Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin plays the wily impresario Danglard, who makes the cancan all the rage while juggling the love of two beautiful women—an Egyptian belly-dancer and a naive working girl turned cancan star.

When he finds a package in the metro, given this period of restrictions, Mr. Truche thinks it may be a good deal, he takes it home but discovers a woman's head inside. A friend of Mr. Truche having just disappeared, the superintendent accuses her of having murdered her and discovers the head buried in his cellar. But the girlfriend, whom Mr. Truche loves platonically, returns from the countryside and at the same time we spot the assassin of the unknown woman.

Three old friends meet again. They compare their marriages and tell each other stories which illustrate why they complain about their wives.

An old gentleman, a direct descendant of Zorro, has a single son named Raimundo in whom there is no trace of proud pride.

The orphan Catherine Maguet, nicknamed "La grande Maguet", was taken in by a young and good chatelaine, Suzanne de Norvaisis. Edmond, the husband of the latter, during a trip abroad, falls madly in love with another and will go, to conquer this one, to poison his wife. Imprisoned then released, the lord will finally marry the one for whom he has become a criminal. But the great Maguet will avenge her beloved murdered benefactress...

Blondine, the daughter of a poor fisherman, marries the Prince of the Mountain. Brune, her sister, envies Blondine her happiness and tells her that a secret lies hidden in her husband's name. Blondine tries to discover it but, before she does, the Prince is imprisoned by an ogre. Blondine must face goblins, imps, and the water djinni before she can deliver her captive Prince.

Chatelard, one of Viscount de Kerlec's guests, has died in mysterious conditions. The police initiates an investigation and sends detective-inspector Pauc to de Kerlec's manor. Pauc decides to mingle with the viscount's guests , who are all likely to have committed the murder. Among them, there is Jacques Mauclerc, a naval officer, and a seedy character named Bartoli, in fact a spy in search of secret documents. Pauc will end up untangling the web during a dramatic séance.

Gaston, nicknamed Pilou, has left his native village and Yvette, the girl of his heart, to go to Paris where he has found work as a painter. He is a naive good-natured man who, like most of his fellow-workers, favors a little song or two while he works. For the time being he is busy repainting the exterior of a block of flats and, when he does not sing to pass the time, he looks through the windows, observing the tenants in their daily lives. As time goes by, he goes as far as intervening and changing the course of their lives. In the end, despite having found a lookalike of his fiancée, he returns to her.

In this drama, a jilted bride and her little sister flee their hometown to search for better lives. They go to stay in their aunt's boarding house. There they meet a notorious philanderer and his mistress. The younger sister soon tries to lure him away from his love. Unfortunately, he falls for the older sister. As they make love, the poor little sister is left all alone.

The scene is set during the Second Empire. Captain Bitterlin watches jealously over his lovely daughter Madeleine but he cannot prevent nature from demanding its rights and Madeleine soon finds herself a suitor in the person of Mario, a dashing young songwriter. Bitterlin, who wishes his daughter to "evade the grip" of the young man, takes her away to Monte Carlo. There, the captain does what he had sworn he would never do, he gambles in a casino. And even more upsetting: Mario might well be hereabouts...

Elvire, Nathalie and Christine, three young ladies with a proven track record, are called in by the Secret Service to retrieve coveted papers concerning a new explosive. Introduced to a fearsome environment thanks to a female helper, they face kidnappings, play a double game, toil endlessly, lend helicopters and finally triumph, smiling, after a breathtaking fight.

Mandrin, the French army deserter, becomes the leader of a gang of smugglers in Piedmont. He is loved by the beautiful innkeeper Rosetta but draws attention to the Marquise de Montbricourt, favorite of the king, who comes from Versailles just to see him. She will saved his life and allow him to marry Rosetta.

Fred Barker, an unmarried American who remained in France after heroically defending the country during the Second World War, runs the perfume factory in Grasse of his friend Carlo Ferelli, whose life he saved during the conflict. Fred has since adopted a little girl, Cathy. One day, he receives a visit from Félix Mercier, an old man who informs him that he has taken Cathy into his custody and that he will return her to him when Fred finds his granddaughter Hélène, a 17-year-old teenager who accuses the factory of being a front for white slavery. Fred, dumbfounded, sets out to find Hélène, so he can quickly get Cathy back.

Having become famous, a painter marries his model whom he soon brings to despair by deceiving her.

Hector Dumontier has had enough of his wife Noémie : she is always immersed in those detective stories he disapproves of. To teach her a lesson, Dumontier decides to simulate the burglary of their house, with the help of an alleged jewel thief masked by a hood. He creates many false leads and everybody in the house gets suspected, from Ernestine, the maid, to Cabassol, the chauffeur, to Rosine, the Dumontiers'daughter. The disorder is complete and the various police detectives in charge do not help much.

In a Provençal village, two jolly good fellows, Boule and Pons, decide to dress as Saint Anthony and Saint Nicholas for the distribution of presents to the children on the feast of Saint Nicholas. They unfortunately get killed by a cart and find themselves in Hell where Lucifer and his demons duly torment them. They are saved by a prayer which helps them to climb the stairway to Paradise. Saint Peter, taken in by the applicants' disguise, lets them in. When the two true Saints show up, trouble follows. Luckily, thanks to the intervention of the Virgin Mary, the two friends are acquitted at their celestial trial and allowed to return to Earth.

When Paul returns to claim his estranged father's department store, he faces a frosty stepmother and a rebellious half-sister. His determination revives the once-thriving Galeries Parisiennes, healing familial rifts, and leaving a lasting bond with wise Marie-Louise.

In this French crime drama, a young man gets revenge upon the criminals who caused his grandfather to kill himself. Unfortunately, the fellow doesn't realize how bad the criminals are. Fortunately, a kindly hooker, who does know the crooks, saves him from the same fate.

Léon Ménard, the village verger, is a decent young man whose hobby is to play the accordion. One day he is fired for having accompanied Mary Pinson, a singer deemed scandalous by the right-minded parishioners. Blinded by his love for Mary, Léon follows her to Paris where he becomes her plaything. With Mary's complicity, a gang of swindlers make him the puppet proprietor of a night club. But Léon can't live in a fool's paradise forever and soon finds himself on the street, forsaken and desperate. Luckily, the manager of a circus notices him while he is busking and he hires Léon at once. Not only will success come to him but he will win the love of sweet Solange.

Robert Montfort, happily married to Solange, is his parents-in-law's pet aversion though. To them he is a punk, a good for nothing, a small-time, untalented poet! Robert, who is more gifted than what they think, manages, following a workmate's recommendation, to debut as an entertainer in a nightclub and -even better- to please the audience. Not daring tell the truth to Solange he starts leading a double life, being Robert Montfort in the daytime and Jean Rigobert at night. Of course his wife wonders what is going on and worries about his regular night outings. Only too happy, her parents incite her to have a divorce. Fortunately, all comes right in the end.