The Light Across the Street

Roger, editor of a women's magazine, meets Roberte, his friend Jean's former mistress, at a major couturier's during a collection presentation. Roberte, who now lives in Florence with her niece Maria, asks Roger to arrange a student exchange so that Maria can come to Paris to perfect her French. Roger approaches Jean's son Philippe, a student at the Beaux-Arts, who agrees to go to Florence. Maria and Philippe meet on the platform at Pisé station. They miss their respective trains and take a walk together. A flirtation begins, then each goes back to the other. Jean finds Maria charming and, like an unrepentant Don Juan, decides to win her over, but thanks to his old maid, his intrigues come to nothing and Maria can marry Philippe.

An untiring lady social worker, Émilienne, has as one of her charges a stableman who was wounded by his mistress. Unfortunately, Émilienne's young sister who was helping her at work decides to go away with the stableman.

A man is engaged to be married.But after getting a phone call from a wronged woman who wants revenge on her husband, he lands up consoling her in bed, and then consoling the mistress of the husband as well.

After being saved from suicide due to an unhappy marriage, Marie hesitates between two other men, but lands up rejoining her husband in the colonies as she now expects a baby.

A couple get married, not out of love, but to get away from their families. When they run out of gas and have to stop at a mountain hotel, they discover their love is now real.

In the elevator of two large Parisian buildings, a telegraph operator discovers the body of an elderly woman, Madame Mathieu, the owner of both buildings. Boucheron, the local superintendent, is dispatched to investigate, along with his rival, Inspector Lambert of the "Sûreté". To solve the enigma, they scour staircases and corridors, visiting every floor of both buildings, courtyard and facade. Their gruff rivalry allows them to complement each other in discovering who committed the crime among a gallery of characters, humble or rich, who all have something to be ashamed of... A rare, fast-paced, picturesque comedy set against the backdrop of a police mystery.

Young conductor Roberto Lombardini has never known his father who is actually a former musician, a failed piano player who has sunk into alcoholism.

Maldone is a canal worker, happy with his life after running away from his family estate. He falls in love with Zita, a young gypsy girl, during a local fete. However, after his brother dies, Maldone is called back to manage the estate. There, he takes up the life of a landowner and marries a neighbor's daughter. Years later Maldone is still restless on the estate, and becomes obsessed with Zita, after meeting her by chance one evening.

Stop-motion photography blends with extreme slow-motion in Clair's first and most dada film, composed of a series of zany, interconnected scenes. We witness a rooftop chess match between Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, a hearse pulled by a camel (and chased by its pallbearers) and a dizzying roller coaster finale. A film of contradictions and agreements.

Roberto, a 10-year-old boy, is drawn to music. An old organist discovers his gifts, and begins his musical education which will lead him to the head of an orchestra.

In 1928, Georges Lacombe, then assistant to René Clair, filmed the ragpickers who lived in the "zone". As his camera was stationary, he took particular care over the framing and he offers the viewer a document that is imbued with both realism and poetry. We even see the once-famous cancan dancer "La Goulue", sunk into poverty at the end of her life. - MHEU

The local building-contractor Martin Roumagnac is fascinated by the fashionable Blanche Ferrand. To impress Blache, Martin presents her with a villa. However, this ruins him financially. Despite Martin's many efforts for the now femme-fatal Blanche, she is not able to chose between him and the rich consul De Laubry.

Debt-ridden painter Michel is overcome with joy at discovering that he has just won 1 million florins in the Dutch lottery, but almost immediately, he discovers that his softhearted girlfriend, Béatrice, has given away his jacket containing the winning ticket to an elderly petty thief. Soon Michel, Beatrice and Michel's artistic rival, Prosper, are hurtling through the streets of Paris on the trail of the missing jacket.

The everyday life and activity of "La Dernière Heure", a major evening newspaper, seen through the eyes of Hélène Perrin, a cub reporter trained by Pierre Rabaud, a star in his field. Side by side they will investigate several events: an air show that ends tragically, the coming to France of a Hollywood actress, a lightship caught in a terrible storm...

In the tenement slums of Paris between the world wars, impoverished street singer Albert yearns for beautiful Romanian immigrant Pola. Pola's boyfriend, local hoodlum Fred, grows jealous of Albert's constant attention to his woman and frames the hapless musician for one of his own petty crimes. But while Albert is in prison for Fred's misdeed, Pola ends up falling for Albert's faithful best friend, Louis.

A young man, unsuccessful in love, manages to leave his body and tours Paris, disembodied and invisible, playing practical jokes: a row of coats walks off from a hotel cloakroom; an unattended taxi drives itself away; a row of top hats appears on the pavement.