Der goldene Schmetterling (1926)

The story is set in London. Old MacFarland ran a restaurant to support his family, where his son Andy and MacFarland’s foster daughter Lilian, known as Lilly, helped out. Lilly had long dreamed of one day standing in the spotlight onstage and making a name for herself as a dancer. One day, the old man suffers a stroke and dies. Andy, who is studying at a prestigious university, now feels compelled to abandon his studies and returns home to London. He intends to carry on his father’s restaurant, while Lilly is supposed to take care of the books. But Lilian does not give up her dream of dancing onstage without a fight, which promptly leads to a falling-out with Andy. When he then throws his foster sister out of the house, it seems that all ties between them have been severed. Lilly now devotes herself to dance. She finds an artistic mentor in André Dubois, a ballroom master and dance instructor, and a generous benefactor in the elegant, attractive millionaire Teddy Aberdeen, who keeps her. Before long, Lilian becomes a star on a major revue stage and is admired for her talent and lightness of movement. Lilly, who has always loved her foster brother, does not want to give up on Andy, but ever since he threw her out, he has treated her with nothing but coldness. So Lilian accepts Teddy’s proposal. During her signature number, promoted as “The Golden Butterfly,” she falls and is seriously injured. As a result, Lilian has to give up her dancing career. At this point, Aberdeen learns that Lilian has never stopped loving Andy, and so he gives up his hope of having her commit herself to him. Finally, thanks to a clever ruse by the generous millionaire, the “siblings,” who are not biologically related, are reconciled.