Peter is a failure as a writer and composer and decides to take his own life. In the midst of his attempt, he encounters two businessmen who are desperately short of money. The three make a deal where Peter takes out a life insurance policy and lives a year in luxury with everything paid for, only...
er.After a series of failed stock market speculations, the banker Grant is on the verge of bankruptcy. To make matters worse, he has spent a large sum of money entrusted to him by an old friend, Werner, a factory owner. Despairing, he decides to take his own life, but his suicide attempt is...
The young artist Simon Durand happens to find himself in an idyllic village. Here he finds board and lodging with Marietta, who lives alone with her sick mother, and soon Durand has won the heart of his young hostess. Their happy state is threatened by the wealthy farmer Jerome, who has been...
Peter Niemand, a blacksmith by trade, is prone to drink and has something of a bad reputation with his comrades and his employer alike. One day, the factory owner is finally fed up with the lazy worker, giving him one last chance to change his ways. If not, he will be fired. Seized by a fierce...
The usurer Sintram lives and breathes for money and, for this very reason; he disinherits his charitable son Floridan. Embittered, Sintram buries his fortune in the forest and hides a will in a beech tree, with his estate left to anyone who finds it. This act is the only hard physical work the old...
Just before bedtime, Christian overhears a conversation between his grandmother and shopkeeper Blache. While Blache stubbornly insists that wealth is the only true happiness, the grandmother believes that a bright mind is worth more than its weight in gold. Christian agrees with Blache, but at...
While holidaying, the beautiful heiress Grace meets the love of her life. Percy Fancourt is a cowboy and hardly a suitable match for a millionaire’s daughter – at least not if you ask her father. Reluctantly, she returns home. Then, a surprising piece of news reaches heartbroken Percy: a huge...
A past lover ignites a fiery gambling addiction within the reckless Prince Spinarosa. The old lover, Asta Leonhard, ensures that the prince acquires a royal gambling debt. Princess Spinarosa is a famous dancer in her own right and graciously offers her husband a piece of jewellery to cover his...
Countess Schach is ill and her estate is impoverished. Fortunately, the daughter Cecilia is responsible for the household and the upbringing of the younger siblings. One day, the composer cousin Ernst comes to visit, and when he sees the financial predicament the family is in, he promises Cecilia...
As King Cyril is away fighting at the front, Prime Minister Bouton holds the reins of power firmly in his stead. For a long time, Bouton has taken to Princess Elena who, on the other hand – and to Bouton’s great displeasure – falls in love with the prisoner of war, Captain Henri de Bersin....
