André Valmy

Fred, the nephew of a senator,has murdered a Black man on a train. The two only witnesses are Lizzie McKay, a prostitute from New York, and Sidney, a colored man. Fred decides to seduce Lizzie in order to make her give false evidence according to which Sidney has attempted to rape her. The uncle also puts pressure on the young woman. After much hesitation, Lizzie finally accepts but Sidney, who has nearly got lynched, takes refuge at her home...

The title of this French "reality" drama, which translates to Before the Deluge, is a play on Louis XVI's famous prognostication, "Apres moi, le deluge." Set in 1950, the film concentrates on five Parisian adolescents. Certain that the next war will herald the apocalypse, the youngster make plans to run off to a desert island and set up a new society. This, however, will require money, which is why the boys decide to pull off a "necessary" robbery. Idealism collapses in the face of cold reality, as the five youths suffer from the consequences of their actions. Avant le Deluge was one of a group of films cowritten by director Andre Cayatte and Charles Spaak which endeavored to explore the touchy social issues of the day: others in the Cayatte-Spaak canon include the euthanasia-themed Justice est Faite and the capital-punishment tract Nous sommes tous des assassins.

When seven archaeologists find an ancient Inca temple, they become victims of an ancient curse. Back in Europe, one by one they fall into a deep sleep and only once a day, all at the same time, they wake up for a few minutes and experience hallucinations where the sinister living mummy of Rascar Capac appears.

Port of Marseille, France, recently liberated from the German yoke. Caught as stowaways aboard a ship, Manon, a young woman who was accused of collaborating with the Nazis, and Robert, a freedom fighter who saved her from reprisals, tell the captain about the many challenges they have had to face in order to survive.

Géo Paquet, aka The Gorilla, breaks from jail. Now an escaped convict, the elite agent must infiltrate a dangerous gang working for a foreign embassy as their leader, a spy enjoying diplomatic immunity, can't be arrested by regular police.

Four women are murdered, each knifed and, despite torn garments, remain virtuous. As famed police inspector Jules Maigret pieces the clues together, he comes to realise that for the elusive man that he suspects to be unmasked, he has to set a trap.

Originally titled Nous Sommes Tout des Assassins, We Are All Murderers was directed by Andre Cayette, a former lawyer who detested France's execution system. Charles Spaak's screenplay makes no attempt to launder the four principal characters (Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, Antoinine Balpetre, Julien Verdeir): never mind the motivations, these are all hardened murderers. Still, the film condemns the sadistic ritual through which these four men are brought to the guillotine. In France, the policy is to never tell the condemned man when the execution will occur--and then to show up without warning and drag the victim kicking and screaming to his doom, without any opportunity to make peace with himself or his Maker. By the end of this harrowing film, the audience feels as dehumanized as the four "protagonists." We Are All Murderers was roundly roasted by the French law enforcement establishment, but it won a special jury prize at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival.

Six people travel by overnight train from Marseilles to Paris. When they arrive, one of them, a young woman, is found dead in a sleeping berth. The police, led by Inspector Grazzi, investigate the other five passengers, suspecting that one among them was responsible. However, as the investigation is stepped up, the others start turning up dead. It's up to the remaining two to solve the case, lest they become the next victims.

Two murders are committed in an inn for the possession of a bag containing a fortune.

She dragged out a more than mediocre life in the port of Antwerp; he is a renowned pianist-virtuoso. These two solitary beings, totally different, meet by chance on a liner and gradually realize that they complement each other harmoniously.

In Central Europe, resistance to the Germans in growing. But the partisan leader is denounced and killed. His daughter and the son of the traitor love each other. Condemned by his comrades, the informer commits suicide in front of the young couple.

1914, a small village of the Marne. Charming and woken up, Madeleine, said the Madelon, who works in the coffee(café) of his father, Tourlourou, account of numerous pretenders. To the rich Antoine Pichot, she prefers corporal Beauguitte. When the war bursts, she(it) searches for the latter.

In 1870s Scotland mining engineer James Starr is asked by former colleague Simon Ford, who's living inside the abandoned Aberfoyle mine, to help solve mysterious occurrences taking place inside the mine.

In a factory working for the National Defense, an employee steals a prototype. In charge of the investigation is Francis Coplan.

Fleeing Paris where he killed, Olivier takes refuge in the Giraud farm and falls in love with his daughter, to the chagrin of her suitor, a man named Joseph. When the latter is found dead, Olivier is accused and the young woman will arrive too late to clear him, the poor man having fallen into a ravine while trying to flee.

During the Great War, in Austria, an officer was shot on the orders of his superior von Pennwitz. Out of revenge, his widow becomes a spy in the pay of France, preoccupied with removing the person responsible for her husband's death. In charge of a mission to von Pennwitz, she suddenly finds herself face to face with her husband, who is still alive. It was a ruse of war to deceive the enemy. It is only at the armistice that the couple will be able to live in peace.

The blond cigarette trade is raging in the Mediterranean, pitting the crew of a former naval officer, Ferrer, against a band of pirates led by Lucky Esposito. Initially defeated and robbed, Ferrer seeks revenge. Two women emerge, a singer, Barbara, and his former mistress, who now works for Esposito. Ferrer sees death at close quarters, Barbara saves him. The police wipe out Lucky's gang. The future looks brighter for Ferrer.

Lyria, a faded beauty who runs a seedy waterfront bar, is madly in love with Bob, a crooked attorney. Bob can't bring himself to confess his love for Minnie, the pretty daughter of Simon, a safe cracker. In order to run away with her, Bob, one of the masterminds of a big-time robbery, betrays his friends. But Lyria, who has found out what is happening, makes Minnie fall into a deadly trap.

D'Artagnan and his musketeer comrades must thwart the plans of Cardinal Richelieu to usurp King Louis XIII's power.

In 1912, the Alsatian Albert Schweitzer, missionary doctor and musician, goes to Gabon, a French colony, to fight malaria, which is ravaging the population. Administrator Leblanc takes a dim view of his arrival. But Albert can count on the devoted Marie Winter and Father Charles to assist him in his task.

A young woman has doubts about her husband's fidelity. She pretends a trip, but settles in a hotel where her husband must pass. He meets her and, disturbed by the one he believes to be his wife's double, becomes her lover. Little by little the truth breaks through. The husband takes leave of the mistress and returns to the wife whose return has been announced.

During the Second World War, Georges Masse undergoes a dangerous mission by taking secret documents from Tangiers to London.

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

A typographer makes a mistake by printing the winning number of the national lottery. Many people believe they have won the jackpot. Pursued by his newspaper editor, the worker appears in court where all mystified people are invited to testify.