Acting
The vagabond comes to the little village and to the farm of Pierre, where toil Toinon and Francois. There is a plague upon the sheep, and the vagabond pauses in his wanderings to cure the sheep - and win the love of Toinon. But the road calls him, and he goes, leaving the girl broken hearted. Francois marries her, and the child, Toinet, grows to be a lusty lad who loves the daughter of Pierre. Pierre, knowing the secret of his birth, refuses his consent, but again comes the vagabond, and once more his strange spells work for happiness, but he turns his back upon his new found son and the happiness he has wrought. The call of the open road is too strong.
Misanthrope Raymond Ferray's life of peace and quiet is disrupted by the arrival of his new neighbors the Rovels. Lady Rovel designs on marrying her daughter Meg to the much older Marquis de BoisgenĂŞt. Her mother agrees not to force her, however, if she can find a suitable alternative. Raymond, who despite himself has taken a great interest in Miss Rovel, helps her to find one.
The story begins with Jean Valjean as a humble worker endeavoring to provide for his invalid mother. They live in a squalid home, made more wretched by his inability to provide sufficient food. He goes out in search of work, but is unsuccessful. Finally, in desperation, he steals a loaf of bread regardless of consequences. He hastens home with it, pursued by a crowd, and gives it to his mother. Valjean is arrested for the theft and sentenced to five years at hard labor.
The mistress of an engineer meets the man's pregnant wife and decides to give up the liaison.
A young bourgeois lady leaves her husband to spend three passionate, violent days with a criminal she is in love with.
Lucien asks his father for money to support his girlfriend. The father refuses. Lucien's GodMother is found dead.
Tania, a young girl from Central Europe, leaves her home because of her abusive father. Trained, in spite of herself, in the nets of the secret services, she becomes a renowned dancer who travels the major capitals, in search of military information. In 1917, in Paris, she was arrested and sentenced to death. She will be executed despite the fervent defense of her lawyer who has fallen in love with her.
The suffering and rebellion of 12-year-old François Lepic, nicknamed "Carrot Top" by his mother, who hates him. Occupied with the council elections, his father appears unaware that the young boy is increasingly tempted by suicide.
The son of the wealthy Signor Della Corba loves one of his maids. Her brothers and father rebel at the idea of this union. But the girl is pregnant, and after the birth of the child, Della Corba's son decides to kidnap his mistress on Carnival Day. The brothers, having caught wind of the plan, kill him, then, in disguise, take him masked to his father's house, passing him off as a drunken friend. At dawn, Della Corba discovers her lifeless son under the mask. The maid having died in the meantime, he takes the child in and adopts him.
In Britain, during the revolution, the nephew of the Marquis de Lantenac, Gawain (P. Capellani) befriends Cimourdain (H. Krauss), a priest who follows the precepts of the Revolution. During the Terror, the Marquis went into exile in England while his nephew is a soldier in the Revolutionary Army ...
Jeanne supports supports his family on his modest salary. Her boss is arrested for fraud. Jeanne is forced, out of poverty, in the street.
Mathias Pascal, saddled with a stupid wife and a nagging mother-in-law, leaves home and is extremely lucky at several gambling resorts. He returns home and discovers that a drowned man, fished out of the river, bears an uncanny likeness to him and is being buried by his family as him. This, to him, is a pleasant turn of events and he goes to Rome, where he falls in love with Louise Paleari. Count Papiano, a jealous suitor of Louise's, threatens him with arrest unless he produces credentials to prove his identity.
A girl in search of sailors lost in the Pacific.
Blanchette, unable to find a job, prostitutes herself in Paris. She then finds the man she loves when her morale is at its lowest.
