Die Czernowska (1913)

Somewhere in tsarist Russia. The young, cultured Sonja Czernowska is hired as a governess in the grand household of the widowed castle owner, Count Zachin, on the recommendation of his brother. She is to devote herself entirely to educating his two children, a boy and a girl. The motherless children, like the loyal house servant Ivan, show a deep aversion to her from the very beginning. But Sonja’s employer falls for the young woman, who pretends to selflessly nurse him back to health after a serious hunting accident, and eventually makes advances to her. Czernowska already has a lover, however, a rather eccentric criminal type. When the Count asks for Sonja’s hand in marriage, she nevertheless does not refuse, because Czernowska assumes that, given his serious injuries, her future husband does not have long to live. She plans nothing less than to restore her finances and social standing through the marriage, and tells her lover as much in a letter. After the wedding, the title “heroine” continues her now adulterous relationship with her lover and treats her two stepchildren increasingly badly. Ivan watches everything very closely and does his best to stand by the children. The especially loyal servant quickly realizes what a dark character the new Countess has and that she is interested only in the nobleman’s fortune. Knowing that Ivan is now the only one who could thwart her sinister schemes, Czernowska makes sure that her husband dismisses him. The two children who remain behind find the ensuing farewell especially hard. On his way out, Ivan meets a stranger who asks him for directions to the castle. Instinctively, Ivan recognizes that the man must be Czernowska’s lover. Ivan discovers that the adulteress and her lover intend to meet at a particular place. He secretly goes there. There, all his worst fears are confirmed. Ivan swears to take revenge for his master, whom Czernowska has cuckolded. He overpowers the lover and locks him in the kennel, where the starving castle dogs are waiting for their food. Sonja rushes in and bites Ivan’s hand during their struggle, but she cannot save her lover, who becomes dog food. Eight years have passed since these events. While Sonja is flourishing, the frail Count Zachin, who still suffers from the aftereffects of his riding accident, has aged considerably. They have traveled to the sunny south, and Czernowska now flirts shamelessly with every man. She is especially taken with a baron, who suggests getting rid of her unloved husband as soon as possible, once he has changed his will in Sonja’s favor. Then, the baron says, he will begin a new life with her. A mysterious stranger watches the two as they make their sinister plans. He is none other than Ivan, the former servant. After an encounter with him, Sonja discovers Ivan’s identity. Shortly afterward, the baron invites Count Zachin and his wife to shoot ducks from a boat. Just as the baron planned, the decrepit Count falls overboard and seems in danger of drowning. But Ivan is nearby and has already suspected something of the sort. He jumps into the water and saves his former master. Ivan then takes Count Zachin to a hut and tells him about his wife’s sinister schemes. Zachin finally begins to believe his most loyal follower, and the two devise a plan. They will first make the two conspirators believe that their plan has succeeded. Now that she is the sole heir, Czernowska decides to leave everything behind and run away with her new lover, the baron. But then Ivan appears with the police and has the two villains arrested. Ivan and his master return to Russia, to the castle and to the children, who have now grown up.