Der Pfad der Sünde (1916)

Young Maria longs to escape her petit-bourgeois life. She has already found a suitable man who could help her do so and is also very interested in her: his name is Rudolf, and he is young and quite wealthy. One day, fate—in the form of an unnamed prince passing through her valley—brings them together. The two begin a passionate affair, and Maria hopes it might become something more. But the high-ranking nobleman can’t and doesn’t want to make more of it; the difference in their social standing is too great. A letter in which she asks him to explain his behavior goes unanswered, so Maria reluctantly accepts Rudolf’s proposal of marriage. This, in turn, puts her at odds with her friend Klara, who has long since taken an interest in Rudolf herself. Maria becomes a mother, and Rudolf mistakenly believes the child is his. In his capacity as an architect, Rudolf is asked by the prince to oversee construction work at his castle. The two men take to each other immediately. Since Maria’s departure, Rudolf has fallen into deep melancholy. He tries to cheer up his princely client and, unaware of the circumstances surrounding the prince’s relationship with Maria, invites the nobleman to his home so that he can recuperate there. When Maria tells the prince that her son is also his, the shocked biological father immediately leaves again. Klara, who has figured out what happened, now sees her chance to take revenge as a spurned woman. She anonymously writes to Rudolf that, in his absence, his home has become a den of sin and Maria has had an affair with the prince. Wild with jealousy, Rudolf begins searching his supposedly unfaithful wife’s correspondence for incriminating love letters. He does indeed uncover letters concerning the child’s parentage. Deeply disappointed, Rudolf then leaves the house, leaving Maria a bitter letter in which he also forgives her. Maria must now assume that Rudolf knows he is not the child’s father. The inner pressure becomes so great that she collapses. While her still very young son is looking for his mother, he walks through the house with a lit candle and promptly sets the entire building on fire. During the rescue efforts, Maria regains consciousness, but her child is missing. She hurries back into the house, finds her son, and rushes outside with him. She suffers severe burns that need immediate treatment. The doctors give up on her prematurely. Meanwhile, the child is placed with relatives. The prince feels he has an obligation to make amends and undertakes to provide for his son. To avoid gossip about being the father of an illegitimate child, he takes the boy abroad and sends him to a school there. Rudolf, who now believes Maria has succumbed to her injuries, wants the child for himself and has him transferred to him abroad. Maria, however, is not dead; she merely lost her sight in the fire. After a period of follow-up treatment, she leaves the clinic to search for her boy. At the school, she learns that the boy has been handed over to his father. Maria now seems to have lost all joy in life. She plans to take her own life, but wants at least to touch her son one more time, since she can no longer see him. After two years of searching, she learns where her son is, and the two are reunited. The boy, embraced and affectionately held by a woman he does not know, tears himself away from Maria in confusion and rushes to his father. Rudolf recognizes the woman—his wife—collapsed in pain and grief, and gently helps her to her feet. Though Maria cannot see him or his reaction, she instinctively feels the undying love he bears her. At last, the family is reunited.