Adele Sandrock

For more than 50 years, Pauline Neuber has directed the "Olympia" theatre, but lately, business has been bad. It appears that no one will be able to make it better either: the audience doesn't seem to like the plays; the press even less so; and the shareholders of the theatre want to sell their shares. In short, the "Olympia" has one foot in the grave. Erich, grandchild of Pauline and always underestimated by her, gets to know Hella Bergson, the daughter of the theatre critic Peter Bergson, and falls in love with her - but doesn't have an idea whose daughter she is. He plays her some melodies from the first operetta he's ever composed and Hella convinces him to have the operetta performed in the "Olympia". During rehearsal of the operetta, however, a fight breaks out between Erich and Hella over a stupid misunderstanding.

Dr. Mabuse and his organization of criminals are in the process of completing their latest scheme, a theft of information that will allow Mabuse to make huge profits on the stock exchange. Afterwards, Mabuse disguises himself and attends the Folies Bergères show, where Cara Carozza, the main attraction of the show, passes him information on Mabuse's next intended victim, the young millionaire Edgar Hull. Mabuse then uses psychic manipulation to lure Hull into a card game where he loses heavily. When Police Commissioner von Wenk begins an investigation of this mysterious crime spree, he has little to go on, and he needs to find someone who can help him.

Werner Dux, heir of the big car company "Dux-Werke", is a gambler who has just been arrested in Chicago for shooting a cardsharper. While in jail, he learns from his friend Michael Nissen that his father has died recently. That means that the Dux-Werke are without a leader at the moment, for Werner's cousin Steffie, who is his co-heiress, is still too young to run the firm. In this situation, Werner convinces his friend Michael, who is an engineer by profession, to take over the firm as long as he is in jail and to pose as him. Michael agrees and is able to bring the firm up again. He even arranges a reliability test for motorcycles via Istanbul, Rome and Barcelona, which creates a big Turkish order for the company. When the real Werner escapes from jail and arrives in Germany, it looks as if the whole story is up to bust. But Werner needs money, so he convinces Michael to go on as before and hand over all profits of the firm to him.

The married Lady Emma Hamilton has an ill fated romance with Admiral Horatio Nelson.