A man who suffers from the delirium of persecution and to the point of trying to strangle his wife is interned. His brother, needing his signature for his own business, gets him out of the asylum with the complicity of a false magistrate and against the advice of the doctor.
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
The young and patriotic student Demachy joins the French army in 1914 to defend his country. But he and his comrades soon experience the terrifying, endless trench war in Champagne, where more and more wooden crosses have to be erected for this cannon fodder.
Philippe Lutcher, an anarchist, fires a shot at Clara Stuart, a famous stage and screen actress, but only wounds her. The star, through affectation and curiosity to know his motives, pleads in his favour at his trial, but he rebuffs her pity. After he has served 18 months in prison, they meet and fall in love.
Dr. Holk leads an isolated and lonely existence in a small, Dutch colony in the tropics. Having fled from love and civilization, his only companions now are alcohol and his work, which takes him to villages ravaged by dirt, fever and a strange illness which turns innocent people into madmen: Amok. One day, he is called on by Helene Haviland, who asks him to abort her lover's child before her husband returns from abroad. Even though Holk is enchanted by her seductive beauty, he haughtily refuses her request. Rejected, the woman turns to a Chinese practitioner. When Holk tracks her down in a dirty dive, it's already too late for the two of them.
Escaping from a policeman who has caught h.im with a stolen dog, Toto (Albert Préjean), a petty crook, hides in the apartment of a typist, Ginette (Renée Saint-Cyr). The two quickly fall in love, and after a brief incarceration, Toto returns to her and schemes to have her win a beauty contest.
During the First World War, before joining a squadron at the front in 1918, Herbillon (Jean-Pierre Aumont) has a liaison with Helene (Annabella), a married woman. The young man discovers that his mistress is none other than the wife of Maury (Charles Vanel), an aviator friend.
What starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Côte d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
Banker Jules Taffard, a true financier, is a shrewd money-handler. Imprisoned for an alleged swindle, his trial seems to be upsetting those in the government, who may not be so far removed from Taffard's affairs (Affaire Alexandre Stavisky). He escapes from La Santé prison without any difficulty, and the authorities don't seem to be doing anything to find him... Under the false name of Gédéon, he becomes a modest handyman in a corset shop run by Madame Génissier, whose morality is as pious as it is legendary. Her son, Hector Génissier, is a foolish young man with no ambition, much to the regret of his young wife, Fernande Génissier. But it won't be long before Gédéon shows his skills in expanding the modest family business. How far can Gédéon's ascent go before Taffard's voice resounds through Gédon?
A scandalised Frenchman returns from Africa where he has been involved in illegal trading of mines (resulting in the deaths of many African miners). His bourgeois family are wary of the shame that he will bring so he must try to redeem himself and his family's name.
Tartarin is the local hero in the small provincial town of Tarascon. He shows off about imaginary adventures in Africa, where he has never been, as a Lion Hunter, which he is only in his imagination. Even though the locals know he has never been to Africa, they keep hoping he will leave one day. After a misunderstanding, and much gossip, everyone thinks that Tartarin plans to actually take the trip.
Victor Berthier, a good man but also a very jealous one, killed his wife in a fit of jealousy. After serving a few years in a chain gang, he is released for good behavior. He feels very happy to be able to return to Paris and to meet Lise, his daughter, again. But, to his dismay, he finds that Lise, through the fault of André, her lover and pimp, has unwillingly committed a murder.
A respected gangster, Justin, finds himself in a deadly feud with his rival, the unscrupulous Esposito. The latter plans to steal a cargo of opium bound for China and to have Justin killed.
A poor disgraced girl, belonging to a gang of criminals, is morally transformed by a cosmetic operation that makes her beautiful.
An assistant pharmacist in the South of France , Blaise works for Mrs. Pinède, a well-endowed hot-blooded woman who has developed a crush on him, and her husband ... who hasn't! One day, Blaise meets Felloux, a rich man who is convalescing in Cassis. Felloux takes a liking to Blaise and decides to offer him a perfect day in Juan-les-Pins. Gambling in the casino, Blaise wins an astronomical sum. A new life seems to open to him but not for long. Indeed he loses all, but not before he has given a beautiful necklace to a young woman.
An opera singer travelling with her company on a passenger ship encounters a mysterious young man who she falls in love with.
Paris, 30's declared professional rivalry between two stars of the musical, Yvonne and Gaby leads to dire consequences. Yvonne's body is found in the theater. Gaby's future is threatened against the judgment to which it is subjected, with a probable prison sentence.
The Last Billionaire is a 1934 French comedy film directed by René Clair and starring Max Dearly, Marthe Mellot and Renée Saint-Cyr. The film is based on a fictional small European kingdom which is on the verge of going broke. Its French title is Le dernier milliardaire.
This relatively straightforward dramatic biography was one of two films commissioned to honor Joan of Arc on the 500th anniversary of her death, but it was soon undeservedly relegated to obscurity in favor of Carl Dreyer's triumphant 'La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc'. The comparison is unfair: Dreyer was an artist, but director Marco de Gastyne certainly proved himself a distinguished craftsman, and his emphasis on the Maid of Orléans early life in Domrémy serves as a picturesque, matching bookend to Dreyer's impassioned courtroom drama.
