Schiff in Not (1925)

In a small Frisian fishing village, the young couple Pieter and Dörte Hansen live together in peaceful harmony. After a sailing mishap—the shipowner Ludwig Hartner has run his yacht aground on a sandbank—the glamorous, very young actress Blanche Godard, a sophisticated woman of the world, accidentally ends up in the village one day and causes quite a stir simply by being there. Because of the accident, Blanche has to stay here for a full six days; only then can someone come and collect her from this remote place. Blanche accepts Dörte’s offer to try on her clothes, and Pieter’s eyes grow wide at her cosmopolitan elegance. In the days that follow, Pieter courts Blanche like a lovesick rooster, while his wife Dörte is left deeply saddened. With his thoughtless behavior, Pieter soon turns all the villagers against him: his parents give him a thorough dressing-down, and the pastor unleashes a veritable tirade against him in his Sunday sermon. But Blanche makes it clear to the Frisian who is trying to woo her that she is not interested in him. She publicly explains that she is engaged to the yacht owner, Hartner, and is therefore unavailable. Then, when a serious shipwreck occurs, Pieter has to join the sea rescue effort, where old Hansen is in distress. Hartner joins the rescue operation. For a while, Pieter is distracted there, and after Blanche’s departure and his own return, he remorsefully goes back home to his decent wife and hearth.