Die Bettelgräfin (1918)

Count Dulters is shunned by his relatives and avoided by high society ever since he entered into a mismatched marriage. During a journey, the impoverished nobleman dies suddenly, leaving his daughter Ulla alone. The young woman tries to build a new life for herself, but she too is met with rejection. For example, when she asks farmers for work, the “beggar countess” is turned away. Only a kind-hearted pastor gives her shelter and leases her an estate belonging to the parish, which Ulla soon brings to prosperity. During this time, Ulla’s cousin Henryk becomes a great help to her, and their sympathy eventually grows into deeply felt love. But Henryk is married, a fact Ulla learns only belatedly. She makes it clear that she will not be involved with him adulterously, so Henryk must decide whether or not to seek a divorce from his estranged wife, Stella. Torn between the two women, the indecisive man seeks distraction and amusement amid the bustle of the big city. During a visit to a circus performance, a fire breaks out, and Henryk narrowly escapes. Then an idea occurs to him: he slips his ring onto a dead man’s finger so that he himself will be presumed dead. Henryk has named Ulla the sole heir to his estate, while Stella, who has been living her own life for years, has to make do with an annuity. Stella’s new partner, a childhood friend who is always behaving inappropriately, is quite a loathsome man. When a newspaper reports rumors that Countess Stella is to marry again, Henryk is alarmed. He decides to rise from the dead in order to a) spare his ex-wife this new husband and b) protect her from the criminal offense of bigamy. Events take a dramatic turn, and Stella dies. Since Henryk, now alive, is technically still the owner of the ancestral castle of the van Deuwens that Ulla inherited, the modest former beggar countess intends to leave it at once and return to her humbler former home. But to her greatest surprise, Henryk is already waiting for her there. Hungry for love, they throw themselves into each other’s arms, and a kiss seals their future together.