Die Koffer des Herrn O.F.

Ostend is a sleepy little town that aspires to mediocrity -- if no effort is required. Thirteen suitcases with the initials O. F. on them, and stickers from around the world, along with instructions for six rooms in Ludwig Stossel's hotel. As he only has five rooms, he has to build another, and soon the entire town begins to wake up.

This satirical comedy has an interesting cast, including Peter Lorre, Alfred Abel, and Hedy Lamarr, all of whom play it straight. With its serious undertones -- who is O. F., how large can this bubble grow before it bursts, and what it means in terms of the real world -- it eventually floats off into Cloud-Cuckoo-Land.

It's directed by Alexis Granowsky, one of the Russian emigrees who left the Soviet Union for various reasons. I wonder how much that had to do with his choice of themes.

This is one wacky, off-the-wall comedy. It starts off with a mysterious set of luggage with the initials "O.F." that arrive at a hotel in some little town in Germany The residents somehow get the idea that some distinguished bigshot will be arriving soon. The hotel is refurnished, the streets are made spick and span, people invest in new clothes, the town gets a new facelift with a new theater, city hall, sports center, cabaret, and so on. In addition, people decide to get married in droves and as a result of this bizarre chain of events, the whole sleepy, little town experiences a huge economic boom while recession/depression occurs everywhere else. A committee of economic analysts are puzzled over the changes in this small town and can't figure out what the driving force is. In short, because of the arrival of 13 pieces of baggage, a sleepy little German village becomes modernized virtually overnight. Who is the mysterious "O.F." ? How does this resolve itself ? I won't spoil the ending, but this is a must-see for all who enjoy innovative, zany comedy.

Great performances from Alfred Abel (who played the overlord of Metropolis in the Fritz Lang classic of the same name, next to "2001:A Space Odyssey", the best Science Fiction film of the twentieth century). One would have to look closely in order to recognize Alfred Abel in the role of the town Burgermeister. Also Peter Lorre is hysterically funny as the opportunistic newspaper editor "Stix" who randomly and falsely identifies "O.F" as "Oskar Flaut, the millionaire". Hedy Kiesler who became Hedy Lamarr in later years plays the role of the burgermeister's daughter. Harald Paulsen, a distinguished German actor also is prominently featured. Due to the presence of these performers in the film, this is a historically as well hysterically important film.

Dan Basinger

A lively, sophisticated little comedy with music in the style of Rene Clair, featuring a boisterous performance by Peter Lorre as a wiseacre newspaper editor who turns a backwards little town in Germany into a champagne-soaked jazz metropolis via creative misinformation.

This early German comedy is really a fun to watch! It is a pity that I only own a very bad copy of this film - and I am afraid it is difficult to get in general.

The plot is surprisingly original with a lot of fine ideas: The wealth of a very small town has its beginning in nothing but a myth. A real clever idea - and the development of the plot is very entertaining, too!

The TV-version contains all the scenes taken out by the Nazis later on and are marked as "censored", so you can see for yourself what they did not find fitting.

I do hope this film will be shown on TV more often and will be available for a lot of people soon!