Writing
The country estate of Count Claudieuse is located near Paris. One night in 1871, it goes up in flames. Two shots are fired, the count is critically injured, and the countess and her children escape the flames with the help of the feeble-minded Cocoleu. Cocoleu accuses Jacques von Beaucoran from the neighboring estate of being the perpetrator. Jacques protests his innocence.
Adaptation of the Émile Gaboriau novel.
France, 1860: In Bougival, a small town near Paris, the widow Lerouge is found stabbed to death. No one knows who the murderer is yet, but investigations reveal that 30 years ago, Madame Lerouge, as a wet nurse, swapped the illegitimate son of Count Commarin for the legitimate heir. This means that Noel Gerdy, a lawyer who grew up in poverty, is the count's legitimate son—and now the prime suspect in the murder.
Paris vamp Ernestine Bergot, posing as wealthy Englishwoman Sarah Brandon, goes to work on aging Count Ville Handry after first warming up on Malgat, a banker whom she ruined. Ernestine convinces the count to marry her despite his daughter's strenuous objections and then gains complete control of his fortune. Her steady milking of his funds makes the count decide to kill himself, but just as he is about to do it, Malgat, who has managed to catch up with Ernestine, exposes her to the authorities. Then, instead of the count, it is Ernestine who commits suicide rather than submit to arrest. A lost film.
Mary Bruce is wooed by Lord Haverford but loves Roger Benton, her father's secretary. To finalize his marriage proposal, Lord Haverford offers her father a large sum of money and, being low on funds, Mr. Bruce accepts it, then places it in a safe. Horrified by her father's actions, Mary steals the cash from the safe that night, but on her way out is overcome by another thief whose wrist she bites in the ensuing tussle.
A Parisian cop sets out to solve a sudden series of crimes, including robbery and blackmail. Based on a novel by Émile Gaboriau.
