Muschimaus mag's grad heraus (4 Stars)

This is the sort of film that seems impossible to defend on paper. The plot is little more than a framework for a string of bawdy encounters, courtroom innuendo and softcore set-pieces. Like many West German sex comedies of the early 1970's, it lives in that awkward territory between liberation and exploitation; half cheeky satire, half commercial nudity reel. Yet the film works far better than expected because of Ulrike Butz.

Butz plays Senta Vukovic with a kind of reckless innocence that keeps the film from collapsing into pure cynicism. Senta is supposedly scandalous, but Butz never portrays her as manipulative or cruel. Instead, she gives the character a disarming openness; almost childlike at times, though never naïve. The performance creates a strange contradiction at the centre of the film. Senta behaves outrageously, yet Butz plays her with such warmth and lack of malice that the audience ends up rooting for her rather than judging her.

That quality was rare in German sexploitation cinema. Many actresses in these films were treated as interchangeable decoration, but Butz had genuine screen presence. The camera constantly gravitates towards her, not simply because of her physical beauty, but because she understands comedy. Her timing matters as much as her nudity. A raised eyebrow, a mischievous smile or the casual confidence with which she walks through increasingly absurd situations gives the film its personality.

Hubert Frank's direction helps. He shoots Butz less as an object and more as a disruptive force moving through conservative Bavarian society. The film repeatedly frames Senta as someone exposing the hypocrisy around her. The men are ridiculous, pompous or sexually frustrated; Senta simply refuses to pretend otherwise. That gives Butz room to play the character as oddly liberated rather than merely promiscuous.

There's also a surprising self-awareness in her performance. Butz occasionally seems to acknowledge the absurdity of the entire enterprise, almost teasing the audience for taking any of it seriously. In another actress's hands, that might have become smug or arch. Butz keeps it playful. She understood that these films were essentially erotic farces, and she performs accordingly.

The film itself remains uneven. Some scenes drag, the slapstick often feels desperate and the episodic structure grows repetitive. Still, Butz carries the material with remarkable ease. Even when the dialogue is weak or the situations verge on nonsense, she remains watchable. That's probably why she became one of the defining faces of the German Report Era.

Looking back now, the most striking thing about "Muschimaus mag's grad heraus" isn't its erotic content but its atmosphere of carefree anarchy. The film belongs to a brief period when West German cinema mixed sexual liberation with broad provincial comedy in a way that now feels culturally alien. Ulrike Butz embodies that moment perfectly. She's simultaneously provocative, approachable, comic and oddly sweet; qualities that elevate the film far beyond what its lurid title might suggest.

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.

Sex Dream Report (3½ Stars)

This is a German erotic comedy that was released in 1973. It was directed by Walter Boos, who's best known for directing the Schoolgirl Report films. This film follows a similar pattern of short stories separated by interviews on the street. Dr. Heinz Kahlbaum is gathering material for a book on sexual dreams. Together with his assistant Gisela he's standing at Karlsplatz in Munich asking passers by about their dreams. Most of the people he asks refuse to answer, but there are five vignettes based on the replies he receives.

1. The first person to give a detailed answer is the bus driver Willi Wasmuth, played by Josef Moosholzer. He's 35, and his wife Erna is 30. By all accounts, he's an unpleasant person. When he gets home from work he orders his wife to fetch him a beer. No please or thank you. Then he falls asleep in front of the television. He dreams that the weather girl strips naked and seduces him. His wife is so beautiful that I don't understand why he prefers dreams to reality.

2. The second man who answers is Max Gickes, a sculptor. He says that he dreams of owning a harem. Four sexy dancing girls take turns having sex with him, while a fifth fans him to keep him cool. Gisela finds the dream strange, but Dr. Kahlbaum tells her it's a typical male fantasy. Then Max tells them that the dream is based on his real life. He shares an apartment with four women. He sleeps with Anna on Monday, Betty on Tuesday, Cecilia on Wednesday and Daisy on Thursday. This wears him out, so he goes home to his wife for the other three days. Obviously Max doesn't know the difference between truth and fantasy.

3. Another man who gets dreams mixed up with reality is Dieter Haberkorn, a travel agent. Every day he gets a parking ticket from the beautiful traffic warden Monika, played by Ulrike Butz. He tells her that they've had a relationship, but she tells him that he's mad. We see his ridiculous fantasy of them having sex in a courtroom. He really thinks it's happened. He persuades her to go on a date with him, but he insists that she wear her uniform. Or is this yet another dream? I don't know. All I can say is that I'd also dream about any policewoman as beautiful as Ulrike Butz. She was the sexiest German actress of the 1970's. Her career only lasted from 1972 to 1974, during which time she made 27 films.

4. Eugen is a medical student. He marries Franziska, the butcher's daughter, played by the delightful Dorothea Rau. On the wedding night he can't perform – What!!! He can't get it up for Dorothea Rau??? – so she does what any disappointed bride would do: she hits him over the head with a chamber pot and puts him in hospital. While he's recovering he dreams about marrying the nurse who's looking after him. The dream cures him, and he's able to go home to his happy wife.

5. The final interview takes place spontaneously. Dr. Kahlbaum and Gisela visit a restaurant, where they talk to the waiter Tonio, played by Rinaldo Talamonti. He says he's always had a crush on the restaurant's owner, Karla Marquadt. Isn't she a bit too tall for him? After months of dreaming about her they finally got together.

Some report films are better than others, but they're never original. I knew what the final scene would be before I watched it. Gisela confesses that she's been dreaming about making love to Dr. Kahlbaum. She tells him about her dreams and attempts to seduce him. At first he resists. He wants to remain professional, but eventually he gives in. The End.

This isn't one of the best German erotic comedies of the 1970's, but it's amusing and worth watching at least once. I intend to watch more German erotic comedies over the next few weeks. I don't know how many yet. I'll decide as I go along.

Wenn Mädchen mündig werden (3 Stars)

The title of this German film, made in 1973, means "When girls come of age". That title has nothing to do with the film's content, except maybe a 20-minute segment in the middle of the film. It was released in English with the title "Secrets in the Dark", which is only slightly more relevant.

I'm a big fan of the Bavarian erotic comedies of the 1970's, but this is one of the weaker films. A serious film critic would probably tear it apart as trash, but I'm biased. It stars Ulrike Butz, probably the most beautiful German actress of all time. Any film that shows her delicious naked body deserves 3 stars at least. Nevertheless, the film is very disjointed. The humour is weak, and there seems to be a message, but it's never quite clear what it is.

The film begins with six Bavarians sitting drinking at the Stammtisch in a bar. This is a scene that can be seen in any other area of Germany. There's no talk of moderation. When Josef Leutner (on the left) says that he wants to leave, the waitress says, "You can't go already. You've only had six beers".

One of the men is a private detective. He tells the others about a female customer who seduced him in his office. "Fine", I thought to myself, "now we're going to hear six stories from the men, in typical report film fashion". I was wrong. This was the only story told in the film.

One of the men (the one whose face is blocked by Josef) is the sport teacher in a girls school. The other men express their jealousy, and they ask if they can be introduced to the girls. They're willing to pay anything. Uh oh... The teacher says he'll do whatever he can.

Josef goes to the toilet. On the way he passes the kitchen and sees the cook on her knees scrubbing the floor, without underwear. He can't control himself. He rushes in and rips her clothes off. He can't use his six beers as an excuse. He's the sort of man who would do it anyway. Luckily the landlord arrives and throws him out. I think he deserved a beating.

It's a tempting sight, but there's no excuse for attempted rape. None whatsoever. A true gentleman would quickly walk away. I'm only a half gentleman. I wouldn't attempt to touch the woman, but I wouldn't walk away either. I'd stand staring like a fool.

The next 40 minutes of the film are about Josef, his family and his business associates. He runs a pet boarding facility. It's somewhere people can leave their pets while they go on holiday. He's played by Josef Moosholzer, the best known actor in the 1970's Bavarian erotic comedies. I've seen him in several films lately, and I've grown to appreciate him as an actor. He was a fat little Bavarian, always the butt of jokes. In the 1980's he lost weight and turned to serious acting, mostly in murder mysteries, until his death in 2004.

After being thrown out of the bar, he goes to the local brothel (Puff). First they mock him for his height and weight, then the girls ask for money, but he only has a handful of coins. Josef should know that any man who doesn't have good looks needs a fat wallet to compensate. So off he goes home, and his wife is in bed with Stefan, one of his employees. I have no sympathy with Josef. It's karma for attempting rape.

The next day we see Stefan taking his girlfriend Petra on a date... and Petra is played by Ulrike Butz! Is Stefan insane? Why's he messing around with married women when he has a girlfriend like that? Maybe he's also the victim of karma. Petra takes him to have sex in her attic, and he gets his penis stuck in a mousetrap. It's so tight that he can't open it. Ouch! That's not funny. Petra is laughing her head off, but no man can laugh at something like that. It just gives me a sick feeling in my stomach.

Surprise, surprise... Josef has success with the ladies after all. He has sex with one of his customers in the back of his truck, which has an animal cage at the back. His wife locks them in, and his employee Leopold drives the truck to the car wash, where they're both soaked.

That's the first 45 minutes, and then wham! A completely unrelated scene comes. Three young women want to become actresses, so they go to a film studio and seduce the producer. That's random.

Then we see a couple having sex in the woods. Random again, totally unrelated to the first half of the film. Another couple come to the woods, but the first couple is in their regular spot, and the man is unable to perform anywhere else. Weird.

Finally we return to the sport teacher, almost forgotten since being seen briefly at the beginning of the film. That's one of his lessons, honestly! He's teaching the girls how to do massage. I wish I were a sport teacher. He asks them if they want to earn some money by meeting his friends. Uh oh, again. The three men (shown above at the Stammtisch) meet them in the woods. I'm happy to say that it doesn't turn out the way they expected.

The first man is too fat to get out of the car. The girl runs away, leaving him frustrated.

The second girl rides on the next man's back until he's too exhausted to do anything.

The third girl takes the last man home and pulls 500 Mark (250 Euros) out of his wallet. That was a lot of money in 1973, but he doesn't complain. Before they can do anything, the girl's parents arrive.

Next we return to Stefan and Petra. I told you, the film is all over the place.

Finally we see two of the Stammtisch friends walking home at night. They visit the brothel, but they're thrown out because they're drunk and disorderly. The two men get revenge by setting the brothel on fire. Naked men and women run out in panic. The end.

This is a badly structured film. It's chaos. It would have been much better if it had just been about Josef. But at least it has Ulrike Butz.

Housewife Report 4 (4 Stars)

My readers who have been following my Housewife Report posts will immediately recognise two of the actors in the picture above. On the left is Rosl Mayr, and on the right is Gernot Möhner, who appears in all the Housewife Report films as the investigative reporter Bernd Mittler. I can't name the man in the middle, because there are no credits, and I don't recognise him from other films.

Whereas the previous film offered socially dubious messages about divorces in Germany, this film plays it safe and has no messages at all. Instead of beginning in an office, like most report films, it takes place in a railway carriage. Bernd Mittler catches a train in Hamburg and is heading southwards, probably back home to Munich. The businessman sitting next to him says he knows him; he's seen him in stupid sex films. Bernd objects, replying that they're serious scientific studies. The other two men in the carriage join in the conversation. There's a lawyer sitting opposite who says, "The scientific value of your films is very questionable". In the corner there's a Catholic priest, who adds "I've seen the films, and they should be taken seriously. They show what comes from living in a prudish society". I like the priest. He's a very open person who talks good sense.

Bernd attempts to defend his reputation as a serious reporter by telling them the results of his recent interviews in cities all around Germany. We don't see Bernd himself in the vignettes, we just see what he's been told.

1. The first story takes place in Berlin. Gerda and Fritz have been married for five years. Gerda loves her husband and wants to have more sex with him, but he's bored and would rather watch television than have sex. What an idiot!

She orders a company to take away her old, heavy furniture, and a muscular man called Paul comes to carry everything away. Gerda is excited and seduces him. That's not enough. The next day she arranges to meet him at home.

While they're making love, Paul's girlfriend comes home. She isn't jealous. She thanks Gerda for warming up her boyfriend and says that she'll take over. Gerda is miserable and rushes home in tears. When her husband sees her he doesn't know what's wrong, but he feels sorry for her, so they go to bed and make love.

So what's the message of this story? You tell me.

After this story, Rosl Mayr joins the men in the carriage. She says she's a virgin, but there's no hint of innocence in her. She talks openly about sex and women's right to do it as often as they like. She's seen the previous Housewife Report films and joins in the conversation. The lawyer says that in marriages there are two sides to every story, to which she replies, "There aren't two sides. Women are always right".

Now you know why I love Rosl Mayr so much. She was phenomenal in every role she played.

2. The second story takes places in Hamburg. Herbert is a wealthy businessman who lives with his wife Elke, played by the famous German actress Elisabeth Volkmann. She began her career in erotic films, but when she became a serious actress she distanced herself from them. Elke is sexually adventurous, but Herbert just wants to do the missionary position. We see her pulling him from one impractical position to another.

The next day, Herbert interviews an applicant for a position as housekeeper. The woman, played by the deliciously curvy Dorothea Rau, rips her clothes off and tries to seduce him. Elke walks in and tells Herbert she'll handle the other interviews.

The next applicant gets drunk during the interview, so Elke turns her down. The third applicant is a beautiful lesbian who seduces Elke. Hired! Elke says that she's too good to do housework, so she gives Herbert an apron and makes him do the housework while the women enjoy their sex life.

The message? Men should be the slaves in lesbian households.

Another woman comes into the carriage. Now all six seats are occupied. She's a medical student called Marianne. She defends women's right to have as much sex as they want with whoever they want.

3. The third story takes place in Mainz. Doctor Fridobert Walzel is a Professor at the University of Mainz, teaching Entomology. I had to look that up as well; it's the study of insects. His young wife Dorothee is unhappy, because he's more interested in the mating habits of insects than mating with her. One Saturday morning he leaves home early, because he wants to watch the mating act of two insects that only takes place once a year. The insect's name is corpus facilitis, if I understood it correctly. During mating the female shouts "Bee" while the male shouts "Tak Tak". Fascinating.

Two research students should be accompanying Doctor Walzel to the woods, but only one arrives. After they leave the second student arrives, a handsome young man, and he asks Dorothee to drive him to the woods. They go to the woods, but they get distracted. They have wild sex, in which she yells "Bee" and he yells "Tak Tak". It's so funny that I had to laugh out loud. Meanwhile, the female research student accompanying Doctor Walzel takes off her clothes and seduces the professor. While they're making love, he hears the Bee-Tak-Tak-ing and thinks the insects are close. They're on the floor doing it doggy style, so he pushes her towards the noises... and the two couples discover one another in the act.

The message? When you're making love in the woods, don't do Bee-Tak-Tak.

4. The fourth story takes place in the small town of Neustadt in Hessen. Karin and Heinz are a happily married couple, apart from the fact that Heinz is a truck driver who is often on the road for days. While Heinz is gone one day, Karin meets a hot young Spaniard called Juan, played by Rinaldo Talamonti. He does his best to put on a Spanish accent, but he can't disguise the fact that he's really Italian. Karin takes him back home for sex, and they have a long session of foreplay in which Juan pretends to be a bull while Karin is the matador. I should try it some time, it looks like fun.

Meanwhile, Heinz has stopped to help a woman with car troubles. It was a trap. The woman, Hildegard, was only pretending to have car troubles so that she could lure a man for sex. The story ends with a strange scene. Heinz is in bed being ridden by Hildegard, and he feels the need to check up on his wife. He calls her, and she answers despite being in the middle of sex with Juan. They talk on the phone, both acting normally, but both are worried because their partner sounds out of breath.

The message? I have absolutely no idea!

5. The fifth and final story takes place in Stuttgart. I know Stuttgart well, so I tried to figure out where it was. Eventually I saw a street sign and realised that it wasn't filmed in Stuttgart, it was Grünwald, a small town just south of Munich. Sieglinde is married to an older man called Lambert. He works two jobs so they'll be able to buy their own house, which is the dream of every Stuttgarter. In the evening Sieglinde wants to go to the fitness studio, but Ottokar, a young man from Dresden (DDR) arrives selling magazines. She doesn't want to buy anything, but she's willing to have sex. After this he leaves.

Meanwhile, Lambert is at his second job. He's seduced by his secretary, Gudrun, who's played by Ulrike Butz. She was the most beautiful German actress in the 1970's. Nobody else came close. After sex they both go home. When Lambert arrives home he's surprised to find Sieglinde at home, and she's surprised that he's come home so early. But the fickle fingers of fate are at work. Ottokar sees Gudrun in the street and chats her up. They tell each other they were just with someone, and when they say where they live they realise it was the same couple. Ottokar and Gudrun walk together to Lambert and Sieglinde's apartment. They wish the surprised couple all the best for their married life and leave together. Lambert tells his wife he'll quit his second job, because a happy marriage is more important than buying a house.

And that's the message of the fifth vignette, I guess.

It was my intention to only use the lobby cards for illustration, since I've found a full set online, but I think the following screenshots will be a welcome addition.

For all her fans, this is the amazing Rosl Mayr.

Herbert can't handle Dorothea Rau. Could you?

This is Herbert's fate as the emasculated cuckold of lebian lovers.

And here's another photo of Rosl Mayr. I know you want it!

Rinaldo Talamonti is a small man, but all the girls love him.

"Karin! You want me to do what?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to stand on a chair?"

"I need to hide! That was the doorbell!"

Can Karin tame the Spanish bull?

He's more of a bullock than a bull.

She got him!

But he likes it!

Ulrike Butz only appears for five minutes at the end of the film, but she's worth waiting for.

She's beautiful all over, face and body.

Lambert worships her as a Goddess.

Rosl Mayr approves. All women should be treated as Goddesses.

It's difficult for me to rate this film. It's not quite as good as the previous film in the series, but any film with Ulrike Butz and Rosl Mayr deserves four stars.