Paysans Noirs

A man decides to use the classifieds to replace his mistress who left him.

This story, set against the backdrop of the Algerian War, could be an oriental tale. The "Nightingale of Kabylia" is the nickname given to old Ahieddine, a poet who lives in a mountain village. Ahieddine receives a visit from a young French officer. What does the officer want? Information, no doubt. The lieutenant, who once studied the Kabyle language, simply wants to visit a renowned poet, speak with him, and hear him recite a poem. Such a visit will be difficult to justify to the men of the maquis. That very evening, Ahieddine is summoned to appear before a tribunal of maquisards. He is condemned to death for treason. Does he have a wish before he dies? Yes, to compose one last poem, the poem of his death. He improvises a poem; the men listen, moved by the words of their own language, which express the poetry of their people. They pardon old Ahieddine and grant him his freedom. Destiny, however, awaited at the bend of a mountain path, the "Nightingale of Kabylia".

"Islam" by Georges Régnier (1949) is a documentary about Islamic art in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Spain. The documentary received a special mention at the Venice Film Festival in 1949. Georges Régnier, a French documentary filmmaker active in the post-war period, was interested in North African cultures and colonial issues. In this film, he traces the history of Islam and its architectural art across these regions, and describes the expansion of Islam from Arabia to the Maghreb and Andalusia, highlighting mosques, minarets, and palaces such as those in Kairouan, Algiers, and Marrakech, all accompanied by the sounds of the Arabic call to prayer.

Based on the short story by Georges Courteline. The story of Monsieur Badin, a model employee who can't bring himself to go to the office and suffers as a result. He can no longer live under these conditions, and to better endure this tedious chore, he needs a raise.

Married to Karl Ammer, the station master of Thaya, a Hungarian quiet village, Anita is a pretty young peasant who feels deeply bored. She dreams of another life while watching the daily express trains to Budapest. An incident will force her to leave her province: she has to go to Budapest to attend the funeral of an aunt and receive a share of the inheritance. After completing the formalities, Anita misses the train to go back home and then she finds herself alone in the capital.

A student from an elementary school accidentally breaks the glass roof of his school. His comrades decide to support it by working during the summer holidays in order to pay for reconstruction.

Open and shut case: Maxime Dartois, the painter, is found dead in his penthouse with three bullets in his body, but the pistol that killed him is still being held by the (fainted) young lady by his side. A detective will find a few odd notes, and the plot thickens when plenty of people are interviewed, and more than one could have the will, and the opportunity, to be the killer, and it is not clear what the relationship of the girl was with the deceased.

A wealthy industrialist, Roger de Vetheuil, married, feels assured of aging in peace. Then appears a blackmailer who accuses him of being a usurper, actually called Jean Pelletier, a mobster well known to police. Vetheuil, judging himself slandered, refuses to listen to his tormentor and goes to the police. The man speaks. The scandal is public soon ...

Men of the Oasis is a short film by Georges Régnier, shot in Morocco and presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1951. From birth to death, the life of the oasis dweller is linked to that of the date palm, which he must plant, care for, and ensure is pollinated. Filmed in the Goulmina oasis, on the edge of the Tafillet region, this film tells the simple story of the life of Saïd, son of Ahmed.