Jules Leroy, an industrial shoe polish manufacturer, on his deathbed reveals to his son Achille that the family fortune originates from an inheritance stolen 23 years earlier. The one who should have inherited is one of the factory employees, Hyacinthe Camusset. The latter is also one of the lovers of Lucienne Leroy, the daughter of the family, who has a penchant for Jean Bernon, a boy who dedicates verses to her. Hyacinthe is unaware that he has been robbed but the Leroy family, who are not sure, try to woo him. The family, Hyacinthe, Jean and Lucienne meet at the castle.
Nicolas, the owner of a small café, has had enough of his current life. Business-wise, customers are more and more scarce. As for the love side, the situation is not any better as Jacqueline, his charming wife, not content to be spendthrift, might well be cheating on him.. To escape this harrowing reality Nicolas decides to simulate his suicide and disappears. Lucky or unlucky draw? Both in fact as, on the one hand, Nicolas finds serenity but, on the other he wins a huge sum of money in a lottery. How will he manage to get the money now?
Guy Carbonnel, a rich industrialist, has more eyes for rugby than for his wife Hélène. René Rivals, his long-time pal, takes advantage of it to court her but Guy is becoming suspicious so René has to find a way to deflect his friend's suspicion. He finally has an idea: he asks Lilian, a circus acrobat, to pose as his mistress. Lilian accepts and they embark on a series of eventful moments.
Journalist Bob Destirac (uncredited)
Inspector Wens moves into a Paris boarding house to catch a serial killer.
A widower is in trouble with money, and has seven daughters to marry. A creditor, a timid suitor, is unable to make up his mind.
The clerk
Cambo, a banker, has been in trouble since a certain Parizot has tried to extort stocks from him. Following the advice of his friend Quincampoix, Cambo decides to trade places with Bardac, a painter, who happens to be his lookalike. Bardac slips into Cambo's shoes with delight although he does not really live up to his task. But Cambo, who manages to ruin Parizot, makes a 100% profit on the situation. There are of course some misunderstandings when one man is mistaken for the other, notably as concerns Lulu and Geneviève, respectively Bardac's and Cambo's sweethearts, but things finally return to their initial state.
"Les Trois Valses" traces the love story of two people over three eras. In the first waltz (music based on Johann Strauss I), Yvonne is a sensitive Parisian ballet dancer, whose romance with a dashing officer is brought to an abrupt end by his family. She goes off to Vienna to become a big star. In the second waltz, her daughter, an even bigger star, but now of Paris music halls, has a brief flirtation with the rakish man-about-town who is the son of suitor number one. She throws him over pretty quickly for a chance to shine at a Gala performance. Finally, in the third waltz, the two get together, when she is a movie star, and he is posing as an insurance salesman.
Un Valet
The history of one of France's most famous streets is retold, featuring multiple performances from Guitry himself.
The manager
A celebrated singer in Paris meets a young woman and courts her by pretending to be a driving instructor.
Two female police officers dismantle a network of drug traffickers.
Le secrétaire
A journalist takes command of a ship after the crew mutiny against the brutal captain. It was an adaptation of the novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore by Jack London.
The son of a naval commander faces his first heartbreak when he falls for the young American woman who is destined to become his father's new wife.
Ginette is always squabbling with her mother and she cannot take it any more. One day, she asks Jim Ashbury to intervene and this is how the son of a wealthy lord gets involved in the life of a pretty Jane Doe. Charmed by Ginette, Jim invites her to a cruise on the Mediterranean. It does not take long before Cupid sends his arrows at the two young people but things are not so simple for all that. Jim indeed fears Ginette might want to marry him for money, which is totally wrong. Fortunately, Lord Ashbury manages to persuade his stubborn son of his error.
Michel
During the First World War, before joining a squadron at the front in 1918, Herbillon (Jean-Pierre Aumont) has a liaison with Helene (Annabella), a married woman. The young man discovers that his mistress is none other than the wife of Maury (Charles Vanel), an aviator friend.
le fêtard
In 1913, in Russia, a widower hides from his daughter that he is butler in a restaurant of rendezvous. She meets a banker who seeks to seduce her and takes her to this restaurant. The father, knowing the decadent life of this client, immediately sends his daughter back home. The pure love that her piano teacher gives her will allow the girl to console herself for her disillusions.
Lieutenant Jonny
The famous singer Antonia left the stage to marry a country gentleman. She goes alone one day to Budapest to see again the operetta which revealed her and outlines a flirtation with an aviator engaged to her niece. The presence of mind of the latter pleasantly closes the adventure.
Under two different names, a journalist writes for two newspapers with opposing political doctrines and finds himself forced to fight a duel with himself.
Thanks to an understanding and sympathetic regimental comrade, a shy young man, very passionate about astronomy, gradually becomes more confident and manages to tell his love to his beloved.
A young man is hit by a car on a zebra crossing. The pretty driver drives him home, takes care of him and falls in love with him. She has a fat, selfish, boorish husband whom she abandons to her imaginary illnesses to marry her nice wounded man.
On the occasion of an auction organized for a charity party, a penniless man buys a kiss for a hundred thousand francs.
l'amant
A hotel worker who is really an aristocrat falls for a lady customer but instead of getting married he prefers to stay at work and get what female company he can from the staff.
An unemployed youth pretends to be the long lost son of an elderly industrialist but after helping the man with his business decides to confess his dishonesty and go away.
Having fallen madly in love with the daughter of a prison guard, Guignolet climbs the wall to free her. He falls into this prison yard where he ends up being a prisoner in the heart of the delicious daughter of the guard.
Bomboni
Ronny is a young designer on her way to the capital of the Ruritanian Kingdom of Perusa with the costumes she has created for the operetta written by the Prince. On her journey, she meets the prince and is persuaded to take the place of the star who had just walked out. The prince falls for Ronny but how can he marry a commoner?
Bomboni
Käthe von Nagy plays Ronny, who designs the costumes for the upcoming premiere of an opera written by the young prince of Perusa (Willy Fritsch) and has to deliver them personally due to the urgency of the commission. Arriving there, the prince not only is charmed by the young lady (who wouldn't?), but also mistakenly believes her to be the famous singer who is to be the female lead in the opera. What Willy does not know yet is that the real singer has cancelled her appearance, and as the state ministers hope to distract him from politics with the performance of the opera, they indeed want Ronny to appear in the show….
