Marcel Lupovici

Isabel is a beautiful aspiring singer with great aspirations but persistent bad luck convicted of a crime she did not commit. Serving time in prison she is released under parole and lands a singing gig at a dive in Barcelona where she meets Sandro "The Greek" and his partner lover Gloria. The couple is posing as entertainment promoters but they are really running a prostitution ring based in Beirut. They offer Isabel a two-year contract to perform in "night clubs" in the Near and Mideast even after they learn that she cannot travel abroad due to her legal status. Upon arrival in Beirut, Isabel and the other girls are sped away to a luxurious villa where they discover the real intentions of the pseudo-promoters. They are expected to sing and dance but also to engage in sexual activities with the rich clients that patronize the place. Isabel pretends to go along with the situation but she has a plan to get away

Pierre Gilieth has committed a murder in Paris. He flees to Barcelona, where he runs out of money. So he joins the Spanish Foreign Legion. He meets there two fellow countrymen, Mulot and Lucas. He tries to forget his fault... but Lucas's friendship soon appears to be less unselfish...

Jeune Filles en Detresse (Young Girls in Distress) was director G. W. Pabst's last French production before his (ill-timed) return to Nazi-occupied Austria in 1941. Somewhat reminiscent of Maedchen in Uniform, the story is set in a private girl's school, populated almost exclusively by children from broken homes. Among the few students who can claim family stability is Micheline Presle, but even her happiness is threatened when her lawyer father Andre Luguet inaugurates an affair with stage actress Jacqueline Debulac. With the help of Debulac's daughter Louisa Carletti, Presle is able to break up her father's romance and deliver him into the open arms of her mother Marcelle Chantal. On the whole, the performance by the younger cast members are more convincing than those rendered by the film's so-called adults.

Serenade represented the return to the screen of international favorite Lillian Harvey after an absence of two years. Based loosely on the life of composer Franz Schubert, the film casts Bernard Lancret as Schubert, Harvey as his dancer sweetheart, and Louis Jouvet as a possessive Baron who has his own designs on our heroine.

Michel, a young man of Ukrainian origin, flees the Red Army and joins the International Brigades in Perpignan to fight Franco. He was arrested for being Russian, Communist and deserter. He was wounded by his involvement, but fell in love with an American journalist.

A small European Kingdom wants to make a frowning Princess smile for the upcoming Royal photo to be done. A mischievous Prime Minister goes to Paris to kidnap three famous comics to force them to do an act to make the Princess smile. However, the King is not aware of this scheme... especially that this evil minister has to face a "fasting strike" by the prisoners and force them to surrender by telling a recipe of "Coq au Vin" by the radio...

A lieutenant, at the head of a commando ready to land in France, finds among his men a maquisard who had tried to kill him in the past.

Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.

Since the car accident that caused the death of his wife, the comics author Stéphane Destouches sinks into alcohol and wanders the roads of Morocco.

Mireille, a Frenchwoman, marries a westernized Turkish diplomat and, thinking that she will live a dream life in an Arabian Nights setting, follows him back to his native country, only to discover that, in a staunchly traditional society, she will not be a free woman there any longer.

In Marseille, crime squad captain Dominique fights against racketeers and tries to put a young man back on the right track.

Convinced that a wartime resistance heroine is innocent of a murder charge, Nap Rumbold, a solicitor / private detective travels to France searching for evidence to clear her name.

Historical film directed and written by Sacha Guitry follows the the history of Paris from its founding through the significant events in the city's history.

The final days of Jesus from the time he enters the city of Jerusalem. Viewed as a threat, it is decided that he must be captured, tried, and executed as a criminal, a plan aided and abetted by disciple Judas Iscariot.

A Russian emigrant sings in a Shanghai nightclub under the assumed name of Kay Murphy. All she dreams of is a peaceful life with her daughter Vera. But this is only a pipe dream as she has been forced by her former lover Ivan to work for a secret criminal organization, "The Black Dragon". Vera, who studies in a Hong Kong boarding-school, knows nothing about her mother's past. When Ivan, who is also Vera's father, resurfaces and blackmails Kay, the young woman is determined to fight back...

A commander suspects his wife of infidelity, when she turns to a subordinate officer to help her against someone threatening to blackmail her about her troubled past.

Pimaï, the strong-headed anarchist, joined the navy out of bravado. But the sweet influence of a young girl leads him to prove that he is worthy of the profession he has chosen and the flag he serves.

Le monde en armes

The small South American republic of Guadalarma is under the rule of despot Don Salvador, surrounded by a civil guard, his mistress (La Morenita), his henchman (Don Ramón) and the fortress governor (the venal Don Gaspar). One morning, the city's French jeweler Michel Dumartin receives a visit from a client named José Llanos, one of the regime's fiercest opponents. Llanos is soon denounced and shot dead by Salvador's men. At the same time, Dumartin was accused of complicity with the rebels. Arrested and imprisoned in the fortress, he is ripe for the death penalty.

Brussels in the year 1568, as the Flemish people are fighting against the tyranny of the Spanish occupiers. Led by Count de Rysoor, the revolt against the ruthless Duke of Alba, is meant to help Prince William of Orange to get into the city and come to power. Now, the count's lieutenant, has an affair with Elisabeth, Rysoor's wife. For the time being, the count, who thinks of his homeland first, turns a blind eye. But such a relationship might well undermine the whole rebellion movement.

A young man and an alleged witch get married despite the prejudices of their fellow citizens.

On the borders of the desert, Péhu, a rather blunt creature on the verge of death, confesses to Charles Sigouane that some time before he stole and killed for the sake of a woman named Marie. Péhu recovers against all odds and returns to France with a view to finding Marie and to retrieve a loot he has hidden somewhere.

A young woman who inherits her uncle's nightclub, invents a gangster husband in order to gain respect.

The short stories of Guy de Maupassant enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1950s, thanks in great part to the Max Ophuls production Le Plaisir. In Trois Femmes, three De Maupassant stories are dramatized, each conveying the central theme of women falling in love. In the first, a black female carnival entertainer causes an uproar when she falls in love with a white soldier. In the second, a young bride is pressured into having a baby to collect a huge inheritance. And in the final episode, a pregnant girl is "adopted" and protected by a small circle of friends. In standard De Maupassant fashion, each of the three stories in Trois Femmes is capped by a surprise twist.

In Paris in 1314, the knight Jean Buridan is in love with Mirtille but the young woman is already coveted by the king's brother.

Michel Piccoli plays a police inspector whose best friend is murdered on the orders of gang boss Charles Vanel. The inspector knows full well that Vanel is too crafty and well-connected to ever stand trial for his crime, so he carefully lays a subtle trap for his adversary. Unfortunately, both Piccoli and Vanel are thwarted by a pair of scheming females.

In this French crime thriller, you can leave the mob, but the mob won't leave you. Louis (Jean Yanne) has retired to a Thailand plantation with an Asian wife and child. Back in Marseilles, however, because a no-holds-barred gang war has broken out, Louis' large collateral family is wiped out, and he is family are slated for destruction.

A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the Belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police's description: his name is Amedee Lange, and he murdered somebody in Paris. Lange was an employee in a printing works. His boss was a real bastard, swindling every one, seducing female workers... One day he fled to avoid facing his creditors, and the workers set up a cooperative to go on working. What then made Lange a killer?

Serge Morgan is a killer working for the American Mafia. After performing a contract in New York for his employers, he takes the plane back to Paris and, during the flight, he gets to know Jane, the rich daughter of an ambassador. Once in Orly Airport he gets seriously wounded by the men of French drug kingpin Henri Emery. He manages to escape them though and takes refuge at Jane's. Passion sets in between the killer and the young lady. As of then, sex will be intertwined with blood and death. For better or worse...

1938, France, Paris, at the Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Art ("Conservatoire Supérieur d'Art Dramatique"). The first-year entrance exams are in full swing. Many applicants, few accepted. Isabelle (Janine Darcey) is one of the few chosen. She joins former students from the second and third years, including François (Claude Dauphin) and Cécilia (Odette Joyeux). They attend the drama class run by Professor Lambertin (Louis Jouvet). The young people, passionate and eager to become comedians, clash in tumultuous love affairs, because by dint of acting, they imagine that life is a farce. François, for example, is in love with Isabelle, who also loves him, but is pursued by Cecilia, his former mistress... "Put art in your life and life in your art!"

During an evening in a bar, Roger, a friendly cognac salesman and connoisseur, overhears a telephone conversation that intrigues him, then worries him: "... a few bullets to the head and she'll be dead in a minute...". Distraught, Roger follows the stranger who has taken his car. A relentless pursuit ensues. Roger arrives at a mysterious property where the "assassin" disappears to commit his crime. Knocked unconscious by the killer he fought and prevented from carrying out his crime, Roger regains his senses, comfortably installed in the living-room of an old colonel, Colonel Van Booren.