The two-piece black and white movie "Brennende Ruhr" portrays the events during the Kapp-Putsch 1920 in a small german town in the Ruhr district. The main protagonist is Ernst Sukrow, a student who sympathises first with the bourgeois forces but finally decided to join the communists in their fight.
Bad planning and shortages prevail on an East German construction site. Foreman Hannes Balla uses unconventional methods to overcome the problems. New Socialist Unity Party secretary Werner Horrath is charged with bringing the rough-and-ready builder crew into line. The task seems doomed to fail as the two men compete for the affections of young engineer Kati Klee. But when she gets pregnant by married man Horrath, he is in danger of being expelled from the party, and Balla takes his side...
Fritz Weineck, a worker′s son from Halle, loves music – and dreams to make a living out of it one day. When his friend Alfons, a World War I veteran, gives him a trumpet as a gift, Fritz seems to come closer to fulfil his dream. But then, Fritz realizes that after the end of the German empire workers still have to desperately fight for their rights, and decides to use his instrument for political means: At a meeting of militant workers, he uses his trumpet as a signal horn. But Fritz suffers a severe setback when a comrade dies in the fight for an arms depot because of his fault.
Un anciano llamado Muck, que vive en una ciudad oriental, cuenta la historia de su vida a un grupo de niños: también fue una vez tan joven como ellos. Después de haber perdido a su padre a una edad temprana, Muck es expulsado de la casa por sus parientes codiciosos. Intenta cruzar el desierto con la esperanza de encontrar el comerciante que vende la buena fortuna. En medio de las dunas se encuentra con una pequeña casa, propiedad de una mala mujer y sus muchos gatos. Ella quiere hacer de Muck su sirviente, pero l se las arregla para escapar robando un par de zapatos m gicos que le permiten correr m s r pido que cualquier otro hombre en el pa s.
