In order to please Martineau, a wealthy industrialist, cynical Gabory accepts to organize a rigged beauty contest whose winner will be Françoise, Martineau's young mistress. However, there are other comely contestants among whom Christiane, the daughter of a general, Jackie, an unemployed actress, Colette, the daughter of a distiller and Marie, a secretary engaged to serious-minded construction foreman Robert. So, will things turn out exactly the way Martineau and Gabory want them...?
Julio de 1914, atentado de Sarajevo. Francisco Fernando de Austria, heredero del Imperio austrohúngaro, se enamoró de Sophie Chotek, una condesa checa. Las ideas políticas del archiduque ya resultaban bastante problemáticas para la familia real, pero este romance con una joven que no pertenecía a la realeza era inadmisible. La Corona, sin embargo, accedió a la unión matrimonial, pero despojando al heredero de sus poderes, que se limitaban a la rutinaria inspección de las tropas. Sophie solicitó permiso para acompañar a su marido en algunos viajes protocolarios. En julio de 1914, de visita en Sarajevo, la real pareja fue víctima de un atentado perpetrado por Princip, un estudiante nacionalista bosnio. Esta fue la causa inmediata de la Primera Guerra Mundial (1914-1918).
Le colonel
Bienaimé, a modest postman, in love with Janine, the village postmistress, does not know that he is the illegitimate son of the old Baron de Mondésir. The Baron dies and in happy amazement, Bienaimé finds he is the sole heir to the deceased's estate. But he should be careful, for two crooks, Waldemar and Erika, are after his newly-acquired wealth.
Le professeur (uncredited)
"Menaces" deals with the months before WW2 in a hotel :t he fear of the impending war never leaves the guests of an hotel in Paris.
Boucoyron
Now that their parents are ruined, Jacques Eyssette and his younger brother Daniel, are driven to fend for themselves. Jacques becomes the secretary of a marquis who exploits him by making him work so hard that his health gets damaged. Daniel, on his part, is hired as a supervisor and Latin teacher in a school in the province. It soon happens that he is in a bad situation too as, after being subjected to repeated harassment, he ends up being fired. Daniel then decides to join Jacques in Paris, hoping to embark on a literary career. Unfortunately, Irma Borel, an actress, sets her sight on him and drags him into a life of vice.
Maryse blackmails her former lovers by threatening to mention their names in her memoirs. But a real blackmailer appears and cashes the checks for him.
Mr. de Fallec
The trade commissioner
The dramatic story of a military attaché, in a European embassy who will sign a fake check, in order to recover important secret documents that have been stolen from him.
Primerose loves her childhood friend, Pierre, but this one, ruined, refuses her love. Desperate, Primerose enters the convent, but soon the order is dissolved and Pierre, who finds his young friend, finally lets his heart speak...
