Before the Battle

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

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?

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 captain of a Marseille freighter suspects his wife of cheating on him with his childhood friend. The ulcerated wife decides to take a trip with her sister and this friend, and registers herself under a false name on her husband's boat. A disaster caused by the fog reveals to the household their love for each other.

A street singer becomes the star of the circus but his pal Armand shows him who his real friends are.

During the Rif War, a lieutenant commands a torpedo boat. He finds in an abandoned yacht, a beautiful portrait of a woman, and soon meets this one who is married to a brutal and jealous baron.

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.

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.

Faithfully reproduced observations of Breton fisherfolk in story of the man a local woman really loves who will not at first give himself to her because of his fondness for the sea that takes him away.