The aunt of Alfred Puc, a meek tax-collector in Paris, dies while riding in a moving van. The driver, not wishing to be bothered by a police interrogation, hides her corpse in a cupboard before notifying Alfred. But the van is stolen. Alfred, being the heir of a rich lady, begins a frantic search to locate the missing van and the cupboard because one can't claim an inheritance if there is no 'corpus delecti.' In his search, he gets caught up in an underworld web and finds the body of a murdered gangster in his room. He finally locates the cupboard but promptly loses it again. But, wait, it isn't "finis' time, yet.
(uncredited)
Danielle Darrieux stars as Arabella Delvaire in this baroque adaptation of Pierre Benoit's novel Bethshabee. Arabella is a woman of the world who arrives at a remote Foreign Legion outpost for a rendezvous with her current lover, Captain Duveuil. It so happens that one of Arabella's previous amours, Captain Somerville (Paul Meurisse), is also serving at the same post. So much for joining the Foreign Legion to forget. A climactic knife duel "solves" the film's various plot complications. Despite its Foreign Legion background, Bethsabee has next to no action, which must have made things difficult when the film was distributed to the U.S.
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...
In a town on the banks of the Saône1 Grasalard, a butcher, likes to feast and play boules with his friends. Although married, he falls in love with another woman.
A Parisian baker boy, tired of his monotonous and hopeless life, kills the owner of a hotel to rob him. A woman of questionable morals noticed his absence. To buy his silence, he makes her his friend. Rivaled by their secret and not really loving each other, they indulge in imprudences which throw them into the hands of the police.
