Hallo Dienstmann (1951) by Franz Antel - Review

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by Franz Antel

grade: 7

The scene in which actors Hans Moser and Paul Hörbiger, dressed as bellhops, are struggling with the transport of some heavy luggage, including a big wooden box, is, to this day, considered one of the most famous sketches in the history of Austrian cinema. This is one of the highlight scenes of the comedy *Hallo Dienstmann**, directed by Franz Antel in 1951.*

Unusually heavy luggage

There is one scene in particular that, to this day, is remembered as one of the most famous scenes in Austrian film history: the scene in which actors Hans Moser (who, at a closer look, tries hardly not to laugh) and Paul Hörbiger, dressed as bellhops, are struggling with the transport of some heavy luggage, including a big wooden box. This is one of the highlight scenes of the comedy Hallo Dienstmann, directed by Franz Antel in 1951. And while Antel is considered one of the most important exponents of the Viennese comedy (active from the 1940s until the early 2000s, i.e. when the director was already in his nineties), it must be acknowledged that Hallo Dienstmann was actually the brainchild of Paul Hörbiger. When Antel proposed him a first outline for the screenplay, the actor immediately thought of an old sketch conceived by Hans Moser, in which he played a bellhop with an enormous wooden box to transport.

And so this feature film came to life, an enjoyable comedy of misunderstandings with a musical character, perfectly in line with the style of the so-called Wiener Film, copiously produced in those years. And so, Moser and Hörbiger (true pillars of Austrian cinema) play, here, the unusual roles of two bellhops. Or rather, the real bellhop is Hans Moser, while his colleague is none other than a respected music professor, dressed as a bellhop at a masked ball. So it is only thanks to a misunderstanding that Moser is called upon to help him transport the luggage of a charming professor who has gone to Vienna to take up a new job – lo and behold – at the same school where Hörbiger teaches. Hence a series of amusing misunderstandings that will also involve the respected professor’s ex-wife – who is waiting for nothing more than to return with him – and the son of the real bellhop, who has fallen in love with a student at the school, to whom he will make believe he is the son of an important diplomat.

An imperfect work, this Hallo Dienstmann. Especially if we think of certain expedients that are a little bit forced (see, for instance, the scene in which Hans Moser’s son and the girl he is in love with are locked inside a schoolroom by Hörbiger’s ex-wife). Yet one cannot fail to acknowledge this feature film’s undoubted importance from a historical point of view. This is a document of an era that had so much importance in the history of Austrian cinema and a perfect example of what the big production companies of the time used to produce.

Franz Antel, for his part, handled the situation well, creating memorable moments such as the hesitant approach of the couples when the club lights were dimmed to the notes of the song Finsternis (Darkness), not to mention the scene at the school’s end-of-year recital, in which we finally see the legendary Hörbiger and Moser perform together on stage in front of a delighted audience.

A work, Hallo Dienstmann, that, perhaps, looks a little too much like the large number of musical comedies produced in those years? Undoubtedly. And yet, in spite of this, this feature film rightly ranks above all as a tribute to art and to the important careers of Hans Moser and Paul Hörbiger. Their performances have, rightly, gone down in history.