Acting
At the beginning of the 20th century, the destiny of FĂ©licie Nanteuil, a young girl from the provinces who became a big star on the stage thanks to a comedian who committed suicide out of love for her.
Captain Justin Mollenard works for a company that sells armaments to the Far East. After an eventful stay in Shanghai, where he and his cargo are the victim of a malicious attack, he returns to his hometown of Dunkirk. Mollenard receives a frosty welcome from his wife Mathilde, who resents the way in which he has neglected his family for so many years. Mollenard’s only wish is to get back to sea as soon as he can, but a sudden heart-attack leaves him paralysed and entirely in his wife’s power...
The knight Henri de Lagardère wants to avenge the death of his friend, the duke Philippe de Nevers assassinated by the prince de Gonzague, a few years before.
On the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian HĂ´tel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?
An international crook hunted by the police comes to Paris to save his daughter from the clutches of a blackmailer friend of a cabaret singer with eccentric outfits.
A music-hall singer leaves his loving wife to run off with Delphine. The singer's wife and Delphine's husband make them believe that they love each other and the singer, already tired of his affair, wins back his wife's heart.
Two unemployed musicians dress up as women to be hired by an all-female orchestra called "Tulips from Holland"; they fall in love with two gorgeous musicians.
A young woman has doubts about her husband's fidelity. She pretends a trip, but settles in a hotel where her husband must pass. He meets her and, disturbed by the one he believes to be his wife's double, becomes her lover. Little by little the truth breaks through. The husband takes leave of the mistress and returns to the wife whose return has been announced.
Sylvio, a successful singer, has found a way to take a peaceful vacation, safe from his female adulators: to travel incognito. He puts up at an old castle whose landlord, Count Fabrice, a ruined nobleman, seeks a hidden treasure. Posing as the nephew of the castle gardener, Sylvio enjoys happy days and even finds the time to fall in love with Gracieuse, the count's daughter. Unfortunately for him, his impresario ends up locating him...
Despite a perfect marriage and a superb career as a singer, Jean Dupray cheats on his wife. She dies while listening to the song he dedicated to her, "Maria". He then retired to the south where he led a life in complete anonymity. But his best friend's fiancé recognizes him and seduces him. Following a fight with his best friend, he decides to return to order by becoming a monk.
Naive and good-hearted Léon Ménard arrives in Paris, determined to find work in the capital. In a café, he meets Bob, a seedy guy, who helps him to get a job. On cloud nine, the ingenuous young man, does is unaware of how Bob manipulates him. Having become the night concierge of a hotel, the thankful Léon lets Bob and his accomplices get into the pace. Jewels are stolen as a result.When he is accused, Leon refuses to incriminate his "friend". Fortunately, Charlotte, Léon's fiancé, manages to find evidence of Bob's guilt and thanks to a premium paid by the diamond dealer the two lovebirds can buy a grocer's shop and tie the knot.
Mr. Catignac, a pork butcher in Perigueux, plans to marry Victor, his son, to the daughter of a magistrate. What he does not know, for his son does it in hiding, is that Victor writes songs and has made his debut as a singer in a cabaret. To make matters worse, the young man has a mistress. When word of it leaks out, the whole family are outraged. One night, as Victor goes back home, they are all here, waiting for him.
A wealthy man has two sons,one of them is legitimate,the other is not.The first offspring has had a life of luxury and he has become a lazy good for nothing whereas the youthful indiscretion has turned into an artist.He is nicknamed "Gringalet" .Now his father wants him to meet his half-brother ,his mother-in-law and the rest of the family. Gringalet will turn this bourgeois family upside down:they become nice,the big brother becoming a perfect businessman who stops scouring nightclubs to spend most of his time with his fiancee Josette.There's the rub,cause Gringalet is also in love with her.
On Christmas Eve, Swiss minister Jean Martens takes in a blind, half-crippled orphan and brings her up among his own four children. But Gertrude grows into a woman and Jean gradually falls in love with her without admitting it to himself. On the contrary, he lulls his conscience by interpreting the Scriptures to his advantage. But neither his wife nor his oldest son are fooled. Following a long-delayed operation, Gertrude recovers her sight but she is not long to find out that sin has corrupted the soul of her benefactor.
Director Jean Delannoy's immediate followup to his brilliant Les Jeux sont Faits was the more conventional Aux Yeux du Souvenir (aka Souvenir and To the Eyes of Memory). The film is based on a true story, wherein an France airliner managed to survive a journey from Rio De Janeiro to Dakar with two of its engines incapacitated. To this already intensely dramatic situation has been added a romantic subplot involving Claire Magny (Michele Morgan) and Jacques Forester (Jean Marais). The love story adds very little to the film; fortunately, neither does it detract from the film's overall quality. As was the case with many French productions of the 1940s, Aux Yeux du Souvenir benefits immeasurably from the Wagnerian musical score by Georges Auric.
LĂ©on MĂ©nard, a farmer and an apparently simple man of the country, is invited to visit his uncle Henri MĂ©nard, a prosperous industrialist. He encounters a number of people scheming to marry into the MĂ©nard family for the sake of money. MĂ©nard discovers and thwart the plots and manages to unite a young couple who truly are in love. The romantic comedy ends happily with a double marriage. Henri's daughter Nicole marries Didier, and MĂ©nard marries his new-found love Rosine. It turns out that LĂ©on is "not so stupid" after all.
A young geometrician goes to Rome with his sister. During the trip, they meet Laura, an actress who offers them many surprises.
Summoned by his mother to plead, a very young lawyer has a trio of pathetic criminals acquitted. The daughter of one of them reveals to the lawyer that the three accomplices hoped to find food and board in prison. For the beautiful eyes of the young girl, Master of La Bastide attaches the three rogues to his service. Disasters, confusion, clumsiness follow one another until the planned wedding.
Alternate-language French version of Folies Bergère de Paris (1935).
The wife of a Parisian municipal guardian wins a beauty contest in spite of herself and narrowly escapes more or less honest adventures.
