Henri Coutet

An American talks a retired French crook into robbing a bank, but kidnappers demand the loot as ransom.

In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.

A sleeping car employee seeking a well-deserved rest is prevented from doing so by the crowing of his neighbor's rooster. Just as he's about to settle the score, he's presented with a gift: a rubber band around the annoying bird's beak temporarily puts an end to its vocalizations. But the animal can't be left alone, and Pierre has to take it with him on his nocturnal journeys: you can imagine the disturbance it can cause when, after being thrown out of a wagon window, it lands in the next van full of pheasants. The whole little world spills out onto the train, and the conductor is not at all pleased! Pierre manages to get a young passenger to assume ownership of the rooster, but not for long. Every time Pierre tries to get rid of it, it somehow comes back to him.

Jean Brevent still did not understand the departure of his wife, Danielle Darieux. It's been five years, but he still can't forget her. In spite of a work of writer originator in a newspaper, in which it tried to be invested completely, time did not make its work. One day, by chance, he meets her in the bus...

Anthology of four love stories that have some historical basis.

A shy, penniless employee of the garage owner Grillot, the gentle Louis wins $10 million in the lottery. Flitting along the banks of the Seine, he takes in Raoul Grandvivier, an unknown, untalented painter who has just botched a spectacular suicide intended to draw attention to himself. Raoul takes him back to his studio, where he meets his charming daughter Lucie. In order to see Lucie again, with whom he is in love, Louis offers to sell the paintings. In reality, he's the one paying for them, to make it look like a wealthy art lover.

When Charles learns that his wife and her lover want to poison him, he thinks of killing both of them.

An off-beat, uneven tale about a man intent on suicide and the three people who try to talk him out of it, Pantalaskas stars American Carl Studer in the title role of the morose, would-be suicide. Set in Paris and taking place over an entire night, the story has a complication in that the trio who want to prevent the suicide do not speak the man's language -- he is Lithuanian and speaks no French. So the protagonists comb the underbelly of a nighttime Paris, looking high and low but mostly low for anyone who speaks Lithuanian. Depending mainly on dialogue for its impact, the verbose drama reveals how the protagonists undergo a transformation as the night wears on.

Bernard Sommet has killed his wife and her lover and he declares that was a crime of passion. Sylvie Foucot, his court-appointed attorney, not only believes him but falls in love with him. But the examination magistrate is not convinced. For his part, he leans towards premeditation. Whether Sommet premeditated his act or acted out of anger and jealousy will be up to the court to decide.

Quand la Femme S'en Mele (When the Woman Butts In) stars French film favorite Edwige Feuillere as a high-class gangster's moll named Maine. When Maine's first husband and daughter pay a visit, it's an awkward time for our heroine and her current amour, gang boss Godot (Jean Servais). In addition to fielding a lot of embarrassing questions, Godot also has to deal with a pesky turf war with a rival mobster. Not that the ex-husband is a paragon of virtue: he's busy trying to get even with a crooked business associate.

In a small French village, everything would be quiet if the local wildlife cop was not being ridiculed by a smart poacher.

A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

The lucky Baron wins a boat in a card game and takes off with his former lover to find new adventures. Adverse circumstances land them in a small town, where the Baron's seafaring companion leaves for more attractive scenery offered by a wealthy local man. Meanwhile, there is a certain charming cafe owner that the Baron finds irresistible -- at least for awhile.

Police Commissioner Jules Maigret returns to the small village where he spent his childhood at the request of the Countess of Saint-Fiacre, who has received a disturbing anonymous letter.

A tale of the tender relationship between a twelve-year-old boy and the fourteen-year-old upperclassman who is the object of his desire, all set within the rigid atmosphere of a Jesuit-run school.

During the Second World War, in 1943, two French prisoners, François and Michel, escape from Stalag B377 in northern Germany near the Baltic Sea. They meet another escaped compatriot, Pierre, who has donned the uniform of a German officer and joins them. Their goal: to reach neutral Sweden. To get there, they'll have to walk part of the way, then take a train to the coast and, from there, find a way to cross the sea to the shores of Sweden.

Papa, Mama, the Maid and I

Three friends face mid-life crises. Paul is a writer who's blocked. François has lost his ideals and practices medicine for the money; his wife grows distant, even hostile. The charming Vincent, everyone's favorite, faces bankruptcy, his mistress leaves him, and his wife, from whom he's separated, wants a divorce. The strains on the men begin to show particularly in François and Paul's friendship and in Vincent's health. A younger man, Jack, becomes attractive to Lucie, François's wife. Another young friend, the boxer Jean, who's like a son to Vincent and whose girlfriend is pregnant, has taken a bout with a merciless slugger. Has happiness eluded this circle of friends?

Rosalie, a beautiful young woman gets involved with successful businessman Cesar. One day, Rosalie's former flame David appears and attempts to win her back. Cesar reacts with a jealous intensity never before seen by Rosalie, and because of that, she returns to David. She remains conflicted regarding her choice of partner, but eventually, one of the men does something which resolves the situation.

After stealing a diamond from Mylène Demongeot, Richard hides it inside a guitar. But on returning to the music shop he discovers that the precious instrument has just been sold! The problem is complicated by the fact that five stars all bought the same model that morning...

The Remi abandoned by his foster father sold to the troubadour Vasalis, in his living through the rural villages the people to entertain, gehoplen his three dogs and a monkey. In the beginning Remi takes its new master, but a demanding and hard man, and the animals have not been too much with the clumsy boy. But gradually creates a bond between Remi and his new comrades, until their friendship is suddenly disrupted when Vasalis is arrested for vagrancy and sentenced. Then Remi, alone in the world, along with his animal friends in position to try to keep ...

Tulipe, is an old man who lives alone in an old railway carriage in the Argentueil region of Paris. His main passions are gardening and oil painting, but he also has a secret source of income. His godson discovers that Tulipe is actually a master forger, producing perfect copies of 10 franc notes. His godson’s girlfriend sees this as an opportunity to get very rich – but she must persuade Tulipe to forge 500 franc notes. Assuming Tulipe’s agreement, his godson and his girlfriend buy an expensive new car and luxury villa in provincial France – but there is a cruel turn of fate in store for them when Tulipe strikes up a friendship with a millionaire playboy.

Robert Langlois is now married to Catherine, the former housemaid. And they would live happily ever after if the housing crisis did not force them to live together with Gabrielle and Fernand, Robert's parents. For, despite the good will on either side, tension soon arises. What else to expect when there is too little space in their Montmartre apartment for four people (then for six then eight, the couple having... two pairs of twins!) ; the continued presence there of Fernand (who loves peace and quiet) after he is driven to retirement ; the difficult beginnings of Robert as a lawyer in a room of the apartment, etc... Other troubles follow and the harried family is on the verge of implosion...

Juanillo is in love with Dolores, the daughter of the owner of an inn. He likes to sing, she likes dancing. After the village festivals, where Juanillo has acted as a bullfighter and Dolores has performed, he has been hired as bullfighter for a tour in America. They exchange vows, but their letters will be intercepted.

Le Cas Du Dr. Laurent (The Case of Dr. Laurent) stars Jean Gabin as a Paris-based doctor who tries to spread the gospel of Natural Childbirth. Working in a cloistered rural community, Gabin runs up against the stone walls of fear and prejudice. His theories are proven sound when unwed mother Nicole Courcel gives birth within Gabin's methodology. The childbirth sequence is filmed straight-on with a delicate combination of taste and frankness. Nonetheless, the lurid ad campaign of Cas Du Dr. Laurent sensationalized this sequence all out of proportion.

Finding himself unemployed overnight, Louis Salavin lets himself go into an incurable laziness despite the support of his friends and his mother...

Ordered to seduce French captain and steal from him classified papers, Mata Hari, an exotic dancer and a spy, instead falls in love with him and blows the cover.

Victor Le Garrec, a former boxer, runs a gym in Paris while dreaming of finding an aspiring champion who will reach the goals he was never able to achieve.

Bastien du Boccage is a repeat offender: hasn't he been sent to jail no fewer than six times? But he is no ordinary criminal mind you. As a matter of fact he is a newspaper editor and should have no problems with justice. The trouble is that he has a sister, Lucrèce, who is agony aunt in his newspaper and who tends not to mince her words. To make matters worse, Francine, his daughter, has fallen in love with Bruno, a penniless student and Lucrèce is prepared to do anything to prevent her marriage..

In 1860s France, a couple who have recently acquired a dilapidated country house in Vendôme discover within it the secret of a passionate love affaire that once took a macabre and sadly turn. it all began 50 years previously, when the wealthy landowner Gérard de Clergue fell madly in love with the beautiful young dancer Clara Biondi. In the course of the ensuing romance, Gérard remains blissfully ignorant of the fact that Clara had a previous lover, James de Poulay...

A famous convict Jacques Collin, alias Trompe la mort, or abbot Carlos Herrera, also called Vautrin, escapes from prison. Chance makes him meet Lucien de Rubempré, an impetuous and eternal lover who, when he is dismissed, collapses. Moved by this fragility, he takes him under his wing, and will do everything possible to ensure that his creature reaches happiness, even if it means imagining the worst shenanigans and other scams, with the help of a band of clever villains.

An old merchant ruined by the dot its two ungrateful daughters, moved to the Vauquer pension in Paris. In after Balzac.

In France, in 1930, a supervisor of a boarding school for young offenders seeks to awaken the music by forming a choir, despite the skepticism of his boarding school director.

During the 1940 exodus, a young girl takes in a baby to whom she becomes deeply attached.

France under Louis XIII. 1615. The Duke of Angoulême is at the head of a group of gentlemen who are conspiring to drive the Florentines out of court, of whom Concini is the all-powerful leader. A cadet from Gascony, Adhémar de Capestang, who was later to become the Capitan, left his native province to come and try his luck in Paris. Along the way, he saves a young girl, Gisèle d'Angoulême, from a masked individual who wanted to kidnap her.

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.

Émile Boulard is a props man in a Paris movie studio. He has a wife, Suzanne. Or to be more accurate, let's say he HAD a wife since she left him fifteen years before, allegedly ... to go buy a post stamp. But now that their daughter Martine , who lives with her, is old enough to marry, she resurfaces. She confesses that, in order to explain his absence, she has told Martine her father was a great explorer and lion hunter in Africa. Not to disappoint his daughter, Émile accepts to pose as the adventurer he is supposed to be. At the same time he will help Daniel, Martine's bashful fiancé, not to become a henpecked husband like him.

Everyone in Paris thinks Fantomas is dead. A wave of extortion, blackmail and murder all point to the master criminal. Inspector Juve and his reporter friend Fandor set out to find the truth.

Au Royaume des Cieux takes place in in a dreadful girls' reformatory. A couple of lovers will try to escape from this living hell.

Montmartre in the summertime. A group of street urchins idles outside while the other kids of the neighborhood are away on holiday.To keep the gang busy, Pivolo, their leader, has an idea : they are going to kidnap Aunt Faguet's doggy. Just for the fun of it. A few days pass after the crime is accomplished and one of them suddenly realizes that a reward is being offered by the aunt to anyone who would bring her her pet back. Mademoiselle Hélène, the kind-hearted social worker, does it for them and gives them the reward money, which is instantly exchanged for lollipops, nougat and merry-go-round and cinema tickets. So, why not continue? That's what they do, abducting several dogs, until they realize they are becoming ... too rich! They can't buy themselves luxurious gifts or else their parents are bound to suspect something. Instead, they decide to do good by helping poor people around them. One day, Pierrot, a member of the gang, gets run down by a cyclist and becomes blind.

The king orders viscount Florestan to take mademoiselle de Solanges for his wife. But the viscount doesn't know the young lady at all. The latter decides to seduce her future husband by introducing herself to him with the name Veronique...

While he was about to end his life, Baron de Cantenac wanted to return one last time to the land of his ancestors. He then discovers a treasure that he will strive to use to revive his village.

Elsa Lundenstein is accused of having murdered her lover. The jury discusses the case vividly. All members are somehow prejudiced because of personal life experience and subsequently each member reads something different into the presented facts.

A woman in Paris hires a taxi driver to locate her ex-lover, father to her newborn child, who left her without leaving an address.

Having fallen out with his girlfriend Dolorès, Juanito leaves for Mexico, where he becomes a famous matador.There he meets a Viennese singer, Fanny Miller, who falls for him so much so that she intercepts the letters Dolorès keeps on sending him. In desperation, Dolorès devotes all her time and efforts to dance and she becomes the celebrated dancer Estrellita. After a series of misunderstandings and ups and downs, the sun of Andalusia will finally reunite the two lovebirds.

Fates of multiple otherwise disconnected characters intertwine miraculously under the sky of Paris. And it all happens in one day.

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.

Bavaria, 1433. Reason of state rules that Prince Albert is to marry Princess Bertha of Wurtemberg. But the fine-looking young man is loath to become the husband of a woman with pimples,flat feet and no breast. Nevertheless, he has to obey his authoritarian father, Duke Ernest, and accompanied by faithful Count Törring, he mounts his steed and sets out for Würtemberg. Stopping in Augsburg, he falls in love with the daughter of a local barber-surgeon, pure and beautiful Agnès Bernauer. The couple is soon secretly married and both take refuge at the castle of Margravine Josepha, Albert's aunt, waiting for Ernest's consent. Unluckily Albert's father will not accept his son's union with a commoner and Albert, supported by Josepha and an army of common people, declares war on the Duke. They seem about to be victorious when Brother Enrique, a monk formerly in the Holy Inquisition, finds a way to reverse the situation: accusing Agnès of witchcraft...

In Bourganeuf, an old maid, Charlotte Bourdier, confesses to Marie Chassagne that she has forged a sentimental intrigue by correspondence with the presenter of the Radio Circus, Zappy Max. Marie agrees to meet him when he comes, but she in turn falls in love with him, who confesses his love to her.

Unfairly accused of her husband's murder, a woman is imprisoned.

A young, talented and ambitious journalist, Louis heads off to try his luck in Paris. He's spotted by Walter, editor-in-chief for a major daily newspaper, who takes to him and furthers his career. What he doesn't realise is that Louis is ready to betray anyone to achieve his ends...

Martial, Colette 's husband, is madly jealous. One day, he catches his wife writing a letter and he does want to know what this message contains, to no avail.

Didier's wife is ill, and he does the best he can to take care of her. But he's often absent and he has casual love affairs. But Leone he meets in Bruxelles wants to become his one and only mistress.

A lovely young nurse finds herself framed for the murder of a hospital patient who died after she administered an injection.

The Marquis Rodolphe de Sombrueil accidentally runs over a working man with his carriage and helps his widow -- unjustly accused of robbery -- to find her missing daughter.

Max is a Paris detective, aloof, independently wealthy, and frustrated by gangs of robbers whom he cannot catch. To re-establish his stature and save face, he decides to inveigle a group of petty thieves (led by an old acquaintance) to rob a bank. A reluctant captain provides Max intelligence and Max starts spending evenings with Lilly, a prostitute who's the girlfriend of the group's leader. He poses as a rich banker with money to burn and encourages Lilly to think about her future. He hints at a payroll that comes through his bank. The plot works, the petty thieves think they're ready for a big score, and the cops are in place. What could go wrong with Max's cold plan? Who's entrapped?

A pair of men try to perform the dangerous "triple" in their trapeze act. Problems arise when the duo is made into a trio following the addition of a sexy female performer.

Paul Martin is the subservient brown-nosing youngster who needs quick advancement up the hierarchy to pay for the modern lifestyle he is buying on credit. Seeing that marrying his immediate superior's daughter will not get him the results he wants, he begins plotting the demise of the head of the company. The company itself specializes in holiday travel and unscrupulously brutalizes its customers for maximum profit, spending more thought on publicity gimmicks than customer service...

A young opera dancer tries to help her mother financially by performing in a dubious cabaret.

Jules Duraton is the headmaster of Chatelbourg's high school. He is happily married, has a teenage daughter named Solange, and everything would be for the best of all possible worlds if he and his family were not the namesakes of the protagonists of a famous comic series broadcast every day on Radio Monde "La Famille Duraton". Day after day, the real-life Duratons are made fun of because of their surname and Jules just can't take it any more. That is why he decides to sue the radio station responsible for his misfortune.

La Hurlette and Carmen are a pair of philosophical tramps who enjoy simple pleasures in the company of the cheerful Sosthène. As in the fairy tales, La Hurlette learns that he has just inherited a tidy fortune, provided he can find a job. By dint of hard work, he manages to do so, and a banquet brings together his disinherited friends. Determined to live the high life, La Hurlette and Carmen lose all their inheritance at the Cabourg casino, and end up as philosophical as ever on their favorite bench.

Benoit, the head guard of Clouville Prison, prefers to be liked than feared. This basic principle transforms the jail-house into a joyful prison, where all the inmates live amicably together. Among them, various colorful characters : a farmer, a poacher, a distiller, a forger, two pickpockets, a safe-cracker, a gangster and... a good-looking guy who pleases Rosette, Benoit's daughter, well. But too much leniency takes its toll : after Vauclin, the gangster, manages to escape and a complaint is filed against "the deplorable disorder reigning in the joyful prison", Benoit is given early retirement. He will know how to take advantage of his new status live a joyful life with his wife, his daughter and André, his son in law, in fact the nice-looking young prisoner who, in the meantime, has been cleared of all charges.

A mild-mannered zookeeper has to contend with his tyrannical boss and a talking lovesick bear.

Mario, the head of the Mafia in France, has just been mortally wounded. His "companion" decides to find him a successor, before the New York "organization" appoints one. She instructs her two bodyguards to take on anyone who likes money, doesn't have any and, above all, doesn't want to work too hard - in short, "the average Frenchman"... They discover Léon Bonnet, a representative of "magic crosses". They send him gifts: champagne, weapons (a mistake...), a ring for his fiancée, and a meal worthy of the finest gourmets. In return, they take him to Mario's dying bedside, and have him sign over the estate. It's then that Leon, with his angelic good looks, restores order within the Mafia, surprising all his adversaries with his manners, and outwitting the police...

Yes, Doudou (or, more respectfully, Edouard Doucin) is both heir to a big sugar refinery and its managing director but he is also an incorrigibly bashful bachelor, which just exasperates his aunt Agatha. Summoned to marry as soon as possible, Doudou is fortunate enough to meet Babette , an elegant young lady who wishes to introduce him to her parents. When he comes to visit them, he mistakes the floor out of nervousness. In fact,he finds himself at the Lautiers' not the Olivaros'. Now, chance has it that this couple of shopkeepers also have a marriageable daughter. And as Poupette is romantic, passionate and adorable, Doudou can't find the nerve to disappoint her. As a result the young man gets engaged...twice ! How the devil will he cope ?

Sophie Dirondel, history teacher at the Saint-Cloison-sur-Ermoise, wins the jackpot of a lottery, a 2CV. The good-natured woman is both happy and slightly upset, as she doe not have her driving-license. But she decides to take driving lessons and although she does not prove very gifted she manages to pass the test. She grasps the opportunity to achieve one of her sweetest dreams and, proudly sitting behind her wheel, heads for the City of Light. Alone in Paris, she gets to know Victor Martini, a smooth operator. The man who, in real fact, is the leader of a gang, has no problem bamboozling the naive woman.

A French animal lover protects a dog and a mouse wanted by Soviet scientists for their space program.

A green mare makes the fortune of her owner, the horse dealer Haudouin. Shortly after his death, war broke out in 1870. One day, his neighbor Zèphe Maloret denounces Honoré, Haudouin's son, a maverick, to the Prussians. Following this denunciation, their non-commissioned officer enters the Haudouin home and rapes the mother while Honoré is hidden under the bed. The resentment already existing between the Haudouin and Maloret families turns to hatred... A letter recalling the events is lost, which doesn't help matters.

Following an operation, Annie no longer remembers her eleven years of marriage or her children. Her memory stops at the time when she was being courted by Pierre, now the family friend. Unable to bear seeing his wife in love with someone else, her husband tries to restore her memory.

Married against her will to the Comte de Trivelin, Paulette Dupont shares her anxieties with her childhood friend Labaule. Warned too late to prevent the ceremony from taking place, Labaule follows the couple on their honeymoon and prevents the consummation of the marriage by repeatedly intruding on the couple's privacy. Put on notice by Paulette's parents to consummate the marriage, Trivelin - who believes himself to be at fault - consults a psychiatrist. The latter advises him to visit a lady of lesser virtue: Gloria. But Gloria's clientele includes Dupont himself - Paulette's father - and Labaule!

Convicted of murdering his wife, a crime of which he declares himself innocent, Jacques Mazur is serving a long sentence in a prison where his presence causes disruption.

When a young teen marries the Prince of Cleves, more than twice her age, she automatically becomes an official Princess and takes her new position to heart. Although distracted by the elite entertainments found at court, the princess cannot help but mourn her impossible love for the dashing Duc de Nemours.

Antoine Fournier, a language teacher at a secondary school in Lille, was disgraced by four young men he had caught stealing money from a charity collection. Dismissed from the teaching profession, Fournier found a job as a porter in a Monte Carlo palace through his wartime friend Ansaldi. A few years later, when he became the first concierge, the "man with the golden keys", chance brought him into the presence of the young men, married but as Machiavellian as ever. He won't take revenge on them, but their baser instincts will.

The daughter of a foreign diplomat in Paris is courted by two men. One of them entrusts her with a harmless commission for Poland, as she has a diplomatic passport. But it's a trap, and the girl is forced to work for Eastern spies.

In the time of King Moabdar, in ancient Babylon, the young philosopher, Zadig, undergoes many misadventures.