The Empire of Diamonds

A French washerwoman becomes a duchess and a friend of Napoleon.

A charming little couple is watched by the misfortune that hides under the disturbing and enigmatic features of a femme fatale.

During a transvestite ball, a young provincial meets Fanny Legrand. A great love is born between them. Later, the young man learns that Fanny was a great coquette. He leaves her, he comes back, he forgives. But when he embarks for America, Fanny does not follow him.

To fulfill her Father's wish, Grand Duchess Aurora (Huguette Duflos) is forced into an unhappy marriage with Grand Duke Rudolph (Henry Houry). He prepares to leave for the Congo but is murdered by his own brother (Georges Vaultier). Aurora goes to Paris with her father and, there, is told on the phone of her husband's death. After returning to the Kingdom, she meets a tutor (Jaque Catelain) who falls in love with her..

Ninon, a veteran stage artist, resides in her villa in Provence, surrounded by admirers as veteran or more than her. A film crew arrives at the gardens of the town to film some scenes in that beautiful spot. The director and screenwriter of the team will notice the charms of Ninon.

A film crew goes to a mansion to shoot a movie. The actor playing the thief is confused and is shot by the owner with a shotgun. In compensation, he is taken care of in the house and falls in love with the daughter of the owners.

Pierre,a marquis, is madly in love with his dear wife Jeanne whose picture he is painting; one day while hunting in the woods, the husband accidentally kills his beloved one. He's desperate to finish the portrait so he uses other models but none of them can touch his late wife's beauty. Six months later he meets Madeleine who resembles his dear departed. It's not long before she understands her rival is a picture and she tries more and more to look like Jeanne.

This charming short film was shot in the Camargue, probably in the same place where Jean Durand filmed his cowboy movies. The plot is very simple. A guardian falls in love with a Parisian. Desperate, he commits suicide when she returns to the capital. But, as always with Perret, we appreciate the framing, the skilful use of the exteriors and the documentary side of life of the time. We see the young Arlesianas in traditional dress go out to collect almonds and return with their baskets to the city. The actor in the role of the guardian overreacts, imitating bombastic despair. But the finale, in which he rides a horse through the waves to find the rest of death, preserves its charm intact. Perret knows how to set the rhythm of a sequence and give it the necessary atmosphere.

While visiting a small village, popular young artist Robert Williams meets innocent country girl Helen Sanderson and, enchanted by her beauty, induces the girl to pose for him. An attraction develops between them, but just as the portrait is completed, Robert is called back to the city. Helen fails to hear from him again and Robert's neglect draws her to the city, where she is sent to a reformatory on a false charge. Once released, she begs Judge Princeton for help and, feeling sorry for the unfortunate girl, he introduces her to playwright George Wendbourg, who adopts Helen and makes her a great actress. Seeing Helen on stage reawakens Robert's love for her and he begs her for forgiveness. After initially snubbing him, Helen relents and the two finally are reunited.

Maddened by jealousy, Jacques tries to kill his fellow worker.

Léonce and Suzanne are having a very sweet supper together. But then Leonce refuses to give her a puff on his cigarette. She snatches it and blows smoke in his face; They quarrel. Leonce regrets it, but he is locked out of the boudoir. Only when a mouse gets into her bed, terrifying Suzanne, is there any hope of reconciliation.

The young daughter of an army captain missing in action runs away from school and is kidnapped by Parisian lowlifes. When the kidnapper flees to Nice with the child, the kind-hearted employee of one of his accomplices sets off in pursuit.