Mein Leopold (1924)

Master shoemaker Gottlieb Weigelt has made a great success of himself. He owns a large shop of his own and employs a foreman and twelve journeymen. The apple of his eye is his son Leopold, a good-for-nothing who is barely getting by as a law clerk, but excels above all at being absent and lazy. He is, however, very good at spending his father’s money. His financial situation becomes extremely precarious after he meets a dancer who proves to be a very expensive indulgence. Before long, Leopold feels compelled to forge his father’s signature to pay off the promissory notes held by his moneylender. Old Weigelt fails to see how deeply his beloved son is sliding into danger. He even writes an angry letter to a judge because, in Weigelt’s eyes, the judge cannot see Leopold’s true worth. Weigelt’s foreman, Starke, tries in vain to open the old man’s eyes, as does Klara Weigelt, who has always received less attention and love from her father than Leopold. She joins Starke, whom she loves, in his efforts. In anger, Weigelt throws Starke out of his business and disowns Klara. Leopold’s extravagances soon consume all of his father’s wealth. Eventually, the family business is put up for auction as well. As soon as there is nothing more to be gained from the old man, Leopold disappears. For the first time, the father, who has now lost everything, feels his son’s behavior as a devastating blow. He has to start his life over and begins again from the bottom: as a humble cobbler doing repairs at someone else’s shop. The unscrupulous son has also hit rock bottom; in Hamburg, he falls in with a vagabond and sets off with him as a wandering journeyman. But through a stroke of good fortune, he and his companion find work in a machine factory. Leopold now undergoes a change of character: he becomes diligent and dependable, works hard, and one day even rises to become a partner in the firm. Over the years, Weigelt and his daughter, who has since married Starke, have reconciled. Leopold, unaware of his father’s downfall because of his long absence, has recently tried in vain to find out where he is. To Father Weigelt and his daughter Klara, Leopold is also considered missing. It is only her husband, Starke, who discovers Leopold’s whereabouts and is able to arrange a reconciliation between father and son.