Geh, zieh dein Dirndl aus (4½ Stars)

This is a Bavarian erotic comedy made in 1973. It's generally considered to be the first film in its genre, setting the pattern for many films with Lederhosen and Dirndls in the following years. The title means "Take your Dirndl off", as Dorothea Rau is doing in the photo above. In America the film was released as "Love Bavarian Style". I hate it when they arbitrarily change film titles!

Gisela Horn, a woman from Berlin, has bought a farm in the Bavarian alps, close to the Austrian border. This is met with hostility by the locals, who consider her to be a Prussian. They use the derogatory word Preißin when talking about her. Worst of all, she's a very moral person. She's always complaining about the farm employees having sex when they should be working.

This is Gisela, played by the famous German actress Elisabeth Volkmann. She doesn't fit in because she doesn't even wear a Dirndl.

Nobody fills a Dirndl as well as Dorothea Rau. She plays Resi, a waitress at the local inn.

Life in the village is further disrupted when a car breaks down carrying four Italians. Count Traverso of Venice has sent his two daughters to Germany to learn the language. Vittorio (Rinaldo Talamonti) is the chaperone, and Mario is the driver. They're on their way to Bielefeld, but the car crashes because the driver is gay and can't keep his hands off Vittorio. They have to stay at the inn.

The film doesn't have much of a plot, but I love it anyway. It's a series of comic sketches that kept me laughing out loud. Naked women, inappropriate humour, constantly changing partners with people running in and out of one another's bedrooms. Many of the 1970's German films are called Erotic Classics, but the term is used too lightly. "Geh, zieh dein Dirndl aus" is a true classic. It deserves a digital remastering to clean up the picture.

Any film with Rinaldo Talamonti is worth watching.

So is any film with Dorothea Rau.

Do you prefer her with or without a Dirndl?

Sadly, she gave up acting after only three years, leaving 21 films behind her.

Rinaldo is a gentleman. He tries to look at Dorothea's eyes when he talks to her.

Oh well, at least he tried. At his height it's difficult to resist temptation.

And the film ends with a Lederhosen dance, complete with stomping and leg slapping.

I can tell you, this dance isn't just comical for foreigners. Even Germans from other parts of the country find the Bavarian traditional dances hilarious. I'm sure that the director Siggi Götz (aka Siegfried Rothemund) was aware of this. This was his first film, and he's still making films today. 

Here are a few lobby cards that I found online. I wish I had the originals.