Zwischen Himmel und Erde (1913)

At the top of a newly built factory chimney, engineer Olaf and the treacherous manager Erdmann von Erdmannsdorf engage in a duel to the death. At the center of the dispute is Inge von Britz, the divorced Countess von Gleichen. The young woman is the factory owner’s daughter. The manager tries every means to persuade Olaf to give her up, but Olaf has no intention of doing so. The manager now resorts to underhanded methods. First, he secretly loosens the iron rungs inside the chimney; then Erdmann also throws down the elevator’s rope and pulley—the only remaining alternative for getting out of the chimney. In “justifiable self-defense,” Olaf then overpowers his opponent and drops a message down below. It asks someone to fly a paper kite with a rope attached to it. Using this rope, the resourceful engineer makes his way down inside the chimney.