Hélène Bellanger

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.

This is the disaster for the Veyron-Lafitte. Régine, the maid, has just given up her apron and the meal is not ready for the dinner guests, the Gachassins. Adèle arrives at their house as a maid and saves the day. Very quickly, the masters of the place realize that she has the gift of seeing the future. Adèle predicts that the Gachassins will not come, which will be verified.

Back from America, famous singer Charles Trénet, nicknamed "Le Fou Chantant", makes the conquest of a bombshell called Anita. He tries to persuade his young friend Georges to follow them to the French Riviera but the pessimistic gloomy finicky fellow won't do it. Instead, he decides to go on holiday with his newly married wife but the trip , due to his grim mood, is no bed of roses. In Juan-lès-Pins they finally meet Charles, who is so infatuated with Anita that he has forgotten to meet his old friend Henri Poupon, the Meridional actor. Thanks to cheerful Charles and to the sunny climate, Georges relaxes and things improve in his relationships with his wife. The couple can applaud Charles who is giving one of his concerts there before he flies back to the USA, on Anita's arm this time.

Micheline Chevassu is a young, naive woman living in an orphanage. Through classified ads, she has a date with an unknown man. She escapes from the orphanage to go to it, dreaming of the Prince Charming. But comes Nicolas Rougemont, an unattractive middle-aged man... He pretends not to be the author of the letters, who could not come...

Patrica is the wife of Alain de Saulieu, a handsome engineer. She unfortunately loses her husband, who is killed in action during a battle of the First World War. At least, this is only the official truth, for Alain is not dead. Patricia indeed recognizes him one day. But the inverse does not work the other way around: Alain has become amnesiac and he does not remember her. And worst of all, he lives in a conjugal relationship with Germaine, his dedicated nurse, who is now pregnant by him. What has the future in store then for the three (not to say four) of them?

The adventurer Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, descendant (by the left hand) of the king of France Henri II, and who claims to be "Countess de la Motte", imagines a tortuous plan to steal a magnificent diamond necklace that the queen Marie-Antoinette refused to buy from the jewelers Boehmer and Bassange.

Rémi sees his marriage troubled by a scandal caused by his former mistress. He takes refuge with his godmother while his wife organizes her revenge.

Théodora, Thierry de Villiers' governess, has the leisure of scrambling the cards: She combines the meeting in the same apartment of Thierry, his friend Octave, Brigitte, his wife, and Nicole, Villiers' secretary. Finally, Theodora will be sent back to the asylum from which she had run away.

Christian has just returned home after failing his A-levels. His father, incensed by his failure, asks a neighboring teacher to give him lessons. But Christian falls for Simone, the teacher's cousin. Jealous, Christian's girlfriend Bichette arranges for the father and the teacher to learn everything. Christian is sent away and reunited with Françoise, the house's pretty maid, who had been dismissed. Bichette has had it.

In 16th-century France, the Chevalier de Pardaillan rescues the beautiful gypsy "Violetta", in reality Isabelle, daughter of the Comte d'Entraigues and prey of his sworn enemy, the Duke Henri de Guise. Pardaillan and Isabelle fall in love, and the valiant chevalier will not rest until the advent of King Henri IV.