Nikolai Toporkoff

Pierre Fresnay plays the title character in Le Defroque (The Defrocked One). Cast out by his church, former priest Maurice (Fresnay) delights in mocking the traditions and credos of Catholicism. Even so, young Gerard (Pierre Trabaud) becomes convinced that Maurice has never truly lost his calling. Becoming a priest himself, Gerard devotes his life to bringing Maurice back into the fold. Things don't turn out quite as Gerard hopes, however; he has not reckoned with the possibility that Maurice may have been driven into insanity by his raging self-hatred.

Mado loves Henry but is coveted by Bob Torquella, a dangerous gangster. The latter, mad with jealousy, is prepared to do everything to get rid of Henri. He and his accomplice involve him in a dangerous robbery. Henri is hurt and arrested by the police. But the young man, a weak character, denounces his accomplices. Two years later, the two gangsters run away from prison. Bob finds that Henri and Mado are husband and wife and have a daughter. In a panic, Henri runs for cover.

A diplomat and fast liver, François lives the good life until, one day, he is unfortunate enough to win...a seal in a raffle. From this day on his everyday life becomes complicated, to say nothing of his sentimental life. Gabrielle, his all too serious girlfriend, can't stand the heat and calls it quits. But English girls like charming Diana don't mind seals...!

Pushed by her husband to settle in the family castle, Agnès finds her sister-in-law Alix there. Her husband Carlos, often absent, loses interest in his wife and gradually approaches Agnès who will end up giving up this relationship.

Fred Peloux nicknamed Chéri, the handsome son of Charlotte Peloux, a former demimondaine, lives in the small circle of his mother's friends, all high class prostitutes past their best. He has an affair with Léa, a waning beauty, who loves him both as a mistress and a mother. But the age difference takes its toll on their union. To please his mother, Chéri accepts to marry young Edmée without actually caring for her. After a while, the young man tries to return to Léa...

The life of Adrien Wettach, famous in the annals of the circus under the name of Grock, world famous Swiss clown. A series of images from Épinal, retracing the career of a European artist, within the framework of world history. Lots of children, wars, an eccentric Russian countess, Countess Barinoff, who grows old admiring the clown, and a very long quibble about a party wall, all serve to highlight the star's final number.

A French squadron of camel drivers pursues a group of looters across the Sahara Desert. After experiencing heat, fever, and peril, the squadron finds the looters, but also lose their captain. The lieutenant takes command, leading the remaining men of the squadron back across the desert to their fort.

Captain Palmer's daughter, Maria, is neglected by her husband, the cynical Leo, who lives with the beautiful Sylvia. To defeat his son-in-law, Palmer has the idea of ​​putting Sylvia back in the presence of Pierre, her first love. Leo takes revenge by creating many difficulties for Palmer who retaliates by starting a violent fight where Leo is killed. Everything seems to point to Pierre, but...

An adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Le Eternel Mari", a somber story of marital infidelity, revenge and near madness, and starring Raimu in his last film appearance.

Alex Grégoire is a timid insurance company clerk who shares his uneventful life between his wife Angèle, his colleagues and his passion for crosswords. But all of a sudden his existence changes dramatically. First because he wins a crossword competition. Second because a jewel thief, Charles Tuffal, thinks he recognizes in him a former accomplice. From that moment "uneventful" is not the best adjective to qualify Alex's life anymore...

An adventure between rival spies about documents concerning the process for extracting fuel from seawater. A love story that threatens to turn tragic, since the young woman enlisted by force in the network of doctor Morenius falls in love of her rival before returning, triumphant, to her fiancé.

An officer, two of his comrades and a social worker want to create the "Carrefour", a place for lost children and teens to give them a chance not to fall by the wayside and spend most of their life in jail.

Hans has killed the dog of Firmin, a shepherd. Wild with rage, Firmin kidnaps Elsi, Hans' fiancée and locks her up at his home. Hans, a peddler, vows to find the missing girl. This is what he does and he manages, with the help of Mânu, the village idiot, to give Elsi a letter. On seeing her, the changeling falls in love at first sight with the young woman. Elsi soon realizes that Mânu can become her instrument of vengeance.

A disillusioned rich American bets with a railroad worker that the latter will not be able to spend the 600,000 francs a month that he will pay him for a year. All the railwayman's attempts to win his bet fail but his daughter luckily conquers the American.

Film adaptation of Georges Feydeau's 1908 stage farce.

Picking up moments after the end of Marius, this film follows Fanny’s grief after Marius’s departure—and her realization that she’s pregnant. Panisse continues courting her and embraces the baby’s impending arrival as a gift, so long as its paternity remains a secret. Fanny and Panisse wed, but after her baby’s birth, Marius returns unexpectedly and demands what he believes is still his.

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.

An adaptation of the play L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand, which portrays the life of Napoleon I.

A sailor, who meets a lovely music hall singer during a police raid, falls in love. In a contest at a fair, he defeats a former boxing champ. The ex-champ trains the sailor to become a boxer. After he wins the French championship, the sailor is swayed by easy money and a sultry coquette. The singer goes on a singing tour, and the sailor falls into decadence. He enters the European championship spiritually empty and in bad condition.

Mathilde Strangerson, the daughter of an eminent scientist, narrowly escapes being murdered in her own bedroom by an unknown assailant. As the room was locked from the inside, no one can understand how the attacker managed to enter or leave the room. Reporter and amateur sleuth Joseph Rouletabille arrives on the scene to protect Mathilde and resolve the mystery of the yellow room.

A lieutenant of the French navy, ready to kill himself in despair, renounced his project after spending a night with a beautiful stranger. He ends up finding her, the heiress princess Lystrie. The German version (Königin einer Nacht) was an operetta, the Italian version (La donna di una notte) was a comedy, while the French version (La Femme d'une nuit) was a dramatic film.

Ivan Mozzhukhin is a "...hot-headed Caucasian mountaineer leader whose irrational behavior comes to the attention of the Czar . Hoping to use Hajji Murad as a go-between in his plans to conquer the Caucasus mountaineers, the Russian ruler finds that the hero is not so easily manipulated. Rescuing the beautiful Saira from the Czar's clutches, Hajji Murad leads the mountain people's revolt against the despotic regent." Needless to say, the film ends in tragedy.

Based on a story by Michael Linsky, Adieu Mascotte revolves around an artist's model named Mascotte (Harvey) who ekes out a hand-to-mouth existence in the Parisian art colony. In dire need of money to finance a friend's operation, Mascotte auctions herself off at an artist's ball. She is "bought" by a novelist named Jean (Harry Halm), who merely wants to teach his flirtatious wife a lesson. Discreetly keeping his distance, Jean persuades Mascotte to pose as his mistress so that his wife will become jealous and return to his arms. Of course, things don't go as planned, and before long Jean and Mascotte have fallen in love.

Drama of plot and intrigue in Imperial Russia.

Directed by Alexandre Volkoff

Republic of Venice, 1760. Pursued by a vengeful husband, the intrepid womanizer Casanova, who symbolizes the decline of the city and its fall into debauchery, manages to escape and, by a circuitous route, arrives in Saint Petersburg, where he will be involved in the many plots that threaten the throne of Czar Peter III…

A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797. Originally intended to be the first of six films, director Abel Gance realized the full project would be nigh impossible, and never raised the money to complete the other five. The film's legendary reputation is due to the astonishing range of techniques that Gance uses to tell his story, culminating in the final twenty-minute triptych sequence, which alternates widescreen panoramas with complex multiple- image montages projected simultaneously on three screens.

Adapted from Jules Verne's 1876 novel Michael Strogoff, the film tells the tale of a Russian courier named Michael Strogoff who has to dash across Russia with a vital message for the tsar's brother, wrestling with bears and fighting off ferocious Tatar rebels along the way. Captured by the Tatars, he is brought before their leader and blinded with a red hot sword by the executioner.

Unkwown to the vast majority, Count Patrice is the crown prince of Simenia. One day he sails for the East on his yacht "Bengal" in the company of Christiane, a beautiful princess, in love with him. Chance has it that Patrice sets Anar, an Oriental beauty, free from the harem where she is held captive. Love is born between the two young people, which infuriates Christiane. Mad with jealousy, the vexed woman sets about preventing Patrice and Anar from marrying... by all means fair or foul!

Desire brings out the worst in an actress' suitors-- One a well-to-do patron of London's theatre set, the other a lovestruck loner on the verge of penning a play dedicated to her.

Directed by Alexandre Volkoff, 1924

A young woman, forced into a loveless marriage, takes a lover.

A woman, named simply "Elle" and her husband, a wealthy industrialist, are not on the best of terms. While she enjoys the way he caters to her every whim, she wonders whether he really loves her. He, on the other hand, torments himself by imagining rivals. One morning she awakens from a nightmare in which she has been pursued by a man in various guises, who turns out to be the famous Detective Z, whose memoirs she has been reading. When she and her husband quarrel over leaving Paris permanently for a country estate, he goes to the "Trouve Tout" Agency and hires, of all people, Detective Z, to win back her affection.

Film composed of 10 episodes: 1.- L'Ami felon. 2.- Le secret de L'etang. 3.- L'Ambition au service de la haine. 4.- L'Implacable verdict. 5.- Le Pont vivant. 6.- La Voix du sang. 7.- Les Caprices du destin. 8.- En Champ clos. 9.- Les Angoisses de Corradin. 10.- Le Triomphe de L'amour.

After the funeral of his wife, a colonel returns to find a letter written by her.

The marquis de Granier would like his son Charles to end his current relationship for a respectable marriage. His younger brother Octave tries to help but Yvonne Lelys tricks him and he nearly leaves his family for the dancer. He even follows her to Constantinople. He falls asleep while writing to his father and dreams that he is a movie actor who, driven by poverty, sneaks into his father's home to rob him. As his father catches him, he kills him. Thankfully, it was all a dream.

Famous Russian screen actors play themselves in this drama about the lives of actors. Thirteen minutes of the film survive.