''Peter Shoots Down the Bird'' (german: Peter schießt den Vogel ab) is a 1959 West German

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Géza von Cziffra Géza von Cziffra (; 19 December 1900 – 28 April 1989) was a Hungarian and Austrian film director and screenwriter. Life Cziffra was a Banat German in origin, born in 1900 in Arad in the Banat region, at that date in the Kingdom of Hungar ...

and starring

Peter Alexander Peter Alexander may refer to: * Pete Alexander (born Grover Cleveland Alexander; 1887–1950), American baseball player * Peter Alexander (Shakespearean scholar) (1893–1969), professor of English language and literature at the University of Glasgo ...

Germaine Damar Germaine Damar (born August 31, 1929) is a Luxembourger actress and dancer. Sometimes she used the stage name Ria Poncelet. She started her career as an acrobat and played in nearly 30 German films, including three films in which she was the part ...

and

Maria Sebaldt Maria Katharina Helene Sebaldt (26 April 1930 in Berlin- Steglitz) is a German actress. Life The daughter of a department head of the Paramount film distribution company took private acting lessons from 1946 to 1949 and passed an acting examina ...

. It was shot at the

Spandau Studios The Spandau Studios or CCC Studios were film and television studios located in Spandau, a suburb of Berlin. They were established in 1949 following the Second World War by the producer Artur Brauner controller of CCC Films, on the site of a form ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art directors

Paul Markwitz Paul Markwitz (16 July 1908 – 19 March 1968)Kay Weniger: Das große Personenlexikon des Films Volume 5, Berlin 2001, , pg. 281f was a German production designer, art director and set decorator. He worked on over 50 films between 1935 and ...

and

Heinrich Weidemann Heinrich Weidemann (1899–1982) was a German art director.Lowe p.179 Selected filmography * '' The Gambler'' (1938) * '' The Swedish Nightingale'' (1941) * '' Ghost in the Castle'' (1947) * '' The Trip to Marrakesh'' (1949) * '' Scandal at the ...

Plot

Peter Schatz is a porter at a hotel where he is very popular with all the guests. However, he struggles to get along with the hotel director, who is a bit of a pedantic tyrant and feared by all staff, and switchboard lady Renate of another hotel. Beside his work he has ambitions to travel the world. When he inherits a larger sum of money from a former hotel guest in gratitude for his services to her and her dog, his colleague Mathilde suggests he could go on a ski trip into a posh ski resort in the Austrian Alps. At first his attempt to book a room in the Grand Hotel in Zürs am Arlberg is futile, as they are completely booked, so he comes up with a lie, pretending he was a Argentinian beef and cattle king to get a room. Before he leaves, Peter drops in to the hotel director's office and tells him he needs several weeks of annual leave. The director does not want to grant these and thinks Peter has gotten crazy, so he orders an ambulance with strong carers from the local mental institution, but Peter manages to get the director mad and raging, so the director ends up in a straight jacket himself and is taken away. In the evening Peter celebrates a farewell party with all the hotel staff and in the next morning sets off on his travels. On holiday, he incidentally meets Renate, and falls in love with her. He soon realises who she is, although she does not for him. Afraid to anger her, he keeps the tale of the cattle king going. The disguise causes a lot of confusion. Peter attempts several types of winter and alpine sports, although he is very bad at them. Peter then attracts the attention of a fraudster lady residing in the neighbouring hotel room, who believe him to be very rich as well and scheme to rob him.

Cast

as Peter Schatz *

as Renate Hartwig *

as Marilyn *

Oskar Sima Oskar Sima (31 July 1896 – 24 June 1969) was an Austrian actor who is best remembered for appearing in supporting roles in countless comedy films from the 1930s to the 1960s. Born in Hohenau an der March, Lower Austria, Sima attended high sc ...

as Director Wilfried Adler *

Ernst Waldow Ernst Waldow (22 August 1893 – 5 June 1964) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 160 films during his career. Selected filmography * '' Rübezahl's Wedding'' (1916) * '' Sin of a Beautiful Woman'' (1929) *'' The Green Domino'' (1 ...

as General Bumm *

Agnes Windeck Agnes Windeck (; 27 March 1888 – 28 September 1975) was a German theatre and film actress. She appeared in more than 50 films between 1939 and 1973. She was born in Hamburg and started her career at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in 1904. S ...

as Rose *Anneliese Würtz as Marie *

Edith Hancke Edith Hancke (; 14 October 1928 – 4 June 2015) was a German stage, film and television actress. Life and career Edith Hancke, daughter of a bank clerk, grew up in Berlin-Charlottenburg. She received an education at the Lettehaus and, at the ...

as Fräulein Lehmann * Jo Herbst as Dr. Klaus Maria Weichholz * Axel Monjé as Marilyn's accomplice *

Friedrich Schoenfelder Friedrich Schoenfelder (17 October 1916 – 14 August 2011) was a German actor and voice artist. Schoenfelder was born in Sorau/Lower Lusatia and died in Berlin. He was 94. He was the German dubbing voice of David Niven and Vincent Price. In th ...

as Toni Hartwig *Bob Iller as Portier Blümli *

Herbert Weissbach Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herber ...

as Mr. Pieps *Hans W. Hamacher as Lawyer Hammel *Christine von Trümbach *

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. A ...

as Mathilde Hütchen

Soundtrack

*Peter Alexander - "Ins weiße Wolkenschlößchen" *Peter Alexander - "Hol den Peter" *Peter Alexander - "Piccolo-Ponny" *Peter Alexander - "Torero der Liebe"

References

External links

* * 1959 musical comedy films German musical comedy films West German films 1950s German-language films 1950s French-language films Films set in hotels Films set in the Alps Skiing films Films directed by Géza von Cziffra Films shot at Spandau Studios 1950s English-language films 1950s German films {{Musical-comedy-film-stub