Bob und Mary (1923)

Bob and Mary are two young Londoners to whom life gives nothing. Mary lives with her uncle in an attic room, where the old man ekes out a meager living making postcards from photographs he has taken himself. Since Mary is quite pretty, he now makes only cards featuring her portrait, but nobody wants to buy them. Money is always tight. Mary wants to help however she can and tries to earn a little extra as a street vendor. Through this work she meets the young Bob, who is also living hand to mouth. He tries to earn his living by selling balloons. Before long, the young man sees himself as her protector and knight in shining armor, and is happy to use his fists to teach an intrusive stranger a lesson in boundaries. Since, as everyone knows, two people together are not quite so alone, one day Bob moves in with Mary and her uncle in their attic. There, he has an idea: why not decorate the beauty lotions he has been hawking on the street with Mary's sales-promoting face? But this idea, too, fails to increase sales. From then on, the two young people try their luck in other jobs. Mary becomes a typist, while Bob tries his hand at working in a bank. There he learns how to make money grow, and one day manages to build up a small fortune. Soon he becomes his own banker and takes Mary on as his secretary. But their new circumstances are poison to the delicate budding relationship that had developed between them in times of hardship. Mary begins flirting with the rich banker Freeman's son, while Bob has his eye on the wealthy Maud, whom he even intends to marry. But just before either engagement, Bob and Mary come to their senses and realize what they mean to each other. They want to—and will—stay together and face the future as a couple, while Maud finds happiness with Freeman junior.