André Alerme

Flanders, Hispanic Monarchy, 1616. The inhabitants of the small town of Boom are busy organizing the annual local festivities when the arrival of the Duke of Olivares, who rules the country on behalf of the King Philip III of Spain, is announced. While the male citizens cowardly surrender to panic like rats on a sinking ship, the brave female citizens, led by the bold wife of the burgomaster, decide to become the best hosts the Spaniards can ever meet.

A one-night stand with an entertainer threatens to destroy a woman's marriage after she gives birth to a black child.

An honest but naive young man is manipulated by a gang of crooks who use him as as a cover for their misdeeds. His honesty will be rewarded though and he will find the way to the heart of his beloved.

Georges Gauthier is an electrician who lives with his mother and his sister Madeleine. He is the son of a womanizing singer who made his mother miserable. For all that, Georges is attracted to show business all the more as he falls in love with Jeanne, the daughter of singer Lormel. Georges is spotted by Cartier, the manager of the Folies Concert and makes his debut as a singer under the assumed name of Jean Papillon.

Not content to be an austere judge, M. de Méricourt is also a domestic tyrant. He terrorizes his son René to such an extent that the young man has dared not confess to him that he has married. As can be guessed, a lot of confusion ensues.

It is one thing to open a beauty salon (which Edwige and her young lover Gaston have just done) but it is another to keep it on its feet.To best promote their speciality, fountain-of-youth treatments, Edwige decides to apply to the letter the old slogan "It pays to advertise" by posing as... Gaston's mother, a sixty-year-old woman, miraculously grown younger.

Grégoire Vachette is a bashful librarian, forced to listen to the daily boasting of his colleague Courgéan, a great seducer according to what he says. But when, while on holiday, Grégoire meets beautiful Madeleine, the shy young man becomes fired up. Back to his place of work, he can't help communicating his enthusiasm for Madeleine, so much so that he too is taken for a Don Juan. But Madeleine is not for him. Nevertheless, his unexpected change of attitude will have helped him to conquer the heart of Denise, a typist who loved him in secret.

The irresistible rise of a young provincial, Miquette, who, having risen to Paris, will experience success in the theater and love in Hollywood with a very attractive tennis player.

Perrichon, a well-off self-satisfied bourgeois, goes on holiday with his wife and his pretty daughter Henriette. He is more or less willingly followed by two young men, Armand Desroches et Daniel Savary, who both have fallen in love with Henriette after meeting her at a ball. The Perrichons's vacation will be eventful with, among other misadventures, two accidents (one real, the other fake) and the threat of a duel.

Playwright Jacques Deval directed this 1935 adaptation of his own stage comedy Tovaritch. Set in Paris, the story revolves around Princess Tatiana (Irene de Zilaby) and General Mikail (Andre Lefaur), two members of the Russian nobility who'd been forced to relocate to France after the Revolution. Though the regal couple has been entrusted with the Imperial crown jewels, they'd sooner starve to death than betray the late Czar by selling the gems. As a result, they're reduced to taking jobs as servants in the home of a wealthy but somewhat zany family. Robert E. Sherwood's Americanized version of Deval's Tovaritch was filmed by Warner Bros. in 1937, with Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer.

Cabissol, the Mayor of Martigues, a town in the South of France, wishes to organize a bullfight as part of the coming festivities. But that is not counting on Escopette, an opponent of bullfighting, who kidnaps the bulls. What further complicates things is that the appointed bullfighter, Chico de Granada, takes the French leave with Violette, one of Cabissol's daughters. As a measure of retaliation, Cabissol decides to force Escopette to replace Chico in the arena. Fortunately, Rémy, the head herdsman, comes to his rescue. Finally, everything goes well and Cabissol is so happy that he gives Rémy the hand of Marguerite, his other daughter.

Secret de Polichinelle roughly translates as Open Secret. The "secret" in question is an illegitimate child, the offspring of young-and-foolish Henri (Bernard Lacret). The baby is adopted by its grandparents, Monsieur and Madame Jouvenol (Raimu and Francoise Rosay). At first taking charge of the child because it is their duty, the Jouvenols come to love the little nipper as if he were their own son. At this point, the film threatens to drown in a morass of sentiment, but the actors and the director manage to stem the bathos with some first-rate comedy vignettes revolving around the care and feeding of the bouncing baby boy.

A ten-year old film when it was first released in the USA as "Symphonie D'Amour" in 1946. Panard (Fernand Gravet) is a talented composer who is having little success in his musical career. He is reduced to hiring out as a sandwich-board man to advertise what proves to be his own show. His girl, Jacqueline Francell, interests a Marquis in backing the show. She and Panard are happily reunited after the successful opening of his operetta.

A young journalist who has gone reporting with the papers of a friend gets caught up in an arms smuggling operation. It is in this context that he meets Draguicha, a Serbian student who, misled by a group of greedy financiers, is planning a terrorist attack on the Orient Express...

Jacques is a jolly bachelor who lives a wild life with his a mistress Wanda and all he wishes is to go on living the way he does. But Father won't allow. He demands that Jacques get married. More or less reluctantly, Jacques decides to comply but on the way to his father's home - where he is to meet the bride Dad has chosen for him - the young man comes across the charming Simone and falls in love with her at first sight. He elopes her, determined to ignore his progenitor's orders. Little does he know that Simone, the girl of his heart, is none other than the one he was supposed to marry...

During the London-Melbourne race, two aviators, one male (Guy,) the other female (Betty), are forced to land on a lost island in Polynesia. They learn to survive in difficult conditions and fall in love. Back in civilization, their union does not prove obvious. Pierre is already married to Ginette, a movie actress, and Betty is engaged to her cousin Edouard. Moreover, Lord Stanton, her rich father, will not hear of a marriage with Guy. Will love ultimately triumph in spite of everything?

Jean Bonnefoy, who has a talent for singing, is unemployed. So he is very happy the day he is offered a post as a music teacher in a college for young women. But he soon realizes the job is only a mixed blessing as a group of girls have set about making life tough for him. Among them is Anny Laforcade, a student who finally changes sides, taking pity on her teacher and falling in love with him. At one point, Jean meets Zébulon, a talent agent who decides to launch his singing career. Zébulon has a far-fetched idea: He asks Anny to disappear for a few days thus making people believe that she has committed suicide out of love for Jean. The latter, who is not aware of the scheme, is devastated.

Following a slight accident, a stranger appears in a Provençal village and knocks at the door of the Philippes'villa, asking them for help. Albert Philippe is suspicious but his wife shows some interest in the man. After leaving the Philippe family, the unknown man goes to the village, meets the mayor and buys an island opposite the Philippe villa. It suddenly appears that the mysterious fellow is none other than Balthazar Lemonnier, a well-known millionaire. No sooner is the news disclosed than everybody, including the initially distrustful Mr. Philippe, wants to become his friend.

Baronski has had enough of being a small-time merchant and decides, aided by his daughter Esther, to try his hand at big business. Why not be a film producer for instance? But it is easier said than done and he is soon relieved of 100,000 francs by a crook. Undaunted, he produces a film written by a young scriptwriter, Maurice Rogier, discovered by his daughter but does not believe it could become a success. Esther, for her part, decides to have "L'ange que j'ai vendu" shown in a local movie theater and the film immediately proves a hit. All is well that ends well, Esther marrying Maurice into the bargain.

Comte de Larzac, an aging seducer, leaves Paris for Lannemezan. Accompanied by his friend Charmeuil, he goes there to acknowledge the paternity of Jean, a twenty-year old young man who knows nothing about his biological father. Jean, after falling for Jeanne, the daughter of a farmer, now courts Georgina, a middle-class woman of Romanian origin. After Father Jocasse has told Jean that he is Comte de Larzac's son, the young man follows his father to Paris. But he finds it hard to comply with the usages of high society and when his father refuses to consent to his marriage with Georgina, he returns to Lannemezan. Georgina is so upset by the count's refusal that she comes to see him and tells him very candidly about her past life. Moved by her plea, de Larzac drives her back to Lannemezan so that she can marry Jean. What was not expected is that, during the trip, they discover they are close to each other.

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.

Prince Sacha studies in Paris and cares more for Marianne than about Silistrie, the country his family was exiled from. But Chautard, a French financier, who has business there (the country is rich in oil), wouldn't mind a little political stability. So why not restore the ancient royal family to the throne? But is Prince Sacha up to his role ? And will Marianne make a suitable princess?

Félix Raffut, a Périgord squire terrified by the German invasion, carries out the exodus of his family and his furniture towards supposedly hospitable places.

A famous violinist enlists in a music school in order to woo one of the students.

Lucien Mazerand, a bookseller from Châteauroux, goes to Paris to spend a few days in the French capital. At the music-hall, he discovers Stella Losange, a singer who literally enthralls him. Determined to seduce her, he is aware that a mere bookseller from the provinces stands no chance. So he resorts to a stratagem: posing for a globe-trotter who has gone through millions of adventures. The scheme works but the lady wants more : why doesn't he take her along with him so that she can share his dangerous life?

Georges Legrand is a young unscrupulous reveler. He seduces Fred, a woman doctor before shamelessly dumping her for Aline Ribourg, a tennis player. Soon fed up with his new conquest, he returns to Fred. But Aline is pregnant from him. Showing an admirable sense of self-sacrifice, Fred manages to persuade Georges to marry Aline.

Barnes, the mate of the 'Portland', is the object of the hate of the whole ship's crew. His mistress is murdered shortly before the departure and suspicion naturally falls on him. Some time later, Jeff Cooper, the skipper, falls to his death in the middle of the night. Once again Barnes is suspected and the mate has to resort to force to maintain his authority on board. During the stopover, Barnes is interrogated and finally cleared. He is even appointed captain of the 'Portland' in replacement of Jeff and can marry his best friend's daughter.

Guy Carbonnel, a rich industrialist, has more eyes for rugby than for his wife Hélène. René Rivals, his long-time pal, takes advantage of it to court her but Guy is becoming suspicious so René has to find a way to deflect his friend's suspicion. He finally has an idea: he asks Lilian, a circus acrobat, to pose as his mistress. Lilian accepts and they embark on a series of eventful moments.

Mademoiselle Bressac is a bossy spinster who manages "Le Clos", her estate, with an iron hand. But is she really a bad person? Her manners are abrupt but they only hide a heart of gold. Doesn't she bring up four orphans, Dominique, Fabien, Chantal and Jean? And as if it were not enough, she has accepted to educate another child, her niece Patricia, entrusted to her care by her irresponsible father. Thanks to her, the five young people have grown up in harmony and now they are about to find their place in society. Two of them, Jean and Patricia, who love each other, live only for the estate.

Monsieur Vincent is the respected healer of a Basque village. But nobody knows that Vincent Berteaux used to be a surgeon in Paris. When Assomption, a young holidaymaker, arrives in the village in the company of her mother, little does Vincent know that the past returns to his life.

Jean Vernet, an unselfish banker, feels fine : he has a charming mistress, Jacqueline ; a godson, Fernand, that he took in when he was a child and that he has brought up and cherished ever since ; a faithful friend, Lamblin ; and an adorable dog. But things are not so rosy as they look. Adrienne, Jean's sister, hates Jacqueline and is prepared to do everything to separate the couple. Worse, it looks as though Fernand has betrayed his godfather by sleeping with Jacqueline. To know more about those around him, Jean, a modern Volpone, decides to fake deafness.

Elfy, Countess of Saint-Hélié's daughter, was brought up with her foster sister Anne, in an old dilapidated castle whose landlord, Baron Julius Carol, disappeared mysteriously some day. The two girls had a playmate, Hervé, the son of the gamekeeper. Now that they are adult, Anne is in love with Hervé while Elfy thinks she loves the young man. One day, the baron's mummified body is found in an oubliette and the secret of the estate is revealed...

Véra, a vivacious woman, and her alleged brother Boris, are both hired by the Dubelairs as their chambermaid and caretaker. But Dubelair has done bad business while his wife Juliette plays at the races and... loses ! So when it comes to paying their domestics wages, Dubelair gives them lottery tickets. Chance has it that one of them is winning...!

Madame Millois, an ambitious mother, thinks she has found the perfect match for her daughter Arlette, Count de Tremblay-Matour. Alas, the ideal husband happens to be a crook. On the night of the wedding, the fake nobleman robs his wife and abandons her. While the outraged Madame Millois looks for the real Count de Tremblay, Arlette seeks consolation with Maxime, a childhood friend. At last, the real count is found. Unsurprisingly, he is furious to learn that, legally, he is Arlette's husband. After a while though, he mellows and accepts to "remain" Arlette's husband.

Micheline is a pretty girl but rich, spoiled and whimsical as well. Jacques, the brother of her friend Danielle, is so exasperated by her behavior that he decides to give her a chance to learn about good manners. To that effect, he kidnaps her and detains her in a hut on the edge of a wood. He starts "taming the shrew" but the situation soon gets out of control when criminals - real ones this time - abduct Micheline in earnest... and for ransom!

The scene is set during the Second Empire. Captain Bitterlin watches jealously over his lovely daughter Madeleine but he cannot prevent nature from demanding its rights and Madeleine soon finds herself a suitor in the person of Mario, a dashing young songwriter. Bitterlin, who wishes his daughter to "evade the grip" of the young man, takes her away to Monte Carlo. There, the captain does what he had sworn he would never do, he gambles in a casino. And even more upsetting: Mario might well be hereabouts...

Thérèse kills her lover during the very night of her wedding to the count of Vétheul. To gain a night with her, a modest local worker agrees to bury the body.

André de Kerdec, a young lawyer buys an old parchment in an antique shop and discovers that a treasure is hidden in the bedroom of Artémise, an old maid who owns a manor. He manages to be hired as her chauffeur by Artémise and sets about looking for the treasure. During this time, he falls in love with Lucie, the old spinster's niece. But the trouble is that Artémise develops a crush on André...!

Gaston, nicknamed Pilou, has left his native village and Yvette, the girl of his heart, to go to Paris where he has found work as a painter. He is a naive good-natured man who, like most of his fellow-workers, favors a little song or two while he works. For the time being he is busy repainting the exterior of a block of flats and, when he does not sing to pass the time, he looks through the windows, observing the tenants in their daily lives. As time goes by, he goes as far as intervening and changing the course of their lives. In the end, despite having found a lookalike of his fiancée, he returns to her.

Hector Dumontier has had enough of his wife Noémie : she is always immersed in those detective stories he disapproves of. To teach her a lesson, Dumontier decides to simulate the burglary of their house, with the help of an alleged jewel thief masked by a hood. He creates many false leads and everybody in the house gets suspected, from Ernestine, the maid, to Cabassol, the chauffeur, to Rosine, the Dumontiers'daughter. The disorder is complete and the various police detectives in charge do not help much.

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.

Josette, the daughter of a hotel-casino owner on the French Riviera is wooed by Pradier, a young gambler she (and everyone else) mistakes for the Prince of Austravia. On the other hand another young man starts courting her and she does not feel insensitive to his advances. What she does not know is that Monsieur Lefèvre, whom she feels so much to her liking, is actually the real prince of Austravia. When the Austravian revolution dethrones the prince, the young man has only one citadel left to conquer: Josette's heart.

Ferdinand is an honest and almost prude chemist at the Fourageot laboratories. His boss, Mr Fourageot, is mostly busy with his mistresses but comes to be worried with his young and outgoing daughter.

Léon, André, Christiane and Monique, who all study drama, decide to go camping together. Unfortunately - although unsurprisingly - their old jalopy breaks down on the road. Chance has it that in the village where they are stranded a historical movie is being shot by famed director Médéric, starring sexpot Barbara Glamour and Latin heartthrob Edouardo Tocato. Two of the young people start flirting with the two film stars until their friends make them see reason : they love each other. The four of them end up being hired as extras and all is well that ends well.

Monsieur Jourdain is a dangerous madman : he wants to share his fortune! His relatives do what any sensible fellow on earth would do: they have him committed to a mental hospital. But Jourdain manages to escape and decides to make everybody happy except... his heirs!

A Russian emigrant sings in a Shanghai nightclub under the assumed name of Kay Murphy. All she dreams of is a peaceful life with her daughter Vera. But this is only a pipe dream as she has been forced by her former lover Ivan to work for a secret criminal organization, "The Black Dragon". Vera, who studies in a Hong Kong boarding-school, knows nothing about her mother's past. When Ivan, who is also Vera's father, resurfaces and blackmails Kay, the young woman is determined to fight back...

A plucky businesswoman agrees to receive love letters to a prefect’s wife from a young official, and soon finds herself embroiled in a scandal that inflames a town’s class tensions.

Dr. Lucien Petypon is usually a serious man, but, drawn by his friend Corignon, he once paints the town red at Maxim's. When he wakes up late the next morning, he finds the scantily clad Môme Crevette, a dancer at the famous Paris restaurant, by his side. It is the moment General Petypon du Grêlé, Lucien's rich uncle, chooses to make an unexpected visit. The good doctor has no other choice but to pass Crevette off as his lawful wife.

Mr. and Mrs. Noblet run a boarding house on the French Riviera. One day, they are led by circumstances to welcome a little boy Pierre, whose father is in jail, into their home. Which makes Louise Noblet all the happier as she can't have children herself. But, after a while, Pierre's father is released from prison and reclaims his son... Time passes and Pierre, now a young adult, lives in Paris more or less on the wrong side of the law. He has a mistress, Nelly, who does not say no to other men's money... Louise, who still loves Pierre as her own son, wants only one thing - to help him get by.

Alcide Darbois, a small-time garage owner, and his sister Ursule come into a fabulous inheritance and become powerful industrialists. The cars they make a re very successful on the French market. Now a bit of a snob, Alcide decides to marry his daughter Suzanne to Marquis Gaëtan de la Michodière, but the young lady is actually in love with Bégonia, her father's chief worker. A car racing event will resolve the situation.

In 1914, in the first months of World War I, Louise Jarraud loses her husband, killed on the front. Shortly after, she gives birth to a baby, who soon dies. Devastated by this double misfortune, Louise decides to dedicate her life to caring for the children of others. She becomes a nurse with several employers, giving her affection to little boys or girls. A widower and another man propose to her but she refuses twice determined as she is to live only for the children in her charge.

A sporty and chivalrous young man creates, with some comrades, a society whose goal is to protect honest people against rogues. He finds himself thrown into unforeseen adventures, at the end of which he will discover love.

In pre-World Ward I in Paris, a budding artist, Pierre LeBlanc, falls in love and marries Janine, a dressmaker's assistant. Pierre has a flair for designing clothes, and he and his bride live in a blissful paradise, until the war breaks out and he becomes a soldier. Janine dies in childbirth and, no longer desiring to live, Pierre volunteers for a dangerous patrol behind German lines. While recuperating in the hospital from a wound he received on the mission, Pierre spends his time drawing sketches of dresses. He becomes rich and famous after the war. Years later, after devoting himself to his daughter, Pierre seeks a marriage with a girl no older than his daughter. A conflict develops and to ensure his daughter's happiness, Pierre sacrifices his own plans.

Bitru is a carefree fellow who, one day, decides to buy a houseboat on the River Seine. He moves there and starts living surrounded by a circle of colorful friends. Among them, the daughter of an auto maker but also a group of scientists who have developed "Aqua Simplex", a device that could enable motorists to fill their tanks with... water ! Panic sets in in the automobile industry and Bitru is appointed his friends' middle man to represent them on the various car makers directors' boards.

Monsieur Serval has made a deal with his daughter Jacqueline. She can be a lawyer and act her own way provided that, in a given period of time, she becomes a great name of the profession. If she does not, she must pledge herself to marry the son of a rich man, Monsieur Feutrier. Jacqueline accepts and starts her career by defending Pierre Besnard, a bad Boy. Not only does she get the case dismissed but she falls in love with Pierre as well. But she is not famous for all that and sooner or later she will have to bring herself to marry Feutrier's son.

In the village of Sableuse, the local manor has been bought out by a nouveau riche, Emile Cousinet. When his wife Lisette, a former music hall actress, flees to Paris with young Pierre de Sableuse, Cousinet asks Father Pellegrin, the village vicar, to bring the lost sheep back home.

A timid young man marries the daughter of the entomologist he works for. On the train for their honeymoon, he takes his young wife in his arms when a customs officer suddenly enters the compartment. The groom is now inhibited.

An assistant pharmacist in the South of France , Blaise works for Mrs. Pinède, a well-endowed hot-blooded woman who has developed a crush on him, and her husband ... who hasn't! One day, Blaise meets Felloux, a rich man who is convalescing in Cassis. Felloux takes a liking to Blaise and decides to offer him a perfect day in Juan-les-Pins. Gambling in the casino, Blaise wins an astronomical sum. A new life seems to open to him but not for long. Indeed he loses all, but not before he has given a beautiful necklace to a young woman.

The irresistible rise of a young provincial, Miquette, who, having risen to Paris, will experience success in the theater and love in Hollywood with a very attractive tennis player.

In a Provençal village, two jolly good fellows, Boule and Pons, decide to dress as Saint Anthony and Saint Nicholas for the distribution of presents to the children on the feast of Saint Nicholas. They unfortunately get killed by a cart and find themselves in Hell where Lucifer and his demons duly torment them. They are saved by a prayer which helps them to climb the stairway to Paradise. Saint Peter, taken in by the applicants' disguise, lets them in. When the two true Saints show up, trouble follows. Luckily, thanks to the intervention of the Virgin Mary, the two friends are acquitted at their celestial trial and allowed to return to Earth.

Alexandre Mérital, the leader of a political party, finds himself under attack from Frépeau, one of his opponents. The latter has indeed discovered that Mérital committed a theft in his youth. But Mérital will not be intimidated by his adversary's move. In his turn, he discovers that Frépeau was once involved in a financial scandal, which forces the plaintiff to discontinue the prosecution.

There's never a dull moment at the Hôtel du Libre Echange. Deceptions, hitches and other misunderstandings make a few people mingle whereas, for their own sake, they should not. An example among others: an expert who has come to the hotel for professional reasons had better not meet his wife, who is there to cheat on him with his best friend.

In Flanders in the eighteenth century, Ramon de Ortila, a young lord who has been dispossessed of property has turned into a gentleman brigand. His main target is Monsieur de Saint-Brissac, the salt tax farmer. But Solange, his daughter, sets a trap and lures the young man to her father's manor. Little does she know that love is at the rendezvous.

Augustin, the bashful but model secretary of Fontange,a tyrannical industrialist, is desperately in love with Christiane,his boss's daughter. Of course Daddy will never allow. On the contrary he wants to force his daughter to marry his business partner, a single man, whose money would be a welcome help. To escape such an unfortunate lot, Christiane must find a subterfuge. The solution is Bichon, the baby that Jacques, her younger brother, is supposed to have had from a certain Loulou. By claiming that the baby is hers and that Augustin is the father, she hopes to compel her father not to marry a man she does not love.

Alfred Boulard, a good-natured electrician, gives his blood to save Mona Thalia, a great theater actress. Mona Thalia survives and Boulard becomes the man of the hour. Grateful to him, Mona helps Alfred to become a singing star. But his fame will be short-lived.

Célestin, the organist of a convent, has written and composed a light operetta under the name of Floridor. One day, the Mother Superior asks him to chaperone one of the boarders, Denise de Flavigny, who is returning home to get married. Now, Denise, for all her goody goody looks, soon proves as saucy as can be. Things get even more complicated when Célestin starts courting Corinne, the star of his operetta, to the great displeasure of a commander of dragons, the young woman's lover. Worse, the latter is none other than the Mother Superior's brother... To say nothing of Lieutenant Fernand de Champlatreux, who happens to fall in love with Denise, his fiancée that he has never seen before...!

Chatelard, one of Viscount de Kerlec's guests, has died in mysterious conditions. The police initiates an investigation and sends detective-inspector Pauc to de Kerlec's manor. Pauc decides to mingle with the viscount's guests , who are all likely to have committed the murder. Among them, there is Jacques Mauclerc, a naval officer, and a seedy character named Bartoli, in fact a spy in search of secret documents. Pauc will end up untangling the web during a dramatic séance.

Bernard Lampré, a young composer, is engaged to Hélène Madelin, a gifted intern. Jealous of Professor d'Esperel, the great surgeon she proudly assists, Bernard, goes out and wanders in the rain all night long. He catches cold, falls ill and is sent to a sanitarium. There he meets again Jacqueline, a girl who studied music with him at the Conservatoire. Learning that she is dying, Bernard decides to play the comedy of love to soften her last moments.

Sophie de Réan, an unruly mischievous little girl grows up under the thumb of Mademoiselle, her strict governess. Following her mother's death, she is entrusted to Mme de Fleurville, her aunt, who at the same time hires Mademoiselle to further Sophie's education. A few years later, the little girl has blossomed into a lovely young lady. She is now in love with Paul, her cousin, who, unlike her, used to be a model child. Unfortunately Mademoiselle will not hear of a union between them. Instead she wants Sophie to marry Armand, the conceited son of Prefect Hugon. To make matters worse, Paul, the good boy, unexpectedly turns into a revolutionary, who defends the Republic on the barricades against Louis Napoléon's coup. Not being one of the victors, Paul is forced into exile. Will Sophie finally yield and accept the established order or will she react in her usual rebellious way and follow the one she loves ?

A ruined banker is abandoned by his mistress. He commits suicide after entrusting a prostitute with twenty-thousand francs. The money changes hands. A crook is arrested in the house of an an actress he had fooled. In a luxury hotel, a typist kills her lover's wife. The trial of the murderer is followed by the bankruptcy of another financier and the money finally returns to the mistress of a suicide in the restaurant in which she had first appeared.

Pierre and Florence meet at the fair in Paris. They vow eternal love and go to Cassis, under the Southern sun. But Florence has a burdensome past: before meeting Pierre she was a kept woman. Her chivalrous lover, Dominique, chooses to set her free. But Pierre is an uncompromising man and, furious with Florence, threatens to leave her...