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| “ | Du Schweinehund! | „ |
| ~ Count Max Pfferman's most famous insulting catchphrase. |
Count Max Pfferman, formerly known as Heinrich Stubel by birth, is the main antagonist of the 1946 American comedy movie, A Night in Casablanca. He is a former Nazi war criminal disguised as a count in order to reclaim the stolen art treasures that he has hidden in Hotel Casablanca during WWII even if it means committing murders on the hotel managers while wearing a toupee and a false beard and moustache to hide his scars.
He was portrayed by the late Sig Ruman who also played Colonel Ehrhardt in To Be or Not to Be, Dr. Leopold X. Steinberg in A Day at the Races, and Herman Gottlieb in A Night at the Opera.
Personality[]
Count Max Pfferman is a lying, deceptive, cunning, anti-semitic, selfish, mean, cruel, stubborn, mad, ruthless, merciless, careless, remorseless, abusive, diabolical, arrogant, greedy, and even-tempered man with no loyalty to anyone but himself and his men: Kurt and Emile even if it means betraying the only woman he supposedly ever loved, Beatrice Reiner.
Having no sense of humor, Max doesn't tolerate and can only put up with his silent valet, Rusty's antics, incompetence, and tomfoolery for so long up to a point where he decides to discipline him the hard way through abuse.
Biography[]
Shortly after WWII, in Casablanca, former Nazi, Heinrich Stubel and his collaborators: Kurt, Emile (both former Nazis as well disguised as waiters), and Beatrice Reiner have been murdering 3 managers of Hotel Casablanca up till now while masquerading as a Count Max Pfferman with a toupee and false moustache and beard to hide his scars in order to become the new manager and reclaim the stolen art treasures that he has hidden in the hotel.
After murdering the third manager earlier and abusing his silent valet, Rusty for his incompetence and tomfoolery, Max tries decoding a message sent from a fellow former Nazi, Schweigler in South America with both Kurt and Beatrice's help while Rusty plays tricks on the former when dressing him up, which earns the latter another beating before being told to clean the rooms. However, just as he is about to accept the managership from Governor Gandaloux and Prefect of Police Captain Brizzard, Max finds himself unable to leave his room due to having lost his toupee hiding the scar on his head which could expose him, unaware that it was accidentally sucked by Rusty using a vacuum cleaner while cleaning the rooms.
Later, at night, still confined to his room even after having lost his chance to accept the managership to Ronald Kornblow, Max panics and slightly loses control of himself until Beatrice comes up with an idea on how to recover his lost toupee. In the meantime, Max begins cutting flowers with a saber to pass the time. Then, when Rusty returns with what only looks like the former's toupee, Max doesn't hesitate to abuse him once again before allowing Kurt the pleasure as well. Then, Max watches as both Kurt and Rusty duel in a sword fight as entertainment, resulting in Rusty making a fool of Kurt and winning despite the latter being the finest swordsman in Bavaria.
A few nights later, after Beatrice has successfully recovered Max's toupee, Max has both Beatrice and Kurt arrange for Kornblow's murder to look like an accident at Rue Lafayette at 11. Later on, Max is accidentally spilled with soup by Kornblow due to Rusty's antics before leaving in anger and humiliation when the latter comes to romance Beatrice.
The next day, when Kornblow's "accident" fails, Max arranges for Kornblow to find him in his room with Beatrice as an excuse to bump him off in self-defense while acting as the "outraged fiance". In order not to arouse any suspicions, Max has Kornblow see to it that he arranges a place for him on the plane to Tunis. While spending some time in the steam room at the Turkish bath, Max calls up Beatrice to make sure everything goes according to plan. However, due to the intervention of Corbaccio, owner of the Yellow Camel company and recently self-appointed as Kornblow's bodyguard, Max constantly finds himself unable to shoot Kornblow every time he bursts in an empty room until finally, he gives up when he finds Kornblow exiting the elevator instead while falsely claiming he missed his connections.
The next night, Max is gambling at the hotel's casino until Rusty enters to make a roulette bet (three 5s in a row) that could bankrupt the hotel. When Rusty wins, Max later uses this and even deliberately deceives the Governor and police captain by falsely accusing Kornblow of murdering the 3 previous hotel managers so as to convince them to arrest both Kornblow, Corbaccio, and Rusty on conspiracy of fraud, robbery, and cheat.
With all 3 men out of the way including Annette the hotel secretary, Max is finally appointed the new hotel manager. However, Max reveals to his men that he intends to leave Beatrice behind while they escape with the treasure to South America without any fear or worry about whether she talks or not since he believes they will be long gone by then, unaware that Beatrice has been eavesdropping on the conversation the whole time and intends to tell the police on them in retaliation for their betrayal.
Before Max and his men can make their escape to the airfield with the loot, Kornblow, Corbaccio, Rusty, and Beatrice invade the former's hotel room and sneak from suitcase to closet and back again to unpack his bags, which serves to drive him thoroughly mad.
When Max and his men finally flee from the hotel to the airfield with the treasure smuggled onboard a plane, they are followed by Kornblow, Corbaccio, and Rusty along with Annette and her lover, Lt. Pierre Delmar determined to clear his name in his involuntary involvement with the treasure back during WWII. During the event, Max is subdued by Beatrice for his betrayal, thrown out of the plane by Rusty, and temporarily knocked out by Kornblow as all 3 men and Beatrice enter to handle Kurt and Emile. As Pierre drives, Max regains consciousness, knocks the latter out, picks up Kurt thrown earlier from the plane as well, and follow it where it eventually crashes into the police station, thanks to Rusty's antics.
Once at the police station and with Emile knocked out by Rusty, Max is left to deal with Kornblow and Rusty while Kurt handles Corbaccio and Beatrice. During the battle, Kurt is knocked out by Pierre having regained consciousness whereas Max is exposed after all 3 men remove both his toupee and false moustache and beard, thus, forced to escape until he is finally caught, arrested, and dragged to prison along with Kurt and Emile by Captain Brizzard and his men for their crimes.
With Max and his men arrested, Pierre's name is cleared whereas Beatrice, still seeking romance after witnessing Pierre and Annette kiss, finds herself comically chased on the street by all 3 men each wanting to have his way with her.
Trivia[]
- It is unknown how and when Count Max Pfferman received the scars on his head and face in the first place.
- It is unknown which country in South America both Max and his men were planning to escape to even before betraying Beatrice.
- Max reveals that he was once able to decode messages in the old days back during WWII.