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Overview
Brief Synopsis
An ambitious young man corners the market on matches, then faces the destruction of his empire.
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Synopsis
During his time in Chicago, Swedish immigrant Paul Kroll aquires a small sum of money by cheating his friends and fellow workers. The people at home in Sweden believe that Paul is a successful businessman, so when the local match factory has business troubles, Kroll's uncle begs him to return home and help them. After stealing the money that his girl friend Babe had saved, Kroll buys a first-class passage and sails home. There, he bluffs the bank into financing a merger between the small plant and a more modern one. In order to maintain his initial success, he continues to borrow more money and ultimately buys all the match factories in the country. After he promotes superstitions such as the belief that it is bad luck to light three cigarettes on a match in order to increase sales, he plots to take over match factories throughout Europe. Soon, by using blackmail and other underhanded methods, the Kroll Match Co. obtains the European monopoly on matches. While on business in Germany, Kroll becomes infatuated with beautiful actress Marta Molnar. He sends her a diamond bracelet and invites her to dinner. When she turns him down, he pursues her doggedly. Eventually she succumbs to his entreaties, and he neglects his business during the romance. Kroll's friend, Erik Borg, suggests that he is wealthy enough to give up business altogether. Kroll's business is so deeply in debt, however, that he cannot stop. When he learns of the invention of an everlasting match, he has the inventor, Christian Hobe, committed to an insane asylum. After the stock market crashes, Kroll's bank loan is not renewed, so he borrows money on fraudulent stock and murders the forger. With the money, he intends to leave the business and marry Marta, who is now working in Hollywood. She has fallen in love with someone else, however, and when the forgery is revealed, Kroll sees no choice but to kill himself.
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