The Virtuous Sinner

The Virtuous Sinner (German:Der brave Sünder) is a 1931 German comedy film directed by Fritz Kortner and starring Max Pallenberg, Heinz Rühmann and Dolly Haas.

The film was made at the Babelsberg Studio in Berlin, although its setting and many of its principal participants were Austrian. It is based on the play The Embezzlers which was in turn based on a novel by the Soviet writer Valentin Kataev. Max Pallenberg was a successful stage comedian, but had previously rejected all offers to appear in films based on his theatre appearances. He was finally convinced by the producer Arnold Pressburger to try and film one of his stage successes. The film also offered Kortner a chance to fulfill his ambitions to become a director. The film's art director was Julius von Borsody.

Pichler and Wittek, two junior employees of a bank from a provincial Austrian town, travel to Vienna, where they become accidentally embroiled in their director's scheme to embezzle the bank's funds and flee with his mistress. They become desperate as they fear their disgrace. But events ultimately sort themselves out, the dishonest director is arrested, and Pichler is appointed to replace him while Wittek is able to marry Pilcher's daughter Hedwig.