Foolish Wives
The silent drama tells the story of a man who names himself Count Wladislaw Sergius Karamzin (von Stroheim) in order to seduce rich women and extort money from them.
He has set up shop in Monte Carlo and his partners in crime (and possible lovers) are his cousins: "Princess" Vera Petchnikoff (Busch) and "Her Highness" Olga Petchnikoff (George).
Count Karamzin begins his latest scam on the unworldly wife of an American envoy, Helen Hughes (DuPont), even though her husband is nearby. He attempts to charm her, planning to eventually fleece her of her money. She is easily impressed by his faux-aristocratic glamor, to the chagrin of her dull but sincere husband. Karamzin also has his eye on two other women, Maruschka (Fuller), a maid at the hotel, and Marietta (Polo) the mentally disabled daughter of one of his criminal associates (Gravina), seeing them both as easy sexual prey.
In the climax of the film Maruschka, the maid he has seduced and abandoned, goes mad and sets fire to a building in which Karamzin and Mrs Hughes are trapped. Karamzin jumps to save himself, leaving Mrs Hughes in danger. She is saved, and is looked after by her devoted husband. Karamzin's public display of selfish cowardice ensures he is shunned by the high society he craves to be accepted by. Humiliated, he tries to restore his pride by seducing Marietta, the mentally disabled girl. Her father kills him, dumping his body in a sewer. Karamzin's "cousins" are arrested for being imposters and con-artists.
comedy, melodrama