A lonely German clerk captures two American flyers and keeps them as prisoners in his basement long after WWII has ended. Director Gottfried Reinhardt's 1965 comedy stars Alec Guinness, Robert Redford and Michael Connors.
The film focuses on life in a World War II German penal battalion camp somewhere in Russia. The convicts include a heroic doctor unjustly convicted of avoiding military service, an officer who retreated against orders, and common criminals. It shows their life in the camp, clearing mines, living in trenches on the front line.
With the help of God, the loveable safecracker Paul Wittkowski – aka “Cracker-Paulie” – manages to escape the clutches of the cops. He dresses up as a priest and ends up in a village, whose pastor is in dispute with an influential businessman. To help the pastor and a young widow, Paulie has to use his own special abilities. This work leads him back to the path of righteousness. He contacts the police and, after serving his time, starts a new life with the widow.
Despite their social differences Luise, called Pünktchen, a girl from rich parentage befriends Anton, a boy who has to earn his own money in order to afford life for his sick mother and himself. Together they undergo different adventures, even preventing a theft in Pünktchens home
