Fast hit fun with Caterina Valente and Rudolf Prack
To start off you can see La Valente and Richard Allan dancing Calypso ("Tipitipitipso"). Wow! We know that Caterina Valente, who has just turned 90, is a first-class show star. And Richard Allan (1923-1999) cut a dazzling figure as Hildegard Knef's dancer in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (1952).
In "The Simple Girl" you see the two as newcomer Caterina Bastiani and film star Robert Holden. Caterina is set to play the title role of the "simple girl", a bestseller by Thomas Krauss (Rudolf Prack), in the upcoming film adaptation. But the author, who lives in the provinces with his young son, rejects the alleged glamor aunt unseen. To convince him of his opinion, Caterina sets off for the provinces with her agent Milli (famous as always: Ruth Stephan). By chance, instead of Eva (Helen Vita), she gets the job as a housemaid in the author's castle (!), where Caterina now intends to act as a particularly "simple girl" to her arrogant author. If only love didn't get in the way... Don't worry: Ruth Stephan doesn't miss out either. She even lets Rudolf Platte paint her naked as a drunken artist!
Things could be so turbulent and a little bit offensive in the 1950s. Like every other Valente film, this fun was made in Artur Brauner's CCC studios in Berlin. The script came from Curth Flatow (1920-2011), the inventor of the 80s ZDF hit series "Ich heirate eine Familie / I'm Marrying a Family", who also worked closely with the ZDF showmaster Hans Rosenthal (1925-1987).
Matzen Castle in Reith, Tyrol served as the best-selling author's modest residence. Other songs sung by Caterina Valente: "When love falls in two hearts" and "Bravo Caterina (There are still fairy tales)".
The film premiered on August 23, 1957 in the Thalia in Wiesbaden. Oh yes, the director was Werner Jacobs (1909-1999), who was supposed to film "Hier bin ich - hier bleib ich / Here I am - here I stay" with La Valente.
