User Reviews

Released only a few years after WW2 was over, this Austrian musical comedy prefers to not mention the war. Though clearly set in (then) present (consider most of the cars, and the waltz vs. swing, opera vs. twist confrontations), it explores to quite some depth the "Dienstmann" (service man) system.

This was introduced in Austria/Hungary in 1859, and apparently likewise in Bavaria and Prussia. A "Dienstmann" had to be licensed by the state, and wore a uniform, with license number on the hat. Besides that, he was available to calls in public places for short-time work of luggage transportation, messenger, but also household chores etc.

In this movie, set in post-war Vienna, we have two of those, a real (Hans Moser in his classic role) and a fake one (Paul Hörbiger, who is really a professor of operetta at fictitious Strauss Academy).

As comedies go, there is a lot of twists going on, between the Dienstmann's son, a barber's daughter, a female operetta professor just arrived from Graz. Alcoholic beverages were consumed aplenty, from early in the morning to late at night. A recurring theme song "Imagine the lights went out" is very charming.

All in all, this is a very charming and enjoyable musical comedy.That is, if you like the time and place it was made in. It doesn't have the depth of The Third Man, but still it was good fun for me :)

As much as I hardly know Austrian German,It was so funny. I understood it. Paul Horbinger plays a professor of Operetta at an art School.He's at am all night costume party dressed up as porter.a pianist , played by Harry Fuss, all of a sudden wants to stop playing the piano and participate in the dancing with Waltraut Haas, who was dancing with Paul Horbinger. Hans Moser plays a Porter who lives with his sister, who runs apartment house , I think, played By Anne Rosar. Well it turns out that that pianist is Hans son,who also goes to the Arts n Entertainment school. Hans receives a special letter, that Anne Rosar reads, that the character that's played by Maria Andergast, is coming . She to is working at the School of Arts.Well The party last all night and ends early in the morning.Harry Fuss takes Waltraut Hass home , where she live with her parents,Rudolph Carl who is a barber and his wife,played by Hilde Jaeger, who looks like the same actress who played Empress in Dances of the king,1942.Well Moser goes to work as a porter either in a train station or a bus station , it's never explained. After the Party Ferdinand, played by Horbinger takes his fellow workers out to a bar for smokes and drinks. Hans is at the same place drinking a beer or two and sees Paul Horbinger thinking he's a real porter. After Moser's finished He goes back to work. So he goes to meet Maria Andergast,at the station. When he does she has too much luggage and he knows that he needs extra help. So he get back to that bar is close and asks Ferdinand to help him cause he thinks that he's a porter. He decides to do it as a joke.So he actually goes up there and and helps them.As soon as he helped them, Maria asks them if they want a drink so she gives them a shot . After Moser leave's Ferdinand. He goes on the couch and starts snoozing. Maria sees this and gets Hans to wake him up. When he does he accidentally knocks a vase down.She get's mad and gets them to both get out .He takes him to his and his sisters place for coffee.Later on Maria notices that there is a cigarette case they found , she and Anne.It mentions Ferdinand name . They find it strange. So they give it to Hans to give it to that lost and found. He drops it on the kitchen table and forgets about it.later on When he's at the academy, Maria come in as being the new Operetta teacher.Ferdinand , in his normal looks,realize that it's the same women that he had helped but she wouldn't notice him.But he recognizes his name from the case . He show's her all the classes in the arts school Later when he's with a fellow teacher and want's to get a cigarette he realizes that it's missing and he now remember's where it was. At Marias place. So he goes back to get it disguise as the porter. As he goes to the place Annie is cleaning maria place. He goes in there pretending to help in the place cleaning since that was one of the duties as a porter. so as he helps her out , he looks for the case . He can't find it .When he's finish , Annie invites him for coffee. When goes down to her place, He Sees the case and takes it. When Moser comes back he see's that the case is gone . So he goes to check on the alleged porter,in the employees files.Ferdinand and Maria take interest in each other and then go out . The next day the staff at the Art's institute, including Horbinger and Maria are having an audition for their students for an operetta written by ,Hans son,played by Harry Fuss,.Some thing comes up that compels Ferdinand to go back to Maria apartments but this time she's aware and plays along. He sends her flowers and cleans her kitchen up. Some mischievous actress sees Waltruat and harry go into and room and she locks them up. After some talk they try to leave but the door is locked and they feel compel to stay and spend all night long in couch and chairs.Rudolph Carl and his wife are worried that neither showed back up all night long. Hans, Annie, Carl n wife go back to the school, to see what happen. But before, Paul shows up and opens the door and sees the two getting up in their sleeping area. He starts fussing at both up them as they try to explain what happen. Harry gets out of it and leaves.He sees his relatives and quickly locks the front door. Makes up a lie that Ferdinand was seducing Waltruat. They open the door jump on Ferdinand and takes the daughter out and except harry as her fiancé. The mischievous student shows up and makes trouble for him. Maria opens the door and think she's seducing the student she get's mad and shut the door. It's time for the play an operetta about The porter. Annie and Hans get ready for seeing his sons play. One of the actors have trouble with the lines. So Horbinger takes over. When Rosar and Moser show up he sees Paul in his porter outfit and goes in the play and tries to put a citizens arrest for stealing a case , Every one likes it and it adds zest to the play .Paul immediately behind the stage tells him what he really is that he's the guy on the case. Hans and Paul ends up being at the end of the play

"Hallo Dienstmann" or "Hello Dienstmann" is an Austrian 100-minute movie from 1952, so this one will have its 65th anniversary next year. The language here is German of course. Looking at how old it already is, nobody should be surprised that it is a black-and-white film. The director is Franz Antel and (aside from the Bockerer films), this is one of his most known works almost a decade after his death. The three writers are Rudolf Österreicher (very fitting name), Lilian Belmont and Paul Hörbiger. The latter also plays one of the main characters of the film. And Paul Hörbiger is also a name that non-film-buffs have heard of today. Same can be said about Hans Moser and for both, it is also among those films they made that have not vanished into oblivion much more than half a century later. So what is a Dienstmann? You could maybe say "a servant", but it is a more distinguished term that somehow shows that people do respect the profession. It is a term that is not present anymore in German language today, at least not in Germany. I am not sure if Austrians still use it. In any case, I must say there were not enough funny or entertaining moments for a film that goes easily longer than 90 minutes. This may have partially to do with occasional overacting by the protagonists and otherwise with a script that is just not good enough. I cannot say that this got me curious about the bodies of work of the actors in here. I do not recommend the watch.