Feyda Protasoff, a dark-haired Russian wastrel, who ran through most of his inheritance, wins the love of Lisa away from his friend Victor Karenin. Feyda and Lisa soon marry and have a child, but Feyda tires of his staid domestic life and returns to his old haunts for gambling and drinking. When his gambling debts force him to sell his estate, Victor shows his friendship by purchasing it for a high price at an auction. Feyda soon becomes estranged from his wife and takes up with his former Gypsy sweetheart, Masha. Hoping to hasten a divorce, Victor visits Feyda and offers him money. Later, with Masha’s help, Feyda devises a plan for a clean break with Lisa by leaving his clothes next to a river, making everyone think he has drowned. Lisa then marries Victor. Sometime later, when Feyda is drunkenly relating his story to a sailor, a man overhears him and suggests a blackmail scheme. Feyda rebukes the man, who then calls the police to arrest Feyda for fraud. In front of a magistrate, a tearful Lisa and Victor protest that they were convinced of Feyda’s death before they married and thus are not bigamists. The magistrate then calls Feyda, who confesses that he had faked his death and Lisa and Victor are blameless. Faced with charges of fraud, as well as the knowledge that he is destroying the happiness of Lisa and Victor, Feyda has his friend Petushkov bring him a gun outside the courtroom and shoots himself, calling for Masha as he dies. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Redemption (1930)
