De bolsjewiek

Summary

Short comedy about a lazy sponger who invariably ruins each job he tries his hand at.

Flippie (or Flip for short), a salesman in a second-hand shop, is fired by the owner when he is found sleeping instead of helping a customer. In search of work, Flip buys a copy of 'De Telegraaf' (an Amsterdam newspaper) and goes to his boarding house. From there he is thrown out by the irate landlord who catches him stealing, not only hand-kisses from the landlady, but also cheese from the landlord's breakfast. In a park, Flip makes advances to a young woman seemingly cuddling a child. The "child", however, is her husband, a dwarf, who furiously attacks the wooer.

In an elegant house, a young widow smells gas. Her maid telephones a plumber and asks for someone to be sent to find and mend the leak. The plumber says that he has no mate, but then Flip turns up and, claiming to be an expert, is given the job. A telegram from the widow's uncle tells her that his American millionaire nephew John intends calling on her with a possible view to marriage.

Two policemen have been following four Bolsheviks who plan to blow up a train. When Flip comes along, carrying a small stove, the Bolsheviks mistakenly believe him to be their leader. They get into a rowing boat and Flip tells them that the bombs he is supposed to be carrying wille explode within one minute, whereupon they jump into the water and swim ashore.

Flip, followed at a safe distance by the policemen, proceeds to the widow's home. There the maid, believing him to be the rich American, welcomes him with cigars and whisky. Flip's amorous advances to the maid are interrupted when the widow comes home and his drunken attempt to woo her is frustrated by the arrival of her real American cousin. Flip confesses that he is the plumber's mate.

He asks for a ladder that, once on his shoulder, he wheels around in his inebriated state and breaks every ornament, vase and lamp in the sitting room. When he takes his lamp into the adjoining room in search of the gas leak, the inevitable explosion follows. The widow is frantic when she sees the ravage Flip has caused and John is about to eject him forcibly when the policemen rush an and arrest their "Bolshevik".