The Three from the Filling Station

Three friends who can no longer make ends meet come up with a practical plan: they sell their car and open a small filling station to earn a living. The new business brings routine, rival banter and a steady stream of customers, but everything changes when a striking young woman arrives, drawing the attention of each man. What follows mixes lighthearted competition, awkward courtship and tests of loyalty, as the trio juggles friendship and romantic desire without any grand tragedies or twists. The tone flips between comedy and gentle drama, centering on how a single attraction can complicate everyday life and the simple gamble of turning a desperate situation into an opportunity.

Directed by Wilhelm Thiele and written by Paul Frank and Franz Schulz, the film was released in 1930 and stars Lilian Harvey, Heinz Rühmann and Willy Fritsch, with supporting turns by Oskar Karlweis and Fritz Kampers.

No reliable box office figures survive for many early sound German releases, and this title is no exception, so exact commercial performance and worldwide gross are not documented in accessible records.

Among film historians the picture is often mentioned when discussing early sound comedies from the Weimar era. Its scenario of three male leads competing for one woman became a familiar comic pattern, and the movie appears in retrospectives that look at popular genre filmmaking in Germany around 1930.

Critical reaction today is mixed, reflected in a modest average rating of 6.1/10 from viewers, with only 20 votes recorded. Reviewers tend to note the film's light tone and period charm, and viewers often point to themes of male friendship strained by romantic rivalry, the awkwardness of courtship, and the idea of small business as a backdrop for private dramas. The result feels like an intimate, era-specific sketch of love and livelihood.