I am only responding to a piecemeal recreation of the film (which is no more) and the work of Murnau. It is a highly melodramatic circus film where four orphans have lived their lives with a circus clown after their parents died performing. One of them, the handsome one, gets pulled in by a vamp who pretty much ruins his desire to perform, leaving the family behind. That's the setup. Of course, Murnau made it well and brought it above the tawdry.
