In 1939, in a maternity ward, a young man visits his mistress who has just given birth to a little girl. He tells her that he is married and that for him the outcome of this adventure was not really planned. The mobilization separates them but the young man will end up divorcing and with the relentless help of a friend, will find his mistress and his child and will be able to marry her in spite of the chaos of the war.
Caprices tells the story of two young rich people. A famous actress poses as a poor florist, and a distinguished society man camouflages himself as forger and swindler. This game leads them to make close relations in a series of adventures.
Le père Castor
A student from an elementary school accidentally breaks the glass roof of his school. His comrades decide to support it by working during the summer holidays in order to pay for reconstruction.
The postman
Two country sisters are rivals for the love of the doctor. He marries one, but regrets it and is rescued by the other.
Grigou owns a patch of land between farmers Martin's and Aubert's fields. Both covet this plot.As Grigou has lost the title deed,the mayor of the village decides to sell it.After an interminable auction sale, Aubert carries the day .To add insult to injury,shortly after, Martin is expelled from his farm,and becomes an innkeeper (a doomed inn where the former owner hanged himself). Ten years after, Aubert's daughter falls in love with Martin's son.Their fathers being deadly enemies, their marriage seems impossible.
In 1919, Pierre Darmont, a handsome, much-loved piano virtuoso, falls in love with Anne Morris, a young woman who shares his tender feelings. But, quite inexplicably, after an unforgettable night, Anne vanishes without trace. Twenty years later, Pierre, at the peak of his glory, has become embittered. Unable to recover his unhappy love affair, he has collected women without ever committing himself to any. Until some night he meets the eyes of a beautiful young lady, who happens to be the spitting image of his great love...
Augustin (uncredited)
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!
The grand father
The Bontemps family, like all the inhabitants of the village of Coussy la Chapelle, are passionate about radio. Coco, the fiancé of Jacqueline Bontemps, participates in all the contests and under the name of Mr. Bontemps wins a beautiful Sunday. All arrive in Paris and in the premises of the Parisian Post Office attend popular broadcasts.
Lillian Harvey plays Miquette, whose beauty and vivacity increases the clientele of her mother's tobacco shop. A Barrymoresque actor (Lucien Baroux) believes that Miquette has star potential, but he hasn't sufficient capital to finance her theatrical debut. He manages to get the money by practicing a bit of genteel blackmail on an aging marquis (Andre Lefaur) who has romantic designs on the heroine.
Le sourd
A little bank employee wins a plane in the lottery and amazes his companions with his audacity.
Anatole
Nine Bachelors is a 1939 French comedy film directed by Sacha Guitry and starring Guitry, Max Dearly and Elvire Popesco.[1] An opportunist dreams up a new scheme to make money when the French government passes a law forbidding foreigners from living in France. It's French title is Ils étaient neuf célibataires.
A wealthy banker, bored with his life, heads to the Latin Quarter of Paris where he pretends to be a struggling artist. He falls in love with a student from the Sorbonne and moves into the same boarding house as her while continuing his pretence of poverty.
A young man who wishes to launch his girlfriend in the theater, borrows money from his aunt, making her believe that he wants to buy groceries. His aunt arrives and then wishes to visit “her” grocery store; to save the day he borrows the store of a credulous grocer.
A young American businessman, tired of his hectic life, makes an unexpected inheritance which leads him to Normandy. There he discovers, with the discomfort of an old dusty century-old house, the sweetness of life, the love of a beautiful girl and the pleasure of doing nothing.
Le greffier
In 1917, in a small village in the North, Abbe Gaillard is suspected by the Germans of facilitating the escape of French and Belgian soldiers. A false alibi makes him innocent and he can thus continue his mission, thanks to the devotion of an Alsatian who, in enemy uniform, obscurely serves his country.
In a castle, one stormy evening, Doctor Carter and a whole merry company find themselves welcomed by the four brothers who hold the place. The four obese disappear one by one, without leaving a trace.
Le secrétaire
The film depicts events between the Fashoda crisis in 1898 and the 1904 signing of the Entente Cordiale creating an alliance between Britain and France and ending their historic rivalry. It was based on the book King Edward VII and His Times by André Maurois. It was made with an eye to its propaganda value, following the Munich Agreement of September 1938 and in anticipation of the outbreak of a Second World War which would test the bonds between Britain and France in a conflict with Nazi Germany.
Two young revelers, driven by a Russian driver, are taken to an unknown neighborhood at the gates of a cafecinema where they are going to attend a screening of 1909. They see Douglas Fairbanks, Max Linder, William Hart, Prince Rigadin, Norma Talmadge , Lya de Putti...
The farmer Remy has just invented a new fertilizer and spies are trying to seize his documents, taking him for the famous Remy, inventor of a device of interest to national defence.
A film based upon the life of Vidocq, the famous adventurer, who, after numerous prison escapes ceased being a crook, a thief and a counterfeiter, and was employed by Pasquier’s government’istry as director of the crime-fighting Sûreté Nationale.
le père Newton
The adventures of a sailor from Mexico to a lagoon in the Pacific ocean, and the meeting with a lonely girl.
A very shy person inherits a traveling circus on the express condition that he manages to present a number on the ring.
Le Sourd (uncredited)
The history of one of France's most famous streets is retold, featuring multiple performances from Guitry himself.
Un dignitaire
In the middle of the 19th century, Tsar Alexander II made the acquaintance of a young aristocratic girl from the provinces, unruly in character. He falls in love with her and tries to see her again.
Le Président du Jury (as Gildès)
An American billionaire who travels incognito falls in love with a blind shepherdess whose twin sister will take the place on the wedding day.
Le général (as Gildès)
Alexis, a former war pilot, attempted the Paris-Tokyo raid and failed. He became a taxi driver. The film actress, Margot Fontane, forgets her bag in the taxi and Alexis thus meets her. He goes to see the great actress shoot, he is hired for a small role as an aviator, and to simulate a take-off, he flies to Tokyo. It is the signal of happiness for the two lovers.
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.
The wife of a Parisian municipal guardian wins a beauty contest in spite of herself and narrowly escapes more or less honest adventures.
Hercule, a young peasant, inherits a Parisian newspaper with a large circulation. The editor-in-chief, Vasco, takes advantage of his ignorance to make corruption prevail. But Hercules gradually realizes the role that we make him play.
In Paris, at the Foire du Trône, the showman Titin from Martigues spins the perfect love with the pretty Yvette, which arouses the jealousy of his rival Dix-de-Der who will cause his downfall. Without this affecting his Provençal joviality, Titin will try his hand at various odd jobs without ceasing to push the song.
Miche Doulin is a wife who like to spend. Her husband Henri, who is a diplomat and worried about several large bills, wins an unexpected gain at play. He hides his luck and invents an incredible burglary. His wife to repay the imaginary theft will commit a big imprudence, when she learns the truth.
Arlette, a young orphan girl, is taken in by four spinster cousins, the eldest of whom, Telcide, is very authoritarian. Arlette befriends Marie, and arranges her sentimental affairs, which were at an impasse.
Two twin sisters, nieces of the mayor of Buissons-les-Amours, are, one very wise, the other evaporated. The lover of the second falls in love with the first whom he will marry after being forgiven for his conduct.
Monval
A man of integrity, Monsieur Pic is the accountant beyond reproach of the Banque Universelle. He would not dream of doing anything wrong and everybody knows it. He is therefore justly indignant when a wealthy woman offers him the position of administrator in the whorehouse she is opening soon. But only fools never change their minds and if Monsieur Pic finally accepts the position in the house across the Banque Universelle, he has three good reasons for that: first he does not get the promotion he deserved ; second, his son Albert is hired by Madame Anna as a decorator ; third, Hortense, his daughter has expressed the wish to "work" there too. The good point is that, once in the place, Pic will be rewarded for what he is worth. Even more important, the unfortunate father will be able there to keep a close eye on his two wayward children and protect them from temptation.
Le professeur de puériculture
Albert Durandal is unable to keep a job for more than a few days. The reason: he hums while working, which invariably irritates his superiors. He is not hired as a singer for all that, as no music producer is prepared to bet on him. At the moment he is as free as a (singing) bird and accepts to take care of Josette, the little daughter of Jeanne, his neighbor, who is sick and has to go to a sanitarium. One day, while walking down the street, he helps an old man who has an attack. The latter happens to be an influential millionaire. And with a heart of gold into the bargain : he helps Albert to make it in the singing career. And as Jeanne has recovered, he can marry her and adopt Josette.
Following a quarrel with his father, Prince Jean joined the Foreign Legion. When he returns, he finds his brother who, on the king's death, usurped his title, and the woman he loved, betrothed to another. Helped by a very rich and philosophical old uncle, Jean, disgusted with classes and politics, flees with the young woman.
For some time, the police have been on the trail of a mysterious burglar who has evaded capture whilst executing one daring robbery after another. No one has any clue as to the identity of this elusive criminal and he has come to be known as Monsieur Personne.
A young woman wishing to divorce, promises money to her husband's ex-mistress to obtain her testimony on her behalf. But the same evening, the corpse of the young woman is found in the Seine. Everything seems to confirm the husband's guilt, however a journalist disappears with the evidence.
Lina Bourget, a realist singer, is forced to leave Dakar because of a murder she believes she has committed. Taking refuge in Paris, she unexpectedly becomes a star in the capital.
The Marquis de Barfleur, an unattractive man, decides to resort to plastic surgery to ensure the fidelity of Colette, his young mistress. Now endowed with a face to die for, he is about to achieve his goal. But the Marchioness de Barfleur, the Marquis' loving wife, does not hear it that way. She has her revenge claiming everywhere that her husband is... dead! An assertion people believe since they do not recognize the Marquis! When her vengeance has lasted long enough, she forgives the Marquis and husband and wife fall into each other's arms.
The president of the work
This French musical comedy was based on the stage play Mademoiselle Mozart, written by Yvan Noe, who also co-directed the screen version. Danielle Darrieux plays Denise, the owner of a music shop that is facing closure. Wealthy young Maxime (Pierre Mingand) falls in love with Denise but knows full well that she despises rich folks and would refuse to accept his charity. Thus, Maxime arranges to secretly buy the store then takes a job with the establishment as a humble sheet-music salesman. When Denise finds out that her new employee is actually her boss, she is furious, but rest assured that Love Will Find a Way. The lovely Danielle Darrieux is permitted to sing on several occasions, which she does enthusiastically if not altogether expertly.
Two unemployed musicians dress up as women to be hired by an all -female orchestra "Tulips from Holland"; they fall in love with two gorgeous musicians.
Dora Nelson, a famous actress, leaves both her husband Philippe de Moreuil and the role she was playing in a movie directed by Nivert, to follow her lover Santini in Italy. But she soon realizes that Santini deceives her with a girl named Elsa. In vexation she decides to return to her husband and to her career. Unfortunately for her, Suzanne Verdier, a little working girl, has in the meantime replaced her not only in the film she had left unfinished but in her husband's heart as well. Dora eventually understands she must step aside.
An Old Stranger
Captain Benoît manages to take possession of the plans of a new German airplane. The German counter-espionage assigns one of their agents, beautiful Erna Fiedler, to seduce Benoît and to eliminate him. But the two spies fall in love.
In the Camargue, the rich owner Jules Fabregoul squanders all his fortune to please his mistress, a Parisian actress with luxury tastes. But he is not the only one to be in trouble. His niece is having sentimental problems: she thinks she is being cheated on by her fiance Gérard, a music-hall artist. She takes refuge with Jules's sister, Aunt Fabregoul, the director of a home for repentant young girls. But Gérard did not make a mistake and the reconciliation takes place during the recording of a radio program.
When a young woman named Aurélie throws a fit of jealousy at her husband and her lover, daily life becomes more complicated.
Le sourd
A wealthy businessman joins his servant, who has won a winter getaway, on the trip, but at the hotel where they stay the servant is mistaken for the master.
Le curé
A respected gangster, Justin, finds himself in a deadly feud with his rival, the unscrupulous Esposito. The latter plans to steal a cargo of opium bound for China and to have Justin killed.
Suzanne de Villiers, an illegitimate daughter of a noble family, has a lot of difficulty getting the people of the "high" to accept her feelings for her tutor, the Viscount of Ceran...
Rémy (Robert Lynen), a stolen child is adopted by a wandering singer. With him and his trained animals, Rémy travels the roads of France. But his adoptive father dies and Remy, who has knowledge of a boy who knows something of his history, sails for England to find his mother.
L'employé du commissaire
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.
M. Triangle
An intelligent young worker, enterprising but boastful, repeats to all the winds that, if he were the boss, we would see what we would see. One of the main shareholders of the factory takes him at his word for twenty-four hours.
Le maire
Lafraise and Plumard, two rookies on the ship Le Victorieux, are on leave in the port of Toulon. At a time they get lost and in order to escape the Navy patrolmen, they disguise themselves and board a train. Now it happens that in the convoy a delegate of the government is on his way to Paris, with the mission to inaugurate a monument there. But the circumstances are such that our two friends are mistaken for the Minister and his secretary. Unabashed, the pair does the job, in other words, they deliver the expected speech, eat like horses, live it up - until they are recognized. Which eventually results in a prolonged stay in an unpleasant kind of hotel room named - the hold.
Monsieur Bonnefoi
Argan, the imaginary patient, allows himself to be led by his wife and his doctors who take advantage of his weakness. Only his daughter has sincere love for him. He ends up accepting that she should marry the one she loves and not the benet, son of an apothecary, whom he intended for her.
A handsome but penniless young man takes a summer job as a swimming instructor in a picturesque Alpine lake resort. He falls in love with a young heiress who is staying there with her father, but he also grabs the attention of tomboyish Puck who lives on the other side of the lake and who saves him from drowning one foggy night. Further havoc is caused by the arrival of Eric's old sweetheart whose husband is wanted by the police.
le notaire
The late Toupinel, a merry fellow, kept a legitimate wife in Paris, and a mistress who passed for his wife in the provinces. When he died, the two widows remarried. A former lover of the mistress comes to confuse everything because he is the real widow's friend.
The error of an examining magistrate forever tears apart a happy and united family.
Le créancier
A rich American lady has bought the Castle of Longueval. Her sister is being courted by two young villagers, one that fell in love with her, and the other one that fell in love with the Castle.
Le président du jury
Escaping from a policeman who has caught h.im with a stolen dog, Toto (Albert Préjean), a petty crook, hides in the apartment of a typist, Ginette (Renée Saint-Cyr). The two quickly fall in love, and after a brief incarceration, Toto returns to her and schemes to have her win a beauty contest.
Dos hermanas huérfanas, naturales de Normandía, tienen que ir a París para someterse a una operación que permita devolver la vista a Luisa, la más joven de ellas. De camino, encuentran al marqués de Presles, un libertino que finge ser su amigo en un primer momento para luego raptar a Enriqueta, la mayor, con el fin de llevarla como ofrenda a sus amigos en una orgía...
A great provincial lawyer is found murdered with a revolver shot in the red path that leads to his mistress's home. The Advocate General accuses his own wife who was a betrayed mistress and whom he assumes guilty out of spite. But the accused's daughter finds the real culprit.
The colonel must marry the baroness of Flair, as soon as the girl this one will have found a match. A friend of the colonel proposes his nephew: a count with a degilded coat of arms. Private Leneveu presents himself to the baroness, who takes him for the suitor, whereas he is the colonel's driver. Gaffes and misunderstandings. The arrival of the true nephew restores the situation. Leneveu goes to the police station.
Life is so dull in a quiet little neighborhood that gossips, eager for some kind of scandal to brighten things up, imagine their haberdasher has been having quite a raunchy sex life.
Hollister, le milliardaire
Benjamin 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...!
A picador, an already mature man, keeps secret his love for the young orphan he raised. But she falls in love with a young picador...
Le pharmacien
Maigret investigates in Concarneau where the passage of a yellow dog accompanies a series of murders, sowing terror in the population. The police seem helpless. It must be said that it has no significant evidence.
Monsieur Loyal, bailiff by profession, is dispatched to a grub by an actress. Reason: she accuses Micheline, a young singer who works there, of stealing her songs. But our usher is nonetheless a man, and Micheline exerts her charms on him so well that he gives him shelter for the night, and finds him a new job at the Mirador, a cabaret that has just opened.
Mingassol
A bureaucratic civil servant is annoyed by the spoiled daughter of a rich chocolate maker, but lands up marrying her.
Un client (L'homme au parapluie)
A young American lady has certain prejudices against the people in France, but comes there to find a lover.She causes nothing but trouble.
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...!
Colonel
The almost financial ruined gentleman Georges Dewalter spends several days in Biarritz before going off in the Hispano-Suiza, a luxe car which was a present from friends. George becomes the lover of 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.
Film by Abel Gance.
Jean
Hardly one of French filmmaker Abel Gance's masterpieces, The Torture of Silence nevertheless has more dramatic and psychological value than your average romantic-triangle tale. Simply put, the film concerns a doctor, his wife, and his brother. The doctor, a specialist in pediatrics, has no time for his wife Marthe. She seeks solace in the arms of his brother. Unable to keep up the charade, Marthe attempts to shoot herself, but it is her lover who is mortally wounded.
A young girl marries a financier knowing he has only a short time to live, so she can inherit his money.Her lover, who has made a fortune away in America, returns and wants to hasten the financier's death.