Veteran communist and factory director Walter Lörke is told by his daughter Anne that she became pregnant by a young man named Thomas Ostermann, whom she intends to marry.
At the time, the anti-Stalinist approach espoused by the Soviet Union allowed a more relaxed cultural climate, that came to an end in the 1965 XI Plenum of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
The script was adapted from a Czechoslovak play; director Günter Reisch received the authorization to make the picture after using the influence of the leading actor Erwin Geschonneck on the members of the State Cinema Committee.
[2] The German Film Lexicon defined Ach, du Fröhliche... as a "better than average comedy, with barbed satire against dogmatic beliefs... with brilliant acting".
[4] Joe Perry, who researched the Christmas costumes in Germany, considered Ach, du Fröhliche... as an example to the SED's attempt to uphold the holiday's traditions as a time of familial bonding while completely rejecting any religious connotation.