In this convoluted melodrama, an elderly thespian falls for a rising young starlet. He admits his love for her and then announces that he will retire. The young woman pretends she loves him too, but her real motive is to give her struggling lover, also an aspiring actor, a break.

A musician is offered a job in Vienna as stage director, but his disagreements with the aristocratic opera manager end in abrupt firing in spite of a mutual attraction. He's quickly engaged by another theatre and becomes famous for his lavish stage productions and fine acting, which begins their golden age with Suppé and Strauss.

After a shady art collector is murdered, adept Dr. Sebastian Ott uncovers a massive organised fraud with fake paintings. His twin brother Ludwig is responsible, kidnaps him and locks him away in his house. He uses Otto's ID and 'replaces' him...

A wealthy man murders his wife, then marries a young woman who becomes suspicious of him.