- "You wouldn't believe what I've climbed before."— Sally Meyer, dropping a Double Entendre.
Meyer from Berlin (Meyer aus Berlin) is a 1919 German comedic bergfilm (mountain movie), directed by and starring Ernst Lubitsch. It was the last appearance of Lubitsch's character Sally, a Jewish man ('Sally' was a fairly common nickname for Solomon at the time) who was an (occasionally bumbling) trickster and ladies man.
The plot sees Sally pretending to be sick as an excuse to get away from his wife Paula (Ethel Orff) and go on a vacation in the Austrian Alps. He accidentally travels to the Bavarian Alps instead, but doesn't let that stop him and soon finds himself flirting with other women. He forms a particular bond with Kitty (Trude Troll), a fellow Berlinian tourist wanting to spend some time away from her husband Harry (Heinz Landsmann). However, Sally and Kitty's respective partners soon learn about their rendezvous and travel to Berchtesgaden to confront them.
The film was considered lost for decades before it was rediscovered in the Dutch film archives, labeled "Sally geht auf Reisen wiederentdeckt" (Sally Goes on a Journey). It re-premiered on the French-German television channel Arte in 1995.
This movie contains examples of:
- All Jews Are Cheapskates: Played for Laughs when Sally has a dream in which the mountaintop appears at his bedside, with a label conveniently stating its height of "2800 [meters]." He manages to haggle it down to 28 by simply reaching out and removing the zeros, making it shrink accordingly.Sally: I knew that Watzmann is open to reason!
- Amazon Chaser: Sally gets quite enamored by the muscular arms of a local Brawn Hilda.
- Bedmate Reveal: In the log cabin, Paula, Sally, Kitty and Harry all find themselves waking up in a neat row in the hay. Their morning gasps soon turn into gaping, shocked expressions. Cue lots of arguing.
- Call-Back: Sally's line "I used to be a salesman at a shoe store" is one to Lubitsch's first Sally film, Shoe Palace Pinkus.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Kitty views Sally as such, writing to Harry that "[Sally] seems pretty harmless, so I will prefer him to the others, so that they will avoid me." Both Harry and Paula disagree about the "chivalrous" part, though. It's worth pointing out that while Sally drops plenty of innuendos and does kiss Kitty, he ultimately never goes as far as actually trying to sleep with her.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- Paula and Harry just happen to find themselves on the same train. After comparing notes, they quickly conclude that their partners are having an affair.
- Later, Paula and Harry end up at the log cabin while Sally and Kitty are there but after they've fallen asleep (with sheets covering their heads) and unknowingly lay down next to the people they're looking for. Bonus points for coincidentally ending up right beside their respective spouses as well.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Sally offering Kitty a very large sausage.
- Dude Magnet: A Lubitsch staple. Kitty amasses a crowd of admirers, and while she enjoys the attention she turns most of them down... except for Sally, of course.
- Duel to the Death: One of Kitty's other admirers challenges Sally to one, to which Sally replies "I don't mind. If I'm late, start without me!" His rival is never seen again for the rest of the film.
- Flanderization: Sally is far more of a Butt-Monkey than he was in Shoe Palace Pinkus. Partially Justified by him being a Fish out of Water here, and by him now being married to a woman willing to call him out.
- Hypocritical Humor: Sally is annoyed at his wife for getting jealous when he talks to other women... even though he gets just as jealous when other men talk to Kitty (who is cheating on her husband with Sally to begin with.)
- The Klutz: Sally's climbing is noticeably less elegant than Kitty's, with a lot of stumbling around.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: This conversation between Sally and Kitty while climbing down Watzmann. Also a slight Take That Me from Lubitsch.Kitty: You should be filmed like this!Sally: I'm not making a fool of myself!
- Literal Cliffhanger: During the Climbing Climax, Sally ends up falling off the mountain, with Kitty (to whom the other end of his rope is tied) having to pull him back up offscreen.
- Names The Same:
- In-Universe. The local mountain just happens to share a name with some businessman.
Kitty: Do you know Watzmann?Sally: Let me think, Watzmann — Watzmann — Didn't he marry Nanni Lammer?Kitty (laughs and points towards a mountaintop): I'm talking about the mountain Watzmann! We will climb this mountain tomorrow.- Becomes a Brick Joke later when Sally brings it up in a letter to Paula.
Sally: Dearest wife! Tomorrow I will climb Watzmann, not to be confused with the company Watzmann & co. - No Ending: Paula and Kitty argue. Sally arrives and drops a One-Liner. ("Would you hold [loving me] against her?") The End! Supposedly the film used to have an epilogue — now lost — which tied up the story more thoroughly.
- Pain to the Ass: While on the train, Sally accidentally sits on his alpenstock (a combined axe/walkingstick) which he just placed on the seat. Ouch!
- Playing Sick: The plot starts with Sally Meyer pretending to have the measles.
- Secret-Keeper: Sally's maid soon learns that he isn't as ill as he's claiming, but keeps quiet about it. Meanwhile, Sally's doctor is perfectly fine with falsifying a diagnosis to begin with.
- There Is Only One Bed: Sally and Kitty end up staying at a log cabin for the night, which means sleeping right next to one another in the hay.
- Yodel Land: Parodied. Sally's attempt at dressing like the stereotype leads to people in Berlin asking if he's going to a costume party or assuming that he's a performing folk musician. Even ignoring that he ends up with an outfit from the wrong alpine area, he finds that most people there just wears normal (for the time) suits. Still, he manages to be fairly popular with the ladies anyway. Possibly because they see him as quirky.
