Botto the Clown is in love with the much younger Blanche but she is in love with the handsome daredevil acrobate Andre.

At the height of Reign of Terror Maximilien Robespierre orchestrates the trial and execution of several of his fellow leading French revolutionaries including Georges Danton.

On the surface a straightforward tale of the search for a buried treasure, the film is a textbook example of German expressionism, with the passions of the protagonists conveyed as much through symbolism as action.

Baruch Mayer, son of an orthodox rabbi from a poor shtetl in Galizia, decides to break with the family tradition and leave the shtetl to become an actor.

When farmer Rog dies, his eldest Peter takes over the farm while his youngest Johannes is determined for a better life: he becomes secretary to Count Rudenberg and starts courting his daughter Gerda. When he learns that the Count, who is terminally ill, has bequeathed a piece of land under which lies a petroleum field to his second wife, he courts her instead.