Truxa (1937)

The film opens with a shot of New York. In a variety artists’ bar, the famous tightrope artist Truxa is drinking himself into a stupor. The young, unknown performer Husen strikes up a conversation with him, and the well-known Truxa gives him his stage name, allowing Husen to call himself Truxa from then on. At the same time, rehearsals are under way in Berlin for the new show at the Wintergarten. The beautiful dancer Yester, formerly the assistant and girlfriend of Garvin, another illusionist at the Wintergarten, whom she left some time ago for Truxa, is to appear in the new program alongside Garvin and the advertised Truxa. Garvin’s hatred has been burning ever since, because he wants Yester back at any cost. When Truxa arrives for rehearsal, Yester quickly realizes that this man is not the real Truxa, but she does not know the whole truth about what happened to the real Truxa. The two get to know each other, and the impostor Truxa falls in love with Yester. During the first performance, doubts begin to arise about Truxa’s ability. He does not perform his famous somersault on the tightrope, and he cannot manage it during rehearsals either. Garvin watches Truxa’s failure with growing interest and finally threatens to expose him, saying he knows his identity is false if Truxa continues to see Yester. For his love of Yester, Truxa breaks his silence and tells her how he came to have the famous Truxa’s name. The next evening, he has already forgotten Garvin’s threat when, during his act, the tightrope vanishes before his eyes and he almost falls from it. This is clearly a warning from Garvin, who works with lighting illusions and can make the performer’s tightrope disappear using a new projection machine. In the dressing room, Yester shows the impostor Truxa the letters the real Truxa has written her over the past few years. In them, the real Truxa describes how Garvin persecuted him because of his relationship with Yester, and how he sank ever deeper into depression and alcoholism. Yester asks the impostor Truxa to leave and never see her again. But Truxa wants to stay and fight for Yester. The next morning, Yester unexpectedly receives a letter from the real Truxa, who urgently wants to see her. When they meet, she is horrified: the man she once loved has changed drastically, worn down by Garvin’s persecution. But the real Truxa does not notice Yester’s horror; he wants to take her with him to a distant country where Garvin will never find them. At that moment, the impostor Truxa bursts into the room. After a confrontation, the real Truxa realizes that he can no longer win Yester back. Back at the theater, management informs the impostor Truxa that he must perform the somersault at all costs, or his contract will be terminated. Although Yester begs him not to attempt it, he steps onto the tightrope, and, just as before, the rope disappears before his eyes. On the lighting bridge, Garvin manipulates the impostor Truxa’s view with his projection machine. Just before Truxa begins his somersault, the real Truxa rushes onto the lighting bridge and overpowers Garvin. The impostor Truxa in the theater can now see the rope again and perform the somersault. At that moment, Garvin falls from the bridge behind the scenes and lies dead on the stage.