Acting
Serenade represented the return to the screen of international favorite Lillian Harvey after an absence of two years. Based loosely on the life of composer Franz Schubert, the film casts Bernard Lancret as Schubert, Harvey as his dancer sweetheart, and Louis Jouvet as a possessive Baron who has his own designs on our heroine.
The Marquis de la Chesnaye and his wife host a weekend gala where a variety of complicated romantic and social entanglements between guests and servants lead to tragedy, all against the backdrop of a looming war.
Two scriptwriters argue about the fate of Henrietta, a charming and gamine shopgirl. One favors a comical path for their heroine, who is overcome with sentimental love for a young photographer on Bastille Day. The other has a more thrilling and dastardly fate in mind for her. Among the film's irresistible conceits is Hildegarde Neff as an oversexed circus bareback rider.
The basic premise: A retired bus driver fulfills his lifelong dream of providing an extended "voyage surprise" (the title is translated as "Mystery Tour") for unsuspecting vacationers. They soon realize, while riding in the old man's home-made bus, that he hasn't bothered to plan any kind of itinerary. As a result, they end up in completely preposterous situations, of course. Voyage surprise!
Returning by train to the French port of Le Havre, Jacques Lantier, a tormented railwayman, meets by chance the impulsive stationmaster Roubard and Séverine, his wife.
A celebrated singer in Paris meets a young woman and courts her by pretending to be a driving instructor.
1939 : what a beautiful year for Claudia and Jerôme. No sooner do they meet that they are under each other's spell. 1939 : what a horrible year for the two lovers : war breaks out before they can get married. They meet again after the war but the enchantment has vanished. They decide to marry but it will be for reason, not for love. Miracles only happen once.
The Donadieu family lives in the Provençal sun in a happy letting go, The father, the mother, the son and the three daughters. One of them, Claire, falls in love with a mountain dweller, Chapus, whom she marries Chapus, rough and austere, undertakes to educate the Donadieu family. The joy disappears and only returns in the absence of Chapus.
A compilation of segments covers the seven deadly sins of greed, wrath, envy, pride, lust, sloth, and gluttony.
Rémy (Robert Lynen), a stolen child is adopted by a wandering singer. With him and his trained animals, Rémy travels the roads of France. But his adoptive father dies and Remy, who has knowledge of a boy who knows something of his history, sails for England to find his mother.
In the Basque Country, two friends, José and François, live a cheerful life. The two sly foxes use their wit to boost the business of an innkeeper they have a connection with. José is in love with Angélica, the innkeeper"s daughter, while François courts petite Annette. José also happens to have a beautiful voice and one day a night club manager hears him and wants to hire him. He will have to choose between Angelica, the inn, his roots... and a singing career in Paris.
During Christmas night, two police officers make their nocturnal rounds, in their round they meet tramps, brawlers in a café, a naked man, a concierge, a sexton, revelers in a nightclub, and end by signing in their report to the police station.
Come fly with Peter and Nicole and the Chinese wizard on an exciting adventure to the ends of the earth.
Five unemployed workers win 100,000 Francs in the national lottery. Instead of sharing the money, they buy a ruin and build an open-air cafe. But difficulties come to split their friendly group apart.
As its title indicates, La Mort du Cygne is set in the special world of the ballet. Young dance student Rose Souris idolizes her teacher-role-model Mademoiselle Beaupré, and will do anything to help Mademoiselle Beaupré further herself. Thus, when rival ballerina Nathalie Karine lands a much-coveted role, Rose arranges an accident causing Nathalie to break her leg. The girl comes to regret her rash behavior when it appears as though Nathalie will never dance again.
A small town gentleman learns that his prim and proper wife was once a showgirl, and that, even worse, he had enjoyed a one night stand with her in the Orient.
The daughter of a notorious smuggler is raised as a boy by her foster mother.
After finding and adopting a child, a man gets a job at an all-girls school which doesn't allow families. Once the girls find the baby, they become his forty little mothers. At the same time, the child's true mother searches for him.
A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing how the comrades help the proletariat against the capitalists.
Pierre can no longer pay for his medical studies and disappears for several months. During his absence, his fiancée allows herself to be courted by a reveler. Back home, Pierre cannot regain the trust of the young woman, who now leads a dissolute life of which she is ashamed. She tries to kill herself. Pierre saves her and heals her.
