Co-pilot Horst Schubert is a braggart and a true Don Juan. Thus, he tells young Ilse that he is in fact an "aircraft commander". This assertion brings about an embarrassing situation, for he suddenly meets her onboard his new work place, an IL-14 charter plane where Ilse acts as a stewardess. It gets worse, however: During a stop in Varna the police appear because Horst’s former lover Madelon has vanished. At home, meanwhile, his landlady has her hands full with her lodger’s current and former playmates. Ilse decides to put an end to this mixup and since the dull captain of the plane, Richard, makes no move to confront his co-pilot about his unstable private life, the smart stewardess appeals to the rest of the crew to help her teach Horst a few lessons in love.
Production
Real IL-14 footage makes this an aviation time capsule.
Costume
Stewardess uniforms scream socialist chic.
Acting
Horst Drinda's smarmy charisma carries every scene.
Director
Richard Groschopp
Horst Drinda
Horst Schubert, Co-Pilot
Gerlind Ahnert
Ilse Lienhardt, Stewardess
Günther Simon
Richard Wagner, Kommandant
Jürgen Frohriep
Hans Rochlitz, Co-Pilot
Günther Haack
Lutz Hempel, Bordfunker
Brigitte Krause
Rita Wolf, Schlagersängerin
Harry Hindemith
Hanke, Abteilungsleiter
Angelica Domröse
Madelon Lussi, junge Schweizerin
Helga Piur
Gudrun, Stewardess
Helga Labudda
Anne, Stewardess
Marga Legal
Armgard Lussi
Rudolf Ulrich
Kretzschmar, Fluggruppenleiter
Bruno Carstens
Parteisekretär
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
DEFA's 1961 comedies often smuggled mild social criticism past censors through farce — this one's surprisingly cheeky about male authority.
The IL-14 was East Germany's workhorse airliner; shooting inside one required genuine in-flight coordination with Interflug.
XG
