AllMovie

Sarati le Terrible is the wealthy and callous absentee landlord (Harry Baur) of a cheap Algiers rooming house near a coal mine. With little money of their own, the local coal-haulers have no choice but to accept Sarati's usurious rental rates. As ruthless at home as he is in business, Sarati refuses to allow his pretty niece (Jacqueline Laurent) to marry the man of her dreams -- not because of avuncular devotion, but because he's got designs on the girl himself! The despotic Sarati gets his comeuppance when he's driven out of business by the increased mechanization of the Algerian coal industry, depleting his tenant pool and driving him to suicide.