Drei Oberbayern auf Dirndljagd (3 Stars)

This is a Bavarian erotic comedy made in 1975. It's set in the Bavarian village of Vogelbrunn, which doesn't seem to be connected to the village of Vögelbrunn that we saw in "Alpenglühen im Dirndlrock". It's made by the same director, Siggi Götz, but it's a film of much lesser quality. It seems to me that he felt the need to come away from the standard formula of Bavarian erotic comedies, but in attempting to offer more variety he ruined the film.

The film starts off like a typical Bavarian comedy. This is Vogelbrunn, a cute little village with a mountain on one side and a river on another side. It's not the village's real name. Does anyone recognise it?

The three most important people in the village are the mayor, the Catholic priest and Tony, the owner of the village brewery. That sounds like a typical Bavarian village in every way. Tony and the mayor want an excuse to take a holiday in Bangkok, away from their wives. They say that the brewery isn't selling enough beer, so they're going to look for new customers in Bangkok. This means that their holiday is financed by the village. The priest doesn't trust them, so he books a flight on the same plane. His holiday is financed by the church.

This spoils the holiday for Tony and the mayor. They wanted to spend time visiting prostitutes, but now they have to waste their time talking to restaurant owners to give the priest the impression that it's a genuine business trip.

The whole humour of the following film is that Tony and the mayor can't find female company, but the priest is always being chased by girls. I use the word "humour" cautiously, because I don't find it at all funny. A further complication is that a notorious pickpocket called Fred lives in Bangkok, and he looks identical to the priest. They're both played by Franz Muxeneder, and it's still not funny. The film is a failure, but I've given it a generous three-star rating because of the gratuitous nudity.

The film's title means "Three Upper Bavarians hunting for Dirndls", i.e. hunting for girls wearing Dirndls. That's nonsense. None of the girls that they're chasing are wearing Dirndls. The film was released in America as "Bathtime in Bangkok", which makes a lot more sense.

At least the lobby cards look good. But that's the whole point of lobby cards. They have to look good enough to tempt people to watch the film. Anyone who let himself be tempted must have been disappointed.