''Don't Worry About Your Mother-in-Law'' () is a 1954 West German

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Erich Engels Erich Engels (23 May 1889 – 25 April 1971) was a German screenwriter, film producer, producer and film director.Bock & Bergfelder p.112 Selected filmography * ''Dear Homeland'' (1929) * ''Rooms to Let'' (1930) * ''The Murderer Dimitri Karamazo ...

and starring

Grethe Weiser Grethe Weiser (; 27 February 1903 – 2 October 1970) was a German actress. Biography Born in Hanover, she spent her childhood in Dresden. She escaped from her dominant and sometimes violent father by marrying a Jewish confectionery manufactu ...

, Lonny Kellner and

Claus Biederstaedt Claus Biederstaedt (28 June 1928 – 18 June 2020) was a German actor. He studied in Hamburg and began his career working with Joseph Offenbach. Among the actors for whom he dubbed were Yves Montand, Peter Falk, Marlon Brando, Vittorio Gassman, ...

.Bock & Bergfelder p.519 It was shot at the

Wandsbek Studios The Wandsbek Studios are film production and television studios located in Wandsbek, a district of the German city of Hamburg. The complex was established in 1948 when Real Film, set up the previous year, acquired a site in Wandsbek for construc ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

with sets designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Mathias Matthies Mathias Matthies (August 7, 1911 – September 30, 2004) was a German art director. He designed the sets for around a hundred films and television programmes. He often collaborated with his wife Ellen Schmidt, including on some Edgar Wallace ada ...

and Ellen Schmidt,

Plot

Martin Hoffmann is an employee of the Günzlow tobacco company, where there are many pretty girls, above all the boss's secretary, Renate Winter, who has her eye on him. This in turn annoys his girlfriend Gisela Steinberg. To reel him in, she tells him she is pregnant. He is very receptive to the idea of getting married, as he loves her too. Only Mathilde Steinberg, Gisela's mother and caring wife of the music professor Steinberg, is against marriage because she sees no future for the two of them due to their low income. But because of the lie about the expected child, she agrees. Since the young couple does not yet have their own apartment, they have to live in a furnished room with their parents. Martin is bothered by his father-in-law's piano lessons as well as his mother-in-law's constant interference in their affairs. When they rent an apartment and borrow money to furnish it, they soon find themselves overindebted. When Gisela talks to her friend Lily, she finds a way out of the precarious situation that Martin doesn't need to know about. A friend of her named Mayer, a hosiery manufacturer, is looking for models and he pays very well. So it doesn't take long before Gisela brings home the first 50 marks of self-earned money and gives it to Martin, explaining it as a lottery win. Still believing in her pregnancy, Martin buys a used stroller without thinking about the furniture installments still outstanding. A crisis ensues when he finds out where the money really comes from and that no baby is coming; he is also suspicious of her relationship with the hosiery manufacturer. At some point he is heartbroken and Gisela moves back to her parents. The next step is to contact a divorce lawyer. After a while Gisela realizes that her love for her husband is still very strong. She secretly returns to their apartment to bring about a reconciliation. Expecting to see him lonely and unhappy, she finds him in Renate Winter's company. Gisela rushes away, offended again. But Renate had only come to see if things were going right. Eventually Gisela and Martin get back together and are soon expecting a baby.

Cast

as Mathilde Steinberg * Lonny Kellner as Gisela Steinberg *

as Martin Hoffmann *

Paul Westermeier Paul Westermeier (9 July 1892 – 17 October 1972) was a German film actor. Selected filmography * '' Wedding in the Eccentric Club'' (1917) * '' Agnes Arnau and Her Three Suitors'' (1918) * '' About the Son'' (1921) * '' Memoirs of a Film Act ...

as Direktor Günzlow *

Walter Janssen Walter Janssen (7 February 1887 – 1 January 1976) was a German film actor and director. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1917 and 1970. Selected filmography * '' The Dancer'' (1919) * ''Destiny'' (1921) * '' Wandering Souls'' ( ...

as Professor Steinberg *

Marianne Wischmann Marianne Wischmann (1921–2009) was a German film and television actress, as well as a renowned voice actress. Selected filmography * ''Third from the Right'' (1950) * '' The Lie'' (1950) * '' Abundance of Life'' (1950) * '' Miracles Still Happ ...

as Renate Winter *

Bum Krüger Bum Krüger (born ''Willy Krüger''; 13 March 1906 - 15 March 1971) was a German actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1948 to 1969. Filmography References External links * 1906 births 1971 deaths German male film ...

as Direktor Meyer *

Beppo Brem Beppo Brem (11 March 1906 in Munich, German Empire – September 5, 1990 in Munich, West Germany) was a German film actor, who was in over 200 film and television productions between 1932 and 1990. He often played stereotypically Bavarian characte ...

as Fritz Fränkel *

Helga Braend Helga (derived from Old Norse ''heilagr'' - "holy", "blessed") is a female name, used mainly in Scandinavia, German-speaking countries and the Low Countries (''Hege'', ''Helle'', ''Helge'', ''Helga'', ''Helka'' or ''Oili''). The name was in use i ...

as Helga Steinberg *

Ursula Herking Ursula Herking (28 January 1912 – 17 November 1974) was a German film actress. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1933 and 1972. She was born in Dessau, Germany and died in Munich, West Germany. Selected filmography * '' Susanne ...

* Roland Kaiser as Herbert Steinberg *

Ingrid Lutz Ingrid Marga Irene Lutz (3 March 1924 – 13 November 2021) was a German film actress. Lutz died on 13 November 2021, at the age of 97.Determined by the Berlin film researcher M. Jahnke in cooperation with R. Kettermann, in 2022. Jahnke found he ...

as Lilly *

Maria Paudler Maria Paudler (20 June 1903 – 17 August 1990) was an Austro-Hungarian-born German actress. Selected filmography * '' Madame Wants No Children'' (1926) * '' The Young Man from the Ragtrade'' (1926) * '' The Violet Eater'' (1926) * '' One Does N ...

Erich Ponto Erich Johannes Bruno Ponto (14 December 1884 – 14 February 1957) was a German film and stage actor. Career Erich Ponto was born in Lübeck as the son of a textile merchant. After his family had moved to Hamburg- Eimsbüttel, he attended the g ...

Ruth Stephan Ruth Stephan (27 October 1925 – 8 August 1975) was a German film and stage actress. She appeared with Heinz Erhardt in the 'Willi' series of films. Biography Ruth Stephan was born to retail merchant Kurt Stephan and his wife, Kriemhilde. Af ...

Hubert von Meyerinck Hubert "Hubsi" von Meyerinck (23 August 1896 – 13 May 1971) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1921 and 1970. Biography Meyerinck was born in Potsdam, Brandenburg, the son of Friedrich von Meyerinck (1858� ...

References

Bibliography

* Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. ''The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books, 2009.

External links

* {{Erich Engels 1954 films 1954 comedy films German comedy films West German films 1950s German-language films Films directed by Erich Engels German black-and-white films 1950s German films Films shot at Wandsbek Studios