The Captain from Köpenick is a 1931

1931 in film

-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...

 German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 directed by Richard Oswald

Richard Oswald

Richard Oswald was an Austrian director, producer, and screenwriter.Richard Oswald, born in Vienna as Richard W. Ornstein, began his career as an actor on the Viennese stage. He made his film directorial debut at age 34 with Das Eiserne Kreuz...

 and produced by Gabriel Pascal

Gabriel Pascal

Gabriel Pascal was a Hungarian film producer and director.Born 1894 in Arad, Austria-Hungary , Pascal was the first film producer to bring the plays of George Bernard Shaw successfully to the screen. His most famous production was Pygmalion, for which Pascal himself received an Academy Award...

. It is one of several films based on the 1931 play by the same name written by Carl Zuckmayer

Carl Zuckmayer

Carl Zuckmayer was a German writer and playwright.-Biography:Born in Nackenheim in Rheinhessen, he was four years old when his family moved to Mainz. With the outbreak of World War I, he finished school with a facilitated "emergency"-Abitur and volunteered for military service...

. The story centers around the Hauptmann von Köpenick

Wilhelm Voigt

Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt was a German impostor who masqueraded as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and became famous as The Captain of Köpenick ....

 affair in 1906.

Plot

Der Hauptmann von Köpenick is based on a true story that took place in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1906. A poor cobbler named Wilhelm Voigt

Wilhelm Voigt

Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt was a German impostor who masqueraded as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and became famous as The Captain of Köpenick ....

 purchased the second-hand uniform of a Prussian infantry captain. Wearing this, he travelled to the borough of Köpenick

Köpenick

Köpenick is a historic town and locality that is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital city of Berlin. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopting the current spelling in 1931...

 and ordered a troop of guardsmen to place themselves under his command. He then declared the town hall to be under military law, ordering the arrest of the mayor and treasurer and confiscating all the funds in the exchequer

Exchequer

The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...

. In this film version it's a considerable sum of 4,000 reichsmarks

German reichsmark

The Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...

. Voigt's orders were obeyed without question and he temporarily got away with the caper, although he was eventually caught.