The Prodigal Son

German silent film

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

A Spanish soldier falls under the spell of a fiery gypsy girl named Carmen. His obsession with her leads to his ruin.

Two men who have been friends for quite some time and who live in different cities maintain a correspondence with Super 8 film reels that they occasionally send to each other. One of these film reels shows a woman who reminds the addressee of a former girlfriend. Immediately and without paying attention to his obligations to the company, he drives the company car to the city of his childhood friend, 780 km away. There he finds out that she has been the secret lover of his Super 8 friend for years. After about three or four weeks, which they spend on the coast of another country without any significant difficulties, the lover of the childhood friend rows his boat alone across the Atlantic after an obviously frame-up rescue operation.

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.