All is not well in the Mollheim home. The elder Mollheim decides to marry off his daughter with an unusually large dowry, in exchange for a rare Chinese idol. The daughter of the house, being opposed to the idea, decides to hire a private detective to get to the bottom of it. The detective doesn't get far before the idol is stolen and its owner is murdered.

A family's newfound wealth causes problem after problem.

This movie, directed by Richard Oswald, is based on the operetta "Les contes de Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), which is a genial musical potpourri from various short stories and novels by the Prussian writer, composer, painter, lawyer and judge E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822). While Hoffmann's literary work was longtime considered to be merely fantastical, it was finally researched, in the last years, according to its metaphysical background. Characteristic for Hoffmann's work is his life-long fight against rationalism and for the revelation of nature morte, culminating mostly in carnival-like scenes anticipating literary techniques only described in the works of Bachtin and Bachelard.

Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, has three adult children: Juan, who is virtuous and has a sweetheart who is a woman of the people, Lucrezia, who is virtuous and wants to marry Alfonso, and Cesare, who is wicked and lusts after Lucrezia, Juan's girlfriend, and probably others. Cesare has vowed to kill any suitor for Lucrezia's love, and he has three thugs to carry out his wishes. Bodies fall into the Tiber, into the Colosseum (with lions prowling), and onto the Vatican floors.

rich count, who is an avid collector of antiques, buys an antique box. However, he does not know that this artifact is under a terrible, centuries-old curse. Since the purchase, he has been constantly haunted by a ghostly apparition in the form of a medieval knight's wife. One day, the count visits a friend at his castle. When a fire breaks out there, the count discovers the secret of his enchanted box. He discovers an ancient document called "Notes of the Court Jester of the Castle" and reads this document. Now he discovers the reason for the curse.

Wealthy Englishman Phileas Fogg bets his friends that he can travel around the world in 80 days.

A young unemployed man gets a job as a private secretary by chance. A good salary, a first-class apartment - but things are not going right in his new residence. Notes warn him, a beautiful woman appears in the mirror, valuable documents disappear from the tightly locked safe.