An old artisan in a Middle Eastern town finds himself the brunt of abuse from the townspeople, due to his hunch-back.
When his caring father dies, his greedy relatives ransack his house and threaten Muck.
Despite these circumstances, Muck returns and helps his virtuous friend, Hassan, win the heart of the lovely Princess Amarza.
The film's main antagonists are agents of greed and occasionally senseless violence, such as the Sultan when he declares war on a neighbouring state for no other reason than the planet's orbit.
The moment the old man dies, these relatives show up and threaten an obviously traumatized Muck.
He feels sympathy for the runner he puts out of work, he frees a slave girl, and he even defies the Sultan's orders by disregarding the declaration of war he was supposed to deliver.
From the movie's release in 1953 to the fall of the GDR in East Germany, Kleiner Muck remained the number one selling film of the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Ideal middle-eastern towns border with sand dunes and lush palaces in an escapist representation of the Orient.
The make-up is fairly obvious, while the hair-styles and clothes donned by the film's antagonists are meant to be sources of light ridicule.