Walter Hillbring

Swedish industrial magnate Percival, known as Percy Patterson, has suddenly disappeared after a business meeting with his partner Sully.

World War I, Eastern Front. A special battery consisting of thirteen soldiers and one cannon successfully holds back the enemy. But then the position of the gun is betrayed to the Russians and the cannon is destroyed. Each of the thirteen men is now suspected of being the traitor.

This is essentially a "Kraft durch Freude" propaganda film though the organization is never mentioned. A company's three day outing might very well be the last because bankruptcy is just around the corner. The people on the trip have all their individual problems and wishes, too. This episodic film might sound quite promising considering the basic idea but its script is determinedly optimistic and leads everything and anything to a happy end. The dramatic parts are finished in a rather implausible way, the comedic are terribly predictable. There's a badly misjudged singing scene in the bus, some bavarian shtick, the Regensburger Domspatzen are singing in Augsburg and so on...

Short by Wolfgang Becker.