French Cinema: A Critical Filmography (1929-1939)
Colin Crisp's third book in his study of French cinema in the 1930s analyzes 101 key films from the decade.
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- DirectorAugusto GeninaStarsLouise BrooksGeorges CharliaAugusto BandiniLucienne, typist and gorgeous bathing beauty, decides to enter the 'Miss Europe' pageant sponsored by the French newspaper she works for. She finds her jealous lover Andre violently disapproves of such events and tries to withdraw, but it's too late; she's even then being named Miss France. The night Andre planned to propose to her, she's being whisked off to the Miss Europe finals in Spain, where admirers swarm around her. Win or lose, what will the harvest be?
- DirectorRené ClairStarsAlbert PréjeanPola IlléryEdmond T. GrévilleAlbert is smitten for Pola but ends up wrongly committed in jail, in the meantime her affections are sought after by his friend, and on his release both love and friendship must be tested.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGaston ModotLya LysCaridad de LaberdesqueA surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
- DirectorWilhelm ThieleMax de VaucorbeilStarsLilian HarveyHenri GaratRené LefèvreThree young friends working at a filling station all fall in love with the same woman.Simultaneously filmed French version of the German musical, Die Drei Von Der Tankstelle.
- DirectorPierre ColombierStarsGeorges MiltonHenri KernyHélène PerdrièreThe first in a series of popular comedies featuring the character of Bouboule, a man of few means who somehow manages to sneak into various athletic events (such as here boxing, cycling, and rugby) without paying the entrance fee, and who thoroughly enjoys himself doing so.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsPierre AlcoverJulien BertheauAlexandre MihalescoVictor Berthier, a good man but also a very jealous one, killed his wife in a fit of jealousy. After serving a few years in a chain gang, he is released for good behavior. He feels very happy to be able to return to Paris and to meet Lise, his daughter, again. But, to his dismay, he finds that Lise, through the fault of André, her lover and pimp, has unwillingly committed a murder.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsRudolf ForsterLotte LenyaCarola NeherThe Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurPaule AndralJackie MonnierDavid is a poor but ambitious Polish Jew who reinvents himself as a powerful New York business magnate. After gaining wealth, he relocates to Paris, only to have his selfish and demanding wife squander his fortune.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsAnnabellaRené LefèvreJean-Louis AllibertAn impoverished painter and his rival engage in a race across Paris to recover a jacket concealing a winning lottery ticket.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsRaimuPierre FresnayFernand CharpinMarius is faced with a choice whether to fulfill his passion by sailing the seas or stay and marry the woman he loves.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMichel SimonJanie MarèseGeorges FlamantMaurice Legrand, a meek cashier married to a nagging wife, has a secret passion: he's a Sunday painter. He falls in love with Lulu, a young woman dominated by Dédé, the pimp who she works for. Dédé pushes Lulu into a relationship with him.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsRaymond CordyHenri MarchandRolla FranceSeeking better life, two convicts escape from prison.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsEnrique RiveroElizabeth Lee MillerPauline CartonTold in four episodes - an unnamed artist is transported through a mirror into another dimension, where he travels through various bizarre scenarios.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurRobert Le ViganGeorges PécletFive gentlemen are on vacation in Morocco; one of them takes off a Muslim girl's veil and the sorcerer curses them: before the full moon, all of them will die.
- DirectorRaymond BernardStarsPierre BlancharGabriel GabrioCharles VanelWorld War 1 begins and a young man enlists to fight for his country.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsBrigitte HelmHeinz KlingenbergTela TchaïTwo French Foreign Legionnaires are lost amid the shifting sands of the Sahara Desert when they stumble across the entrance to an underground world. Searching this new found subterranean passage, our heroes are surprised to find the lost city of Atlantis. Ruling over this fantastic underworld realm, an evil queen sets her sights upon these strangers to her kingdom.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsRaimuJean GabinFernandelThe life of disorderly soldiers in the barracks dealing with daily routines.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsJulian WestMaurice SchutzRena MandelA drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurRobert LynenLouis GauthierA red-haired boy is his mother's punching bag ; only his father's presence is a great comfort to him,but this weak man is under the shrew's thumb. His pain is so great he feels suicidal.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMichel SimonMarcelle HainiaSévérine LerczinskaA bookseller saves a tramp from drowning and shelters him, but the tramp's odd behavior starts to wear everyone down.
- DirectorPierre PrévertStarsJulien CaretteAnthony GildèsEtienne DecrouxBenjamin Déboisé, a hatter, his salesman and a young man want to kidnap an American millionaire, put him in a bag and hold him to ransom. But they make a mistake: the fellow they find in the bag is not the millionaire himself, but his son...!
- DirectorRené ClairStarsAnnabellaJorge RigaudRaymond CordyJean is a young cab driver. Anna, a flower-girl neighbour, is in love with him. But he is still thinking to Pola, who just left him. Jean asks her to the bal. Many events (Pola's come back, two villains...) will disturb this arising love.
- DirectorJean EpsteinStarsJean MuratMarie BellJoan HeldaThe almost financial ruined French gentleman Gaston Dewalter spends several day in Biarritz before going off in the Hispano-Suiza, a luxe car which was a present from his friends. George becomes the lover of Lady Stéphane Oswill pretending he is wealthy. Then Stéphane spends the remaining funds with which the now desperate George hoped to rebuild his fortune in Senegal.
- DirectorPierre ColombierStarsRaimuAlbert PréjeanPierre AlcoverTo investigate a would be adultery,Clodomir dresses up as a superintendent,a butler ,a priest ,a fireman ,and even ..a woman .
- DirectorJean VigoStarsJean DastéRobert le FlonLouis LefebvreIn a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day.
- DirectorJean Benoît-LévyMarie EpsteinStarsMadeleine RenaudAlice TissotPaulette ÉlambertWhen her father files bankruptcy and then dies, Rose's fiancé jilts her; she takes a job as a maid in a Montmartre kindergarten with 150 poor children. Rose gives each child loving attention, and soon she's their favorite. An especially needy child is Marie, a prostitute's daughter. Rose and she bond, and Marie is jealous of all attentions paid Rose, especially those of Dr. Libois, the school's physician. When Rose inadvertently guides the children through the educational experiment of a visiting scholar, and then discloses she has a college degree and is working beneath her station, the principal wants to fire her. Is there any way she can stay? And what will happen to Marie?
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsHarry BaurPierre BlancharAlice FieldVautier, a wealthy surgeon in his fifties, falls in love with Hélène, a young woman from a modest background. He allows her to have a string of short-lived lovers - but when Jean Trapeau, an old boyfriend, resurfaces, things get complicated.
- DirectorPierre ChenalStarsConstant RémyGabriel GabrioPaule AndralEarly example of poetic realism: A grubby poor neighborhood, where buildings are slated to be taken down, reacts to the arrival of a young woman, whose father has spent time in prison.
- DirectorLéon PoirierAndré SauvageStarsGeorges-Marie HaardtLouis Audoin DubreuilAndré CitroënThe film tells the expedition, led by Georges Marie Haardt and Louis Audouin-Dubreuil and sponsored by André Citoën, leaving Beirut in Lebanon to rally China through the ancient Silk Road with half-tracks vehicles, between 1931 and 1932.
- DirectorPierre ColombierStarsRaimuLucien BarouxPaul AmiotIn Gedeon's store ,take your pick of the best corsets and machine guns.
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsMarie BellPierre Richard-WillmCharles VanelPierre (Pierre Richard-Willm), a young lawyer, has enormous debts due to his mistress Florence (Marie Bell), and her whims of luxury life. Pierre has gone too far and put the family firm in jeopardy. They ask him to expatriate. To avoid scandal, Pierre joins the Foreign Legion. In Morocco, near the desert, Pierre goes with his comrades of the Legion to a bar-restaurant-brothel, owned by a shady character, Mr. Clement (Charles Vanel). Clement lives more or less with Ms.Blanche (Françoise Rosay) who is a fortune teller with cards, as a hobby. But Clement is also after his girls now and then. Pierre is still obsessed with Florence but he meets Irma (Marie Bell), one of Clement's girls, who is the double of Florence except for hair color. Irma has had an accident and has lost part of her memory at a certain point of her recent past, and Pierre slowly persuades himself she is Florence, but cannot remember it. Advised by Ms.Blanche, Irma finally accepts to act as if she was Florence because she is falling in love with Pierre. Near the end of his contract with the Legion, Pierre receives news from France. He has inherited a fortune. He asks Irma to come to France with him, and they make plans. But Clement tries to rape Irma and Pierre has to kill him.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsDita ParloJean DastéGilles MargaritisNewly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
- DirectorRichard PottierStarsFernand GraveyMax DearlyCharles DechampsThe concierge is angry with her tenant,young worker (and inventor) Henri,because the rent is always due.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsOrane DemazisFernandelHenri PouponA young and naive peasant girl in Provence, who has been seduced and abandoned, moves to Marseilles and becomes a street-walker after having her baby.
- DirectorMarc AllégretStarsFernandelAndré AlermeRaymond CordyThere'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...
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsFrançoise RosayPaul BernardJean-MaxMr. 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.
- DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsGaby MorlayCharles BoyerPaulette DubostInjured by anarchist Philippe Lucher, film actress Clara Stuart falls in love with her attacker and decides to plead in his favor at his trial.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsCharles BlavetteCelia MontalvánJenny HéliaIn the 1920s, the Provence is a magnet for immigrants seeking work in the quarries or in agriculture. Many mingle with locals and settle down permanently - like Toni, an Italian who has moved in with Marie, a Frenchwoman. Even a well-ordered existence is not immune from boredom, friendship, love, or enmity, and Toni gets entangled in a web of increasingly passionate relationships. For there is his best pal Fernand, but also Albert, his overbearing foreman; there is Sebastian, a steady Spanish peasant, but also Gabi, his young rogue relative; there is Marie, but there is also Josefa.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsAntonin BervalPierre LarqueyAlexandre RignaultThe leader of a gang of drug traffickers, loved and esteemed by everyone for protecting the weak, ends up killing his greatest enemy.
- DirectorLéo JoannonStarsAlbert PréjeanDanielle DarrieuxLucien BarouxLucie turns the house of chic dandy Gaston upside down.
- DirectorPierre ChenalStarsHarry BaurPierre BlancharMadeleine OzerayRaskolnikov is a Russian man who follows an unusual moral code. A combination of vigilantism and hubris fuels his decision to aid a hapless prostitute by removing her antagonist, a local merchant. Raskolnikov is locked up for the murder, and while he does not deny committing the crime, he tries to persuade the police that he should not be charged.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsAnnabellaJean GabinRobert Le ViganPierre Gilieth has committed a murder in Paris. He flees to Barcelona, where he runs out of money. So he joins the Spanish Foreign Legion. He meets there two fellow countrymen, Mulot and Lucas. He tries to forget his fault... but Lucas's friendship soon appears to be less unselfish...
- DirectorEdmond T. GrévilleStarsJosephine BakerAlbert PréjeanRobert ArnouxA French novelist passes off a African shepherdess as a princess.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsAnnabellaCharles VanelJean MuratCharles Vanel and Annabella star respectively as a daring WW I aviator and his loving but neglected wife. Ostracized by the other pilots because of his recklessness and standoffishness, Vanel nonetheless befriends a young pilot who is in love with Vanel's wife.
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsFrançoise RosayAndré AlermeJean MuratTells the story of the Spanish invasion of Flanders
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsRené LefèvreFlorelleJules BerryThe boss of a publishing company is a womanizer and a jerk, but what would happen if he suddenly disappeared?
- DirectorMarc AllégretStarsPierre FresnayDanièle ParolaMichel SimonPolitical turmoil convulses 19th-century Russia, as Razumov, a young student preparing for a career in the czarist bureaucracy, unwittingly becomes embroiled in the assassination of a public official.
- DirectorJean ValléeStarsPierre LarqueyAlexandre RignaultSimone BourdayThe land owner is unable to attract either of his sons to continue his work. Is his daughter's husband a more suitable choice.
- DirectorJacques BeckerJacques B. BruniusHenri Cartier-BressonStarsJean DastéJacques B. BruniusSimone GuisinA propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing who the comrades help the proletarian people against the capitalists. It also features propagandistic speeches of leading members of the party.
- DirectorLéon PoirierStarsJean YonnelPierre de GuingandJacqueline FrancellThis movie is the story of Sahara missionary Charles De Foucauld whose youth was racy but who finally heard the call of the silence (title)that is to say the call of God .
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsJean GabinCharles VanelRaymond AimosFive unemployed penniless workers win 100,000 Francs with the national lottery. Instead of sharing the money, they buy a ruin and build an open-air cafe. But difficulties come to split their friendly group apart.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsFrançoise RosayAlbert PréjeanLisette LanvinJenny is a madam at a brothel. When her daughter comes back from England, she does not want her to find out what kind of job she really has.
- DirectorSacha GuitryStarsSacha GuitryAdolphe BorchardMarcel LucienA charming scoundrel reflects on his exploits, from childhood through to manhood.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsRaimuPierre FresnayOrane DemazisHonoré Panisse is dying, cheerfully, with friends, wife, and son at his side. He confesses to the priest in front of his friends; he insists that the doctor be truthful. But, he cannot bring himself to tell his son Cesariot that his real father is Marius, the absent son of César, Cesariot's godfather. Panisse leaves that to Fanny, the lad's mother. Dissembling that he's off to see a friend, Cesariot then seeks Marius, now a mechanic in Toulon. Posing as a journalist, Cesariot spends time with Marius and leaves believing tales he is a petty thief. Only after the truth comes out can Marius, Fanny, César, and Cesariot step beyond the falsehoods, benign though they may be.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsSylvia BatailleJane MarkenGeorges D'ArnouxThe family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsJean GabinGabriel GabrioSaturnin FabreA wanted gangster is both king and prisoner of the Casbah. He is protected from arrest by his friends, but is torn by his desire for freedom outside. A visiting Parisian beauty may just tempt his fate.
- DirectorYves MirandeStarsLucien BarouxPierre LarqueyGabriel SignoretA comedy about the petty bureaucrats who need special leather props under their posteriors because of the long hours they spend sitting at their desks.
- DirectorPierre ChenalStarsPierre BlancharIsa MirandaCatherine FonteneyMathias Pascal, saddled with a stupid wife and a nagging mother-in-law, leaves home and is extremely lucky at several gambling resorts. He returns home and discovers that a drowned man, fished out of the river, bears an uncanny likeness to him and is being buried by his family as him. This, to him, is a pleasant turn of events and he goes to Rome, where he falls in love with Louise Paleari. Count Papiano, a jealous suitor of Louise's, threatens him with arrest unless he produces credentials to prove his identity.
- DirectorRaymond BernardStarsEdwige FeuillèreDélia ColMarthe MellotThe fictionalized story of Marthe Richard ,a spy in WW1.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
- DirectorAndré HugonAndré SarrouyStarsHarry BaurJorge RigaudJacqueline LaurentCésar Sarati, nicknamed "Sarati the Terrible", is an unscrupulous and merciless brute who shamefully exploits the dockworkers at the port of Algiers. He rents them slums and lends them money on a weekly basis, pursuing them, to get reimbursed, even to Hudelo, the coal contractor who makes them work. So he built a huge fortune that he keeps for his pretty niece, Rose, the only being who softens his pirate heart. But Rose loves Gilbert, a newcomer to Hudelo's.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsMarie BellFrançoise RosayLouis JouvetChristine, newly widowed and consumed by the memory of a ball she attended age 16, decides to track down the men she danced with that night and discover their fates.
- DirectorMarc AllégretStarsRaimuMichèle MorganGilbert GilIn a trial, one of the jurors makes the jury change their mind as new evidences are found:Camille helps save defendant Natalie from the "eleven angry men".
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsJean GabinMireille BalinPierre EtchepareSoldier Lucien meets elegant Madeleine one night in Cannes. Lovestruck, he follows her to Paris after he is discharged. Their love affair begins anew, but eventually runs cold and he returns to Orange in the south of France. She follows.
- DirectorMarc AllégretStarsEdwige FeuillèrePierre Richard-WillmJacques CopeauAudrey marries a medical officer ,sails to Malaysia and meets a prince whose burden is too heavy for his shoulders .
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsFrançoise RosayMichel SimonJean-Pierre AumontIn Victorian London, a crime novelist and his wife fake their disappearance in order to hide from an uptight Anglican bishop who is leading a campaign against the "evils" of crime fiction.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsGabriel GabrioOrane DemazisFernandelThe narrative revolves around a farming village where only three inhabitants remain, but they are told that if only one of them, Panturle, manages to find a wife, the village will be able to prosper again
- DirectorSacha GuitryStarsSacha GuitryJacqueline DelubacJacques BaumerShavian social satire. Odette is an actress who's now the mistress of a government minister. Her household of cook, maid, and chauffeur needs a valet. On the eve of going with the minister to Deauville, she engages Désiré, a robust and talkative man, even through his most recent employer, a countess, intimates improprieties. Things go well for a short time: the wealthy talk about the servants, the servants talk about their employers. Then, Désiré has explicit dreams about Odette; his outbursts wake the maid in the next room nightly. Odette has the same dream each night, awaking the minister and his jealousy. Is there any decorous way to handle these subconscious attractions?
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsDanielle DarrieuxCharles VanelYvette LebonImposture helps an orphan girl become a lawyer.
- DirectorAugusto GeninaStarsTino RossiMichel SimonMireille BalinMario Esposito, who sings in a Neapolitan restaurant, is in love with Assunta, the niece of Teresa, the owner of the place. He shares his apartment with Michel, his best friend. This one has fallen under the spell of Lolita, a gorgeous adventuress he met at the cathedral where he officiates as the organist. But things go awry as, while Michel intercedes with Aunt Teresa for Assunta's hand in his favor, Mario in turn falls in love with Lolita. On the very day of his wedding with Assunta, Mario runs away with Lolita, thus betraying both his love and his friend. But it does not take long before the young singer realizes the big mistake he has made.
- DirectorPierre ChenalStarsErich von StroheimAlbert PréjeanJany HoltParis, 1937. Winckler kills his enemy Gordon, a Chicago mobster, from the stage of a Parisian music hall, where he performs telepathy. He pays another artist, Helene, so that she tells the police they've spent the night together, which doesn't fool Callas, the police officer who investigates the murder. He hires one of his fellow officers in order to seduce Helene.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsHarry BaurAlbert PréjeanGabrielle DorziatJustin Mollenard is a sailor and arms smuggler who does not support the hypocrisy of society. He has a wife in Dunkirk who reproaches him the fact of having neglected the family for many years.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsPierre RenoirLise DelamareLouis JouvetA news-reel like movie about early part of the French Revolution, shown from the eyes of individual people, citizens of Marseille, counts in German exile and, of course the king Louis XVI, showing their own small problems.
- DirectorLéonide MoguyStarsAnnie DucauxRoger DuchesneGinette LeclercIn a state correctional institute for teenage girls, Madame Appel, the superintendent, rules with an iron fist. The State appoints thirty-year-old Yvonne to evaluate the situation. The young woman is convinced that the girls should feel wanted rather than be constantly subdued and is accordingly determined to make Madame Appel change her methods of education. On a private level Yvonne is secretly engaged to Guy Maréchal, the doctor serving the institute. Unfortunately for her, the latter starts flirting with Nelly, a beautiful but rebellious inmate. Another prisoner, Renée, who has discovered the romance, blackmails Nelly...
- DirectorRoger RichebéStarsViviane RomanceRenée Saint-CyrMarguerite DevalJuliette, an innocent woman, is wrongly sentenced to prison for attempted murder. After her release, she married an industrialist to whom she did not speak of her tumultuous past.
- DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsHarry BaurMarcelle ChantalPierre Richard-WillmStory of the Siberian monk Gregory Rasputin and the hold he exerted over the court of the last Russian czar, Nicholas.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsErich von StroheimMichel SimonArmand BernardStrange things happen at night at the Saint-Argil secondary school. Baume, Sorgues and Macroy, three of the school's pupils, discover a suspicious man on the premises. Shortly after this unsettling event, pupils begin to go missing.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsRaimuPierre BlancharMadeleine RenaudAn innocent man spends time in prison for murder, then escapes and falls in love with the wife of the real perpetrator.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsJean GabinMichel SimonMichèle MorganA military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a foggy, French port city.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsRaimuGinette LeclercFernand CharpinA small village rejoices at the arrival of a new baker. But when his young wife runs off with another man, he is unable to keep baking and the village is thrown into disarray.
- DirectorPierre ColombierStarsFernandelFrédéric DuvallèsGinette LeclercTwo friends, Tricoche and Cacolet, are partners in a detective agency. Chance has it that Cacolet is hired by Van der Pouf, a rich banker who wants him to watch over his wife Bernardine while the latter, on her part, seeks the services of Thicoche...
- DirectorPierre ChenalStarsViviane RomanceLouis JouvetPierre RenoirTown trollop Safia, much against her better judgment, falls in love with Matteo, a beggar and mystic in the native quarter of Sirocco. She flees to France, first as the mistress and then wife of a wealthy archaeologist, and bears him Matteo's child, whom he believes to be his own. Complications arise years later when Matteo finds Safia, and a ring of blackmailers uncover her past and exposes her to her husband.
- DirectorMarc AllégretStarsLouis JouvetClaude DauphinOdette JoyeuxIsabelle, Cécilia and François are drama students at the "Conservatoire d'art dramatique". Cécilia is in love with François, but the young man is in love with Isabelle instead. Cécilia elaborates a desperate plan to get back at François.
- DirectorDominique Bernard-DeschampsStarsPierre LarqueyJane LouryJeanne ProvostAn average worker who feels downtrodden at work and home, dreams of becoming a dictator. His aunt has her own fantasy that the love-of-her-life, a fairground magician, will return to her once more.
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsCharles VanelJules BerrySuzy PrimA amnesiac industrialist is tricked into a game of mistaken identity.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsChristl MardaynLouis JouvetRaymond RouleauA 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...
- DirectorPierre CaronStarsCharles TrenetRaymond AimosChristian ArgentinThe son of two teachers hits the road and becomes a singing success after being taken in as a protege by a kooky countess.
- DirectorJean DrévilleStarsFrançoise RosayConrad VeidtBernard LancretA toymaker in Poland specializes in building lifesize mechanical men. He builds a chess-playing "automaton" to hide a pretty young Polish activist who is being hunted by occupying Russian forces.
- DirectorSacha GuitryRobert BibalStarsSacha GuitryLucien BarouxJean PérierLet Guitry take you down cause he's going to...Elysées Fields .
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsAnnabellaJean-Pierre AumontLouis JouvetOn the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel 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?
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinJulien CaretteSimone SimonIn this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder.
- DirectorMaurice CamStarsAlbert PréjeanGinette LeclercAndré BruléOn his way to work on the subway, Pierre catches a glimpse of a man seemingly stabbing a woman.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsVictor FrancenMichel SimonLouis JouvetAged penniless actors are living in a old people's home. They always talk about their past glory or failures. One day Raphael Saint-Clair comes; he has been a famous actor and had a lot of love affairs. Passions come back, and jealousies.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsJean GabinJacqueline LaurentArlettyAfter committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMarcel DalioNora GregorPaulette DubostA bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.
- DirectorJean BoyerStarsMichel SimonArlettyDorvilleA retired criminal-court judge on vacation finds himself stranded in a nest of thieves, who show him a friendlier side of crime.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsEdwige FeuillèreJorge RigaudDaniel LecourtoisAfter an unhappy marriage, a woman of the world is forced to become a dancer in a cabaret in order to raise her young son.
- DirectorEdmond T. GrévilleStarsMireille BalinJohn LoderGinette LeclercThe months before World War II. The fear of the impending war never leaves the guests of an hotel in Paris.
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsDanielle DarrieuxClaude DauphinAndré LuguetDanielle Darrieux plays an impoverished reform-school escapee who finds a new lease on life when she enrolls in a school for pickpockets run by Fagin-like Saturnin-Fabre.