The film traces Uli's progress from his humble peasant surroundings to the homes of the wealthy and prominent. The characterizations are convincing, and the comic interludes surprisingly subtle and believable for a Swiss film. The no-star cast doomed Uli Der Knecht from the start so far as American distribution was concerned. It was another matter in Switzerland, where the film was one of the year's top moneymakers. Uli der Knecht was based on a novel by Jeremias Gottbelf.
Realist melodrama set in Zurich.
They live behind the rails of the classification yard in a small and shabby hut. They take the days as they come, refuse to work on principle and pinch together their livelihood. The three tramps Dürst, Barbarossa and Clown are content with what they have and ignore the outside world, and so far they have fared well. Until now...
The paths of guests and employees cross at the Palace Hotel in St. Moritz: A chambermaid experiences financial difficulties. A guest has been robbed. A thief is caught. An assistant cook is promoted to waiter. And there’s no shortage of love in this small world of the great Hotel Palace. Keeping an orderly eye over proceedings is the hotel’s beautiful patron, whose heart is in the right place.
Unemployed and homeless actors following the dream of finding the future in South America. The manager Osvaldo Curtis tricks the group of colorful and failed artists to apply for a special visa overseas.
Widowed baker Zürrer has to raise his three children, who all turn out to be disappointments to him in various ways.
Wäckerli, policeman in the small Swiss village of Allenwil, is in trouble. His son Ruedi is unhappy in his apprenticeship and spends way too much money. And now 10'000 francs have been stolen from the bourough's community fund...
A "milieustudie" about a girl going to the famous Cafe Odeon and trying to make ends meet.
Uli has been the tenant of the "Glunggen-farm" for two years. His wife Vreneli gave him two children and the couple is happy. But this year, the harvest looks bad and his landlord calls in the rent, as the old man urgently needs money to satisfy the demands of his son and stepson. Desperate to make ends meet, Uli fraudulently sells a cow knowing that she does not produce any milk. He is pursued in court but is acquitted. But then, the buyer curses him... and disaster promptly strikes.
