Äls, a young woman from Sweden living in Hamburg in the summer months attracts a newly married explorer, Albrecht Froben who has just returned to his native city. But although Äls seems to be 'life itself', she suffers from a tropical disease which is slowly killing her. Froben is torn between Äls and his wife Octavia, who he seen as a kind of 'heavenly' counterpart to the earthy and beguiling Äls.
Escaping her school teacher life, a lady marries a British military doctor who takes her to Malaysia. But realizing there that the marriage isn't working, she turns to an Oriental prince instead.
Cheeky Jette is a typical Berlin girl. Together with her mother, she performs couplets in a Berlin suburb theatre every night. Then, a young Austrian baron, who is worshipping Jette, enables her to audition for Königstädtisches Theater. Although she at first fails with an aria from an opera, Jette wins over the hearts of the board members with her fresh style when she performs a cheeky couplet that was written by Barsch, the stage manager of the suburb theater.
The eccentric owner of a chateau, Lord Wilford, is fond of everything that is connected with criminal cases. His passion takes up so much time that even his secretary hardly has time to see her fiance. When mysterious letters arrive, announcing that a certain Mister X wants to steal a valuable statuette, the Lord is very enthusiastic. Apparently he himself will now experience a real criminal case! His secretary persuades him to hire a famous detective from London - none other than her fiance. But he is far from being a talented detective, and when a valuable pearl necklace disappears, the fiance falls under suspicion to be the thief.
The political advisor to the French emperor Napoleon, and the Austrian emperor Franz I, arrange a marriage between Napoleon and the Austrian archduchess Marie-Luise in order to prevent another war.
Ariane was Hungarian director Paul Czinner's first talking picture. Starring in the title role is Czinner's charming wife, Elizabeth Bergner, likewise making her talkie debut. Young, naive Ariane sets herself for an emotional fall when she falls in love with Konstantin (Rudolf Forster), a much older and very married businessman. For his part, Konstantin regards the girl as just another harmless fling -- until he realizes a shade too late that he's really in love with her after all. Filmed in German, Ariane was simultaneously lensed in an English-language version, The Loves of Ariane.
