Der gestreifte Domino (1915)

The film begins with its leading actor, Reicher, and its director, Gärtner, stepping in front of a filmed curtain as if at a theatrical performance and bowing to the film audience. Stuart Webbs takes a break from his detective business. One day, a letter reaches him that was not intended for him. In it, he learns about the son of an American millionaire who was unjustly disinherited. After a series of complications and investigations, Webb manages to make his way through a tangle of lies and deceit and discovers that the stepbrother is behind the slander and the discord within the family. While the villainous stepson escapes disgrace by committing suicide, Webb eventually succeeds in uncovering the truth and reconciling the surviving family members. The film’s title refers to a sequence in which Stuart Webb appears at a masquerade ball wearing this very striped domino. At the ball, he brings the story to its resolution.