id: Unidentified Film No. 109
director: Unknown
year: Unknown
country: Germany
alternative titles: Woningnood

Unable to work properly in his cramped surroundings, Freddy Hilmer gets his rich father to buy him a large villa. All seems to go well thereafter until Freddy one day insults his clumsy butler. In revenge, the butler informs some housing inspectors that Freddy and his wife live alone in their oversized villa. When the inspectors come to the house, Freddy tries to convince them that he and his wife plan to one day fill the house with no less than ten children but, until then, the inspectors force them to share the house with six other families.
The new guests then arrive one by one: an unnamed writer, who has his eye on the Hilmer’s maid; Mr. and Mrs. Kindermann and their six children; an unnamed tuba player; the well-to-do Mr. H. Klappawitsch and the prim and proper Miss. Lijsje Dun. Later an old flame of Klappawitsch’s, Miss. Lobobo, turns up and becomes the last addition of the extended Hilmer household.
The arrival of the new guests makes life difficult for the others in the house and very soon Freddy’s butler and cook leave. Eventually it all becomes too much for Freddy and his wife as well and they leave the house to stay in a hotel.
Having been caught by Lobobo, Klappawitsch promises her that he will never leave her again before immediately sneaking out of the house under false pretences. Lobobo quickly realises what has happened and gives chase.
Meanwhile, Freddy and Mrs. Hilmer search desperately for a hotel room but find everywhere booked out. Even the park benches are all taken. When they are arrested for vagrancy, they are taken to the police station – only to immediately be thrown out again owing to the fact that it is also full.
Eventually, they arrive at a guesthouse, where they are promised a room in just four and a half hours. After four hours, however, Freddy can no longer contain himself and he rushes upstairs to find a room for himself, leaving his wife sleeping on a chair in the waiting room below. Klappawitsch then arrives at the same guesthouse, looking to escape his pursuer. He notices Mrs. Hilmer asleep in the chair and sits down next to her.
Meanwhile, Freddy rushes from room to room upstairs but each one he comes across is occupied. Lobobo catches up with Klappawitsch at the guesthouse as he starts to escort a still drowsy Mrs. Hilmer to an empty room upstairs. Lobobo is thrown out of the guesthouse by the staff but very quickly returns and tells Freddy what she saw.
Freddy rushes upstairs and discovers his wife locked in a passionate embrace with Klappawitsch. He faints, only to come to in the same cramped surroundings he was in at the start of the film. The Villa, the guests, the romantic encounter in the hotel – all of it was just a dream. Taking the dream as an omen, Freddy informs his wife and father that he doesn’t want to live in a big villa. The final inter-title states that even the smallest place is big enough for a happy couple and the film ends with said happy couple kissing.

Production Company: Münchner Lichtspielkunst A.G. (Emelka), Munich
Length: 400m
Format: 35mm, 1.33:1
Picture/Sound: b/w, silent
Notes: Dutch language main title, inter-titles and inserts; Inter-titles numbered from 2 to 61; All inter-titles bear the 'Emelka' logo bottom left and the inscription 'B. F. Mij.' bottom right; From the course of the narrative, the print seems to be complete but some inter-titles are missing (as indicated by gaps in the numbering system), suggesting certain scenes may have been shortened or removed altogether. It is not clear whether the film was conceived as a short from the beginning or was excerpted from a longer film.

Source notes
EYE Film Institute Netherlands

We learned of the existence of this film in the collection of the EYE Film Institute Netherlands (formerly the Nederlands Filmmuseum), Amsterdam, whilst preparing the entry for the lost Ernst Lubitsch short film, Die Wohnungsnot for the launch of this website in November 2008.
Upon viewing, however, this film - which bears the title 'Woningnood' (a direct translation of 'Wohnungsnot' into Dutch) - does not appear to be the Lubitsch film and none of us is sure exactly which film it is.
The main title and inter-titles are all in Dutch but the film appears to be German, on account of the ‘Emelka’ logo featured in the titles [bottom frame scan 1], as well as the occasional presence of German language text in the filmed action [frame scan 2].
However, none of the major German filmographies (Lamprecht, CineGraph, filmportal.de, etc.) mentions another short comedy called 'Wohnungsnot', or any variation thereof, as having been produced around this time.
There appear to be no other titles, meanwhile, which could correspond to this film listed in the Emelka filmography compiled by Uli Jung for Petra Putz, “Waterloo in Geiselgasteig: Die Geschichte des Münchner Filmkonzerns Emelka (1919-1933) im Antagonismus zwischen Bayern und dem Reich”, Trier: WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 1996.
More research can still be done but in the meantime, to help identify the film, the EYE Film Institute Netherlands has very kindly agreed to present two excerpts taken from a VHS copy, which they hold in their library.
The first clip introduces the first of the Hilmers' guests: the writer, the Kindermann family, the tuba player, Klappawitch and Lijsje Dun. The second clip, meanwhile, introduces the last guest: Lobobo. It also introduces the character of Laura, the Hilmers' maid, and depicts the escalating insanity in the house, which eventually forces the Hilmers' to leave.
Click on the 'Zoom' button beneath the first two images in the gallery above, right to view the clips. Please be patient while each video loads.
If anyone happens to recognise the film or any of the actors featured in the clips, please be sure to leave a comment.