Gold is a 1934 German science fiction film directed by Karl Hartl. The film involves a German scientist's attempt to create a machine that turns base materials into gold, a project that attracts the unwelcome attention of a British industrialist. Gold was made in both German-language and French-language versions with Brigitte Helm reprising her role in both.
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Plot
A German scientist, Achenbach, has discovered a theoretical means of transforming lead into gold through "atomic fracture." Working with engineer Werner Holk, he is literally moments from proving his theory when his lab is blown up by a saboteur bribed by the British industrialist John Wills. Achenbach is killed and Holk only survives thanks to a blood transfusion from his fiancée Margit. Holk is then hired by Wills and goes to Scotland to see his friend's work recreated on a massive scale in a secret laboratory beneath the North Sea. Bent on revenge, he agrees to help Wills and uses the machine to create a small sample of gold, vindicating Achenbach's theory and gaining the millionaire's confidence. In the meantime he wins the trust of the workers and of the millionaire's estranged daughter Florence (Helm), who is romantically drawn to him. Holk puts together a plan to destroy the machine before the artificial gold it would create can wreak havoc on the world economy. Just as the machine is set to go into operation, Holk delivers a speech turning the workers against the millionaire and sets the machine to self-destruct. Wills and the lab are blown up in a spectacular sequence of explosions and strobe lighting. Holk himself escapes by the skin of his teeth and returns to his fiancée in Germany.