The Awakening

Frédéri, a young man from a good family, is in love with a woman he met in the arena of Arles. He wishes to marry this woman.

During this harsh winter, as Christmas approaches, Angélique, a poor child, is found by an old couple, Hubertine and Hubert. But this couple is not the richest, and the life of this small family is hard and laborious. Angélique likes to escape to the city, to dream. One day, she meets Félicien, with whom she falls in love. But she is told that this handsome man is the bishop's son, so marrying him is impossible.

Marie is one of her kind. While the other girls are after gold, diamonds and jewels, she swears by ... poverty! She does not remain the companion of a banker too long for obvious reasons. But when she can be the muse of a poor music composer it is fine by her. Unless the musician becomes too famous...! Then, she leaves him! But maybe not forever... He can fall into poverty again, can't he?

In the snow as bells toll, a hooded figure makes its way through the streets to a church.

Crainquebille, merchant of four seasons, is sentenced to fifteen days in prison for having insulted a police officer. When he leaves, his clientele moves away from him and Crainquebille thinks of suicide, when the affection of a kid from Montmartre makes him change his mind.

Meg decides to commit suicide to escape the marriage to which her father intends her. She is saved by Jean-Pierre, another candidate for suicide, and Léon, a tramp who was just trying to reason with him. The trio then becomes inseparable and organizes a new life based on friendship and freedom.

The film is based on the bitter rivalry of two pigeon racers, Fred, the bell-ringer of Bruges and Neel, the fiancé of Fred's partially sighted sister. Following a major tournament, won by Neel's bird, Fred's resentment drives him to mount an attack upon his rival so ferocious that he believes he has killed him. Seized by remorse, he intends to throw himself from the belfry, but his disabled sister risks her own life to mount to the tower and try to save him.

The adaptation of a french novel from 1864 describes the idyllic life of a convinced bachelor, Fritz Kobus, in a village in Alsace. With help by the local rabbi, he does get married to young Suzel in the end.

Paris, 1830. Fleur de Marie is rescued from poverty by the mysterious Rodolphe, who is in fact the Grand Duke of Gérolstein, who has gone incognito in search of an illegitimate child he once had. Which is not at all to the taste of Sarah Mac Gregor, her current mistress who kidnaps Fleur and has her locked up in Saint-Lazare prison.

In Paris, in the middle of the 19th century, the Comte de Chamery died of poisoning, leaving a considerable fortune to his long-dead son. Sir William, the count's murderer, hires a young rogue, Rocambole, to pretend to be the deceased's son. The two accomplices have the Count's fortune handed over to them. But their trickery is discovered by an intriguer, Baccarat, who finds the real Count of Chamery, a young painter without fortune, in love with Carmen de Montevecchio. Rocambole, who stops at nothing, kills Sir William, gets rid of Armand and makes Carmen love him. But Baccarat is determined not to let him continue his villainies.

In the 19th century, a thug from the slums of Paris pretends to be a young aristocrat, but is unmasked by a demi-mondaine, from the same background as him.

Jérôme owns a boat with his crook of an uncle, La Rose de la Mer. They sail with a band of crooks hired by the uncle to scuttle the ship and collect the insurance premium.

Denise, a young employee of the mine, is courted by the engineer Risay while she is engaged to Daniel, a simple underground worker. A betrayal has occurred that compromises the mine. An accident occurs and about fifteen workers, including Denise's fiancé, are buried under rubble in a collapsing shaft.

Following a trivial road accident, Ariane, an international adventuress, falls in love with Bernard Fleuret, a young artist-painter with diseased lungs. Being pursued by the police, she chooses to hide in the sanatorium where the young man is treated. Ariane proves so smitten by love that she finally changes her ways: she decides to let herself be arrested, sure as she is she will be reunited with her loved one later on.