Germany, around the turn of the century. When sailor Poldi returns to his Bavarian home village after many years at sea he falls for his childhood friend Dorle. But Dorle is already promised to the village blacksmith Domini. A bitter rivalry between the two ensues.
A doctor, who commits malpractice in a major urban hospital, retreats to a remote house in the countryside. Although he is acquitted, his conscience is not so easily appeased. When a murder occurs and the southern Styria village searches for the culprit, he has to take a stand.
This first film adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s play about class distinctions was made in 1955 in the Vienna Rosenhügel studios, but it was only premiered five years later. Curt Bois plays the rich capitalist Puntila who only becomes somewhat agreeable when he is drunk (which he is most of the time in this film). In his inebriated state, Puntila not only gets amorously involved with three different ladies but also suggests that his daughter Eva marries his chauffeur Matti. The chauffeur, however, doesn’t really agree…
In the 1880s, Georges Duroy, back from the Colonies, arrives in Paris with the firm intention of conquering the capital through his power of seduction, his selfishness and cynicism. Entering into journalism through the back door he will soon rise to the top with the support of several women: Madeleine Forestier, the wife of his journalist friend Charles; Clothilde de Marelle, his first mistress; Virginie Walter, the wife of a newspaper owner; Suzanne Walter, her daughter who eventually marries Duroy.