Acting
In late 19th century France, the Countess Louise, wife of a wealthy general, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off her secret debts, then claims to have lost them. Her husband quickly learns of the deceit, which is the beginning of many tragic misunderstandings, all involving the earrings, the general, the countess, and her new lover, the Italian Baron Donati.
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.
Jour de FĂŞte tells the story of an inept and easily-distracted French mailman who frequently interrupts his duties to converse with the local inhabitants, as well as inspect the traveling fair that has come to his small community. Influenced by too much wine and a newsreel account of rapid transportation methods used by the United States postal system, he goes to hilarious lengths to speed the delivery of mail while aboard his bicycle.
Bertal, a despotic and hated theater director, is assassinated before a performance of Macbeth in which he was to play with Aurélia Nobli, his companion and Ludovic Arn, her lover. The police arrive on the scene and the investigation begins. Suspicion first falls on Sigurd, an old actor who had threatened Bertal. But parallels appear between the characters in the play and the actors who play them.
Hélène and Aldo Giovanni are a circus trapeze double act and a couple. Aldo is temporarily replaced by former-partner Alexandre when the former is injured. The two get into a fight and the following day Alexandre is discovered dead. Hélène suspects her husband is responsible for the murder.
A daydreaming French composer sees himself as a fine figure dashing through history.
Philippe Clarence, a famous Parisian dressmaker, seduces his friend's fiancee. But, for the first time in his life, this is for real. The film is also a sharp picture of the fashion world.
In France during World War I, Marthe waits for her husband, Jacques, while he fights on the front lines. Marthe then begins a tempestuous affair with 17-year-old François, with whom she had a dalliance before marrying Jacques. Jealous François struggles with the fact that Marthe is married, while she tries to prove her devotion to her young, hotheaded lover. Things become even more complex when Marthe becomes pregnant with Jacques' baby.
A man is shot In the hotel of an imaginary South American country. Clarence and Montès, two inspector students, must solve this murder, but they don't know that dead guy is the USA public enemy No.1.
A man assists his gravely ill wife to die and wants to face justice for this, but his brothers try everything to keep the family's name clean.
Paris, France. Commissaire Wens is put in charge of the investigation into the murder of one of six friends who, in the past, made a very profitable promise.
Cecile, a young girl who goes to the offices of the Judicial Police several times in a row to complain about nightly visits to the apartment she occupies with her aunt, is not taken seriously by the police until she the day she is found murdered.
It's no holds barred for Julian in pursuit of upward mobility. Although expected to channel career aspirations into the Church of the post-Napoleonic era, his intensely romantic liaisons propel him forward at a pace he cannot control.
Gaston wants more than anything to marry the naive Simone. But where he is, there is Sidonie, a local singer romantically pursued by the police commissionaire.
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.
A small-town policeman is informed that "naked women" are dancing in a revue at a local variety theater. Being the guardian of public morals that he is, he decides to stroll on down there and check it out for himself.
A street singer becomes the star of the circus but his pal Armand shows him who his real friends are.
Au p'tit Zouave, a café, sees a colorful clientele from working-class Paris. An assassin will shake up the daily life of the regulars.
Envoi de Fleurs is based on incidents in the life of French composer Paul Delmet. Played by popular French singing star Tino Rossi, Delmet is depicted as a man all too willing to give up personal happiness in favor of blind ambition. After carrying on a romance by correspondence with beautiful young Suzanne (Micheline Francey), Delmet is on the verge of marrying the girl. Instead, he allows himself to be talked out of leaving France to further his own career, with disastrous results for all concerned.
The film depicts events between the Fashoda crisis in 1898 and the 1904 signing of the Entente Cordiale creating an alliance between Britain and France and ending their historic rivalry. It was based on the book King Edward VII and His Times by André Maurois. It was made with an eye to its propaganda value, following the Munich Agreement of September 1938 and in anticipation of the outbreak of a Second World War which would test the bonds between Britain and France in a conflict with Nazi Germany.
