L'acheteuse
Two hearing protection product sales reps have mixed fortunes in the exercise of their trades. They first have to face a female singer who... slams her door at them! Second they try to a influence a man by giving one of his friends'name as a reference whereas the aforementioned friend is... on the spot! As for the third client, he seems to be willing to buy one of their articles until the two salesmen realize that he is... hard of hearing!
A problem forces a plane carrying passengers bound for the Far East to land on a desert island. Couples forms and they are happy. They are finally located, rescued and repatriated. A few months of 'civilization' are enough to pit them against each other. Then they decide to return to their paradise lost.
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.
Based on a play by Pierre Wolff, about a wronged husband’s revenge on his wife and her lover, La belle de nuit is a major find, a work of uninhibited stylistic imagination that ranges from Sirkian stylization (an elaborate play of mirrors and doubles) to brutal realism (a tour of the bordellos of Marseille suggests the contemporary photographs of Brassaï).
A painter short of the readies becomes famous overnight and he and his mate (and model) move into a luxury house. But the man falls for a princess, leaving his partner crying.
Hotel des Etudients (Student's Hotel) was the great Tourjansky's sole directorial contribution of 1932. The scene is a Parisian rooming house, catering to students of both sexes. The heroine has a brief affair with a handsome young man, emerging from the experience a little wiser and a lot sadder. Her reputation ruined, the girl seems destined for the oblivion of the streets. But the boy finally realizes the harm he's caused, and in the last few minutes of the film finally does the "right thing." The critical consensus was that the film might have been better had their been fewer fake "exterior" sets and more genuine location filming.
