Bachelor of Hearts – 1958 | 94mins | Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

German-born director, Wolf Rilla’s Bachelor of Hearts is a Rank comedy in the style of Genevieve and Doctor in the House. It tells the story of Wolf (Hardy Kruger), a German student who comes to study at Cambridge University. The early parts of the film deal with Wolf’s difficulties in dealing with traditional Cambridge manners, manners that must have seemed just as strange to the audience and that are held up for mockery. He is confused over how to address the porter, wrongly calling him ‘sir’ and trying to shake his hand; the college necessities list tells him that he should have a set of ‘one dozen sherry glasses’; he is puzzled by the ‘bedder’s’ offer to make his bed and scathing about the old furniture in his rooms – ‘perhaps here Oliver Cromwell has just moved in.’

Gradually, Wolf settles down. He gains a girlfriend, Ann (Sylvia Syms), who becomes his guide, translating terms like ‘rag week’ and ‘mucking in’, and he learns to offer tea on all occasions. The film settles into a series of set pieces based on the pranks of the students’ Dodo Club. Although Wolf never joins the club, he make friends with Hugo and the others and gets involved in their world. Eventually, Wolf graduates with a Class 1 and the film ends with Wolf and Ann drifting at dawn along the river after the May Ball.