The Dance of the Paroxysms

Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

When her cotton crop is burned, Barbara Pelham, a beautiful southern girl, comes to New York to find work as a fashion designer, staying with Mrs. Kemp, a woman she meets on the northbound train. In Mrs. Kemp's house, Barbara encounters Peter Heffner, a wealthy stockbroker, and discovers from him that she has taken up residence in a whorehouse. There is a police raid, but Barbara escapes arrest and returns home. Heffner's son, Neil, goes south to inspect some family property and there meets Barbara, with whom he falls in love. They decide to be married, and she accompanies him to New York, where she meets the elder Heffner for a second time. He denounces her as a whore, but Barbara goes to Mrs. Kemp, who explains the misunderstanding to everyone's satisfaction.

During a game of hide and seek, a new bride hides in a chest and remains undiscovered until a strange visitation thirty years later.

The young Anselmus Aselmeyer fulfilled a long cherished dream: He travels to Venice, the city of his dreams. Once there, the porter Pipistrello directs him immediately to the hotel of his boss, and Anselmus lands in the middle of a wedding party. Mestre Mangiabene, a wealthy oilman, marries the beautiful but completely depleted Marchesina dei Bisognosi. But the secretly loves an officer.