Là-haut sur la montagne

This 1957 German comedy is completely unknown as far as I know (you won't find it mentioned in any film book, I'm sure). A popular TV singer has an emergency landing of her small plane in a remote village in the German alps. While waiting to be rescued (with the improvement in communications, the argument couldn't be credible in a contemporary movie), she becomes friendly with the local people, falls in love with the village singer (a young, handsome yodeler who is also a woodcutter) and eventually takes him to the big city (Munich in this case) so he can start a career as a singer. His village girlfriend has no alternative but to go to the city to rescue him. There are many interesting things in this movie. One is an early look at the world of television (which is shown here as a new medium taking over German homes). The beautiful color photography allows also you to see life in 1950s Germany as if one would be watching a lost world. Upbeat and cheery, this movie belong to a kind of film (the genre of popular comedies made in Germany in the 1950s) that have been frowned upon by critics. Yet I find them much more appealing than the ponderous, pretentious German films of the 60s and 70s.