Kopf hoch, Charly! (1927)

The title character Charly is not a man but the brunette Charlotte Ditmar, whom everyone calls “Charly.” After a period of happiness with her husband Frank, things go badly wrong in her life: Frank has left Hamburg for the United States to borrow money from his wealthy uncle. He left Charly behind at the Port of Hamburg. Overwhelmed by the pain of their separation, she loses consciousness and wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings at a shipowner’s home. She has no idea what has happened to her, or how. Confused, Charly then returns to her hometown of Berlin. Abandoned by Frank, she has to earn her own money to keep herself afloat financially and begins working as a fashion model. Meanwhile, across the ocean in New York, Frank has made a success of himself through his fresh start and new relationship with the American Margie Quinn, a millionaire’s daughter. He lives a luxurious life of splendor and glamour in a bustling metropolis, amid all its glitter, from Broadway to the Brooklyn Bridge. The Ditmars eventually divorce. Now free and unattached, Charly sets about finding a new man and falls into the hands of the French Marquis d’Ormesson, who soon proves to be shady; she follows him to Paris. But the Frenchman is all show and no substance, and turns out to be nothing more than a con man and card cheat. Her next affair, with a member of the high nobility, also proves to be a disastrous mistake. Charly meets the Duke of Sanzedilla, and the two marry. But the duke is a fraud, and the wedding is a sham. Once again, the Berliner is left alone, like a drowned rat. Now it’s time to “keep your chin up, Charly!” As it happens, her earlier encounter with the Hamburg shipowner John Jacob Bunjes—which began under such inauspicious circumstances shortly after her unfaithful ex-husband’s departure—now proves to be her lifeline. Unlike all the grandly titled men who came before him and turned out to be wrong turns in Charlotte’s life, this Hamburg grand gentleman is not only down-to-earth but also respectable and honest. Charly is sure that, as his wife, she will finally be happy again.