Known for Acting
The detectives of the Paris Judicial Police, based at the Quai des Orfèvres, are mobilized by four criminal cases. A double murder, perpetrated in a hotel on the Place de Clichy, intrigues the investigators. The owner and a little maid were murdered in cold blood.
Barbara Van Looren is the lively, clever daughter of the well-known shipowner. For her, life is a breeze, even when she's kidnapped by Mike Cortez's men. A young journalist, Mercier, who tried to defend her and was forced to follow her, doesn't share her optimism and manages to escape. Barbara is sequestered because her father has caught wind of a diamond deal. If he renounces the customs action, his daughter will be returned to him. Mercier, with the help of a couple of loyal friends, discovers the instigator of the traffic, a member of the board of directors, and finds Barbara, still as petulant as ever.
When Nathalie, a shoe seller, is abducted, her mother Flora wastes no time taking matters into her own hands. Reluctant to call in the police, she galvanizes her three other daughters into action.
Frank Keany is the chief engineer of a uranium mine located under the overwhelming sun of New Mexico and owned by a woman, Moira Warden. She suspects her ex-husband want to take possession of the mine.
Marie-Thérèse is firmly involved in a charity dedicated to the rehabilitation of prostitutes. She approaches Marcelle who, for the love of Pierre, an honest painter, hides her dishonorable profession, and she befriends Maria, in love with the gentle René. Marcelle's aunt is murdered, and her daughter arrested. Marie-Thérèse sets out to prove her innocence, but the two boys learn all about the two unfortunate women. Pierre is unforgiving. Happier, Maria will start a new life with René.
Max, an illusionist as unlucky as he is skilled, would like to marry his boss's daughter, but his boss won't hear of marriage and even threatens to fire him if he doesn't come up with an interesting act. A supplier of magic items comes to Marx's rescue, handing over his "magic clock". Marx locks himself in to experiment with it and, unable to get out, falls asleep... He has a dream in which, with the power to make false things true, he becomes the hero of extraordinary adventures that take him to an Eastern country where he is made Emperor. He calls Helen to marry him, but the deposed Emperor takes revenge by having the usurper locked up in a sarcophagus.
Anthology film with three shorts each featuring a famous detective: Monsieur Wens, Lemmy Caution and Maigret.
Originally titled Nous Sommes Tout des Assassins, We Are All Murderers was directed by Andre Cayette, a former lawyer who detested France's execution system. Charles Spaak's screenplay makes no attempt to launder the four principal characters (Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, Antoinine Balpetre, Julien Verdeir): never mind the motivations, these are all hardened murderers. Still, the film condemns the sadistic ritual through which these four men are brought to the guillotine. In France, the policy is to never tell the condemned man when the execution will occur--and then to show up without warning and drag the victim kicking and screaming to his doom, without any opportunity to make peace with himself or his Maker. By the end of this harrowing film, the audience feels as dehumanized as the four "protagonists." We Are All Murderers was roundly roasted by the French law enforcement establishment, but it won a special jury prize at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival.
Rose Chaperon is asked by her confectioner mother Mathilde to bring jewels to her sick grandmother, Madame de Mergrand. But Hugues, the latter's brother, is prepared to do anything to get his hands on the loot. To this end he hires a villainous young man, Jean-Louis nicknamed Loup, to do the job. Will Loup engulf and devour Little "Rose "Riding Hood?
The inhabitants of the windswept island of Sein, in the nineteenth century, in Brittany follow their own religion without need for clergy, but as strangers arrive, their faith and beliefs face a deep crisis.
Melodrama of two struggling artists whose love for each other is thwarted.She has some success as a ballerina despite being wounded by him in a fit of jealousy. His career as a sculptor is stymied when he is arrested.
