Kleinstadtsünder (1927)

The innkeeper couple Karchow live in a small town. August Karchow is a stout, amusing eccentric, while his aging wife Selma was once a cabaret singer whose best years are long behind her. The couple lives mainly on an annuity intended for the long-deceased Grandfather Meiseken. Now, however, there’s a problem: the generous benefactor who pays the annuity, a wealthy leather-goods dealer from Berlin, has announced that he is coming to the small town. So they absolutely need a grandfather! The farmer Rohde is supposed to help; he has an uncle who could do a splendid job playing a doddering old man. The visitor from Berlin arrives and, much to Mr. and Mrs. Karchow’s dismay, falls in love with the small-town landlady, with the result that he intends to extend his stay there indefinitely. This, in turn, sets Rohde in motion, and he begins blackmailing the Karchows together with his daughter Hedwig. The whole house of lies comes crashing down when the somewhat befuddled assessor Arthur, a regular at the Karchows’ tavern, lets the truth slip. A tremendous marital row follows, and August and Selma get divorced. Selma then snags the unmarried leather-goods dealer, who seems to her an ideal match. As his wife, she leaves the sleepy little backwater in a swanky car.