(uncredited)
On the morning of January 30, 1889, the Archduke Rodolphe de Habsbourg and his mistress Marie Vetsera were found dead. The remains of Rodolphe are discreetly repatriated to Hofburg, while that of Mary is hastily thrown into the depths of a tomb.
Director Jean Delannoy's immediate followup to his brilliant Les Jeux sont Faits was the more conventional Aux Yeux du Souvenir (aka Souvenir and To the Eyes of Memory). The film is based on a true story, wherein an France airliner managed to survive a journey from Rio De Janeiro to Dakar with two of its engines incapacitated. To this already intensely dramatic situation has been added a romantic subplot involving Claire Magny (Michele Morgan) and Jacques Forester (Jean Marais). The love story adds very little to the film; fortunately, neither does it detract from the film's overall quality. As was the case with many French productions of the 1940s, Aux Yeux du Souvenir benefits immeasurably from the Wagnerian musical score by Georges Auric.
Léontine, an old baroness, opposes her granddaughter's wedding for moral reasons. But Adolphe, her first husband reminds her that her own conduct in the past was far from irreproachable. Didn't she cheat on him ? And after her divorce from him and her remarriage with a baron, didn't she do the same thing to her second husband? Léontine then realizes she is in no position to lecture her granddaughter, all the more as she loves her fiancé truly.
During the Second World War, in occupied Paris, a group of high school students is more active at selling cigarettes and silk stockings than at studying. But the day a new philosophy teacher takes charge of their class, things begin to change. It must be said that Mademoiselle Bravard is not only a gifted educator but a charming young woman as well. Thanks to her, all the students end up passing their finals.
On a Marseille film set, a street urchin who has been hired as an actor is suspected when both a star and a baroness are robbed.With the help of the boy's neer do well friend the real crooks are tracked down.
The guitarist Moncho, singer Roberto and their impresario, arrive in Paris to find the fortune and the celebrity. They live in Montmartre in a pension that receives an impressive sampling of circus artists and music halls. They meet Maria-Rosa with whom they make a number, and this is glory.
A criminal is being blackmailed by his former accomplices. He does everything in his power to gain time because the statutory limitation for the crime he committed starts at midnight.
