of Vögelbrunn I'd solve the problem by encouraging, even bribing families to move into the town. It doesn't have to be permanent, they just have to be in the town for the census. The mayor does it differently. He encourages the population to have babies. Every woman who has a baby within ten months will be paid a reward of 2000 Marks, even if she isn't married.

Not everyone is happy with this decision. Hedda, played by Elisabeth Volkmann, organises a morality commission. This organisation has two tasks. First, they arrange meetings of the town's young women to sing hymns. Second, they spy on the young people and interrupt them if they think they're about to have sex.

My apologies for the poor quality of the screenshot. This is a film that hasn't been well preserved.

I've mentioned Elisabeth Volkmann a few times in my past reviews. She's most famous for being the German voice of Marge Simpson from 1989 to 2006.

Naturally, the mayor doesn't want his two teenage daughters to get pregnant. Does that make him a hypocrite? Incidentally, that's the wonderful actress Ulrike Butz on the left.

The town's chemist works on a potency formula to make the people in the town want more sex. Whatever it is, I don't want it. Most of his potions explode as they're being prepared.

The Italian Roberto Ravioli, played by Rinaldo Talamonti, arrives in the town looking for work. He's mistaken for a state inspector who's been sent to judge Vögelbrunn's suitability as a market town. He's given a free room in the inn and as much food as he can eat. But that's not all he gets. The women in the town can't resist his Italian charm.

When he goes to the sauna he's chased by five naked women. That's too much even for Roberto. One at a time, please.

Roberto disguises himself as a woman and goes to sing hymns with the good girls of the town. I'm sure the actress on the right wasn't supposed to be laughing. She couldn't control herself when Rinaldo hit the high notes.

The film is hilarious. It's a mixture of nudity and slapstick comedy, with the emphasis on the nudity. I'll give away two spoilers:

1. Ten months later there are seven new babies in the town.

2. All the babies look Italian.