Acting
In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.
Adrienne Lecouvreur is an acclaimed actress who falls in love with Polish prince Maurice de Saxe, only to be poisoned by a jealous rival while Maurice is away at war. The film was a co-production between the two countries, and was made at UFA's Berlin Studios. It was based on the 1849 play Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé about the life of the eighteenth century actress Adrienne Lecouvreur.
After serving in the trenches of World War I, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he renounces love and personal pleasure to immerse himself in scientific research, seeking a machine to prevent war. He thinks he has succeeded, but the government subverts his discovery, and Europe slides with seeming inevitability toward World War II. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest.
Before the Battle is the English-language title of this espionage melodrama. The first half of the film takes place aboard a French cruising ship, steaming through dangerous waters during WWI. Among the passengers is heroine Jeanne (Annabella), who was once in love with first-officer D'Artelles (Robert Vidalin) but he now seems strangely preoccupied. It turns out that the ship is on a secret mission, which ultimately dooms the vessel to a Lusitania-like death. After the sinking, Captain De Corlaix (Victor Francen) faces a court-martial, and it is at this point that the film clarifies several baffling plot points. Despite its complexity, the story is fairly believable, with the exception of the grafted-on romantic subplot.
Because of the escapades of Alexis, the Crown Prince of Vodenia, the kingdom is likely to lose the loan lent to them by a rich foreign banker. Baron Patcheff, a minister, decides then to replace the Prince by a double. The man chosen is Castin, a Parisian haberdasher, who looks like Alexis feature for feature.
A journalist takes command of a ship after the crew mutiny against the brutal captain. It was an adaptation of the novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore by Jack London.
Thanks to an understanding and sympathetic regimental comrade, a shy young man, very passionate about astronomy, gradually becomes more confident and manages to tell his love to his beloved.
A famous singer and a settler love each other. She lives only for her home and the child she is expecting. At birth, she suffered an accident and could no longer be a mother. Desperate, she wants to leave her husband but the war breaks out and he is missing. She faces, courageously, alone the life of the bled.
A restaurant waiter and the telephone operator at the Palace of Cap Martin sympathize without ever being able to go out together, because their day off is not the same. In the meantime, the disappearance of the Prince of Roumelia, whom no one knows, is announced. The boy, with the complicity of the young girl, pretends to be the Prince. They have a happy day. But the deception is quickly discovered, they are fired. Fortunately, the real prince arrives and asks for their forgiveness.
