Gehetzte Frauen (1927)

The aging singer Clarina gets a new engagement at a cabaret called the Maison Mouche. Clarina has an adult daughter named Angelika, who is also supposed to perform there. The establishment’s head waiter picks Clarina up from the train station and escorts her to her lodgings with a shoemaker named Kruk. He is an alcoholic and has his eye on Angelika. Shortly after returning home from her first performance, the shoemaker gets aggressive and enters Angelika’s room to rape her. Angelika fights back fiercely. Clarina, who is also being harassed by the man, intervenes to defend herself and her daughter from the attacker. Finally, Clarina grabs a knife and stabs the assailant. Kruk dies. In shock, Clarina and Angelika return to the cabaret. There, the proprietor, Wladimir, demands that Clarina perform a song. She gathers all her strength once more, but then collapses onstage in the middle of the performance. Angelika, waiting in the dressing room and alarmed by her mother’s long absence, hurries into the hall to check on her. The young woman is not safe from harassment here, either. Wladimir, as sleazy and fat as Kruk, proves no less unscrupulous and immediately tries to get Angelika into bed. As she tries to escape his advances, she flees straight into the arms of a young, handsome man who turns out to be a genuine prince: Alexander Radnay. He is also a gentleman, helping Angelika take her unconscious mother to a room where she will be safe. The doctor who is called, Dr. Baran, makes no effort to help the woman who has collapsed, focusing instead on the delicious buffet and champagne he finds there. The prince then takes matters into his own hands and gives the two women shelter and protection at his luxurious estate. However, the prince’s mother, Natalie, is vehemently opposed to the newcomers moving in, even though she herself has relationships with men under dubious circumstances—chiefly the chamberlain and Count Korvin—none of whom is her husband. At first, her son gets his way and is able to help them. His mother’s lover, the count, who is entirely devoted to his mistress, now takes steps of his own to make life miserable for the newcomers at the palace: the next day, the other members of the cabaret troupe are invited to the castle. Clarina hears the music being played and the singing, and leaves her room to find out where the sounds are coming from. She sees the festivities and recognizes her colleagues. When the princess sees her, she throws banknotes in Clarina’s face in contempt and demands that she perform a song. The battered woman has had enough; she no longer wants to be humiliated and secretly leaves the house. She leaves her daughter behind, knowing she is in good hands with Prince Alexander. The affront orchestrated by his mother provokes a fierce reaction from her son, who now takes on the shabby count. A duel with Korvin ensues, in which Prince Alexander is seriously wounded. Shortly before his death, he marries Angelika. When Clarina learns of the terrible incident, she returns to the Radnay residence one last time, but only to take her daughter away and leave for good.