The Lure of Millions

Summary

In a labyrinthine exploration of existential despair and the illusory nature of material wealth, "The Lure of Millions" plunges into the moral abyss of Von Muller, a dissolute Jockey Club member whose profligate lifestyle culminates in catastrophic debt to the enigmatic Lang. On the precipice of self-annihilation, a serendipitous masquerade invitation from the melancholic millionaire Franz Oberman offers a perverse reprieve. Attending in the guise of a beggar—a poignant foreshadowing of his own potential destitution—Von Muller confronts his impending ruin anew at the stroke of midnight. It is Oberman, the very embodiment of affluence, who intervenes, revealing a profound disquietude beneath his gilded exterior. In a chilling pact, Oberman proposes an audacious experiment: he will divest himself of his entire fortune, seeking happiness as a pauper, with the macabre proviso that if he fails, both men shall meet a shared demise. What follows is Oberman's harrowing odyssey through destitution, love found and brutally lost—a devastating fire, a crippling injury, and the crushing indifference of a society that discards the disabled. His desperate return to enforce the covenant unleashes a relentless pursuit of Von Muller, now a seemingly reformed and prosperous Justice of the Peace. The film culminates in a terrifying confrontation aboard a steamer, where Oberman, a specter of his former self, corners Von Muller, demanding the ultimate payment. The ensuing, desperate act of self-destruction by Von Muller, followed by Oberman's own dramatic plunge into the churning sea, is ultimately revealed as the visceral nightmare of a man confronting his own moral failings, a vivid premonition that jolts Von Muller into a profound, life-altering awakening.

Synopsis

Von Muller, a member of the fashionable Jockey Club, loses all his fortune, and is indebted on I.O.U. to Lang in a large sum, which he is unable to pay. Going to his room he contemplates suicide when his eye is arrested by a letter, which he opens and finds to be an invitation to a masquerade ball from Franz Oberman, a millionaire, and fellow club member. Von Muller resolves to attend. He dons the costume of a beggar. The ball is at its last ebb when a messenger hands him a note for Lang, reminding him the obligation falls due at midnight. He goes to the conservatory, and is about to end it all, but is intercepted by the host. Oberman tells him he has everything that wealth can give, but he, too, is unhappy. Taking Von Muller to his library. Oberman draws up an assignment of his entire wealth on condition that if after he has gone out into the world a poor man and does not find happiness they shall die together. Von Muller, nothing to lose, agrees, and Oberman goes out to seek employment. He secures employment in a large wholesale warehouse of which he is later made the foreman. Everything progresses nicely with him. He finds happiness in the love of his landlady's daughter to whom he is betrothed. Then a turn comes; a careless driver drops a lighted match, setting fire to the warehouse. Oberman is imprisoned by the flames and in fighting his way falls exhausted. He is rescued and taken to the hospital. His right arm has to be amputated. Later he is discharged from the hospital. Every effort to find employment is futile; no one will employ a one-armed man. He writes a farewell note to his sweetheart, and decides to end it all, but remembering his compact with Von Muller, resolves to enforce its terms. At his old home he learns Von Muller sold the mansion, married and went away. Oberman starts out to find him. At the end of a long day's tramp he seeks shelter in a cheap lodging house. The place is raided. He is arrested as a suspicious character. In the morning he is taken before a Justice of the Peace, and to his surprise he recognizes Von Muller. Oberman demands fulfillment of the contract. Von Muller pleads, saying he has enough money for both, but Oberman is determined. Von Muller secretly presses a button back of him, summoning an officer, whom he orders to take Oberman to a cell. Rushing home, he writes to the other justices, instructing them to release Oberman and to give him 500 francs, which he encloses with the letter. He and his wife then board a steamer bound for abroad. Oberman traces Von Muller to the ship, and succeeds in boarding it. Locating the exact position of Von Muller's stateroom, he lowers himself to the open porthole, and leveling a revolver at the sleeping Von Muller, awakens him and commands him to comply with the terms of the agreement. Terror-stricken, Von Muller takes a revolver, and, pointing it at his own head, fires. With a satisfied grin Oberman drops his pistol, takes a knife from his pocket, and, placing it between his teeth, saws at the rope which holds him up. The rope strains, snaps, then the body plunges down into the raging waters, and is lost to view. In the last scene we see Von Muller in his room at the club. He awakens from a restless sleep, passes his hand over his forehead, and realizes it was all a dream. He resigns from the club and starts a new life.