Léon Arvel

Papa, Mama, the Maid and I (1954)

The residents of the apartment building on Rue Montmartre are a motley crew of oddballs and eccentrics. The daring son of a professor couple is in love with a sexy student who supplements her pocket money by working as an au pair. And then there's Monsieur ...

Matrimonial Agency (1952)

Noël is a bachelor who inherits a matrimonial agency. After contemplating selling it, he chooses to manage it. ...

Diary of a Country Priest (1951)

An inexperienced, sickly priest shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't take kindly to the priest, and his ascetic ways and unsociable demeanor make him an outcast. During Bible stud ...

In the Eyes of Memory (1948)

Director Jean Delannoy's immediate followup to his brilliant Les Jeux sont Faits was the more conventional Aux Yeux du Souvenir (aka Souvenir and To the Eyes of Memory). The film is based on a true story, wherein an France airliner managed to survive a jou ...

The Eleven O'Clock Woman (1948)

Stanislas Oscar Seminario, aka SOS, is a young explorer, just back from Africa, visiting old friends: the Pescara's. But the father keeps receiving anonymous letters. And soon a mysterious murder is committed. SOS begins to investigate... ...

After Love (1948)

Betrayed by his wife, a teacher proceeds to have an affair with a young and pretty student. The two women both find themselves expecting a child. The girl dies during childbirth. In a spirit of revenge and to keep his real son, the scorned husband exchange ...

The Scarlet Bazaar (1947)

Agnès Bonnardet leaves her parents to marry Claude Sironi, a painter who becomes famous but loses his talent. Meanwhile Agnes acquires a style of her own as an artist, which makes Claude jealous of his young wife. One day, he sends one of his own painting ...

Paris - New-York (1940)

The forbidden romance between wealthy Giselle Preville and impoverished journalist Claude Dauphin. When Preville disappears, Dauphin is accused of kidnapping by the girl's snobbish father Rene Alexander. By the time the Normandie reaches New York, however, ...

Cordial Agreement (1939)

The film depicts events between the Fashoda crisis in 1898 and the 1904 signing of the Entente Cordiale creating an alliance between Britain and France and ending their historic rivalry. It was based on the book King Edward VII and His Times by André Mau ...

Conflit (1938)

Claire Buisson becomes enamored with Gerard and soon afterwords she becomes pregnant. Gerard advises her to abort the child but, at the last moment, Claire decides to keep her child and leaves for her sister's place in the province. ...

Un fichu métier (1938)

Because of the escapades of Alexis, the Crown Prince of Vodenia, the kingdom is likely to lose the loan lent to them by a rich foreign banker. Baron Patcheff, a minister, decides then to replace the Prince by a double. The man chosen is Castin, a Parisian ...

The New Rich (1938)

The workers Legendre and Martinet have won a large sum in the national lottery. Instead of squandering it, they had the good idea to invest it in industry. Happy in business, they soon find themselves at the head of a fortune. But their characters are very ...

Orage (1938)

The mistress of an engineer meets the man's pregnant wife and decides to give up the liaison. ...

Sisters-in-Arms (1937)

During the war from '14-'18, two women travel by foot in the North of France and Belgium to aid an organization to provide information to the English ...

Yoshiwara (1937)

Based on a novel by Maurice Dekobra, the film is set in Yoshiwara, the red-light district of Tokyo, in the nineteenth century. It depicts a love triangle between a high-class prostitute, a Russian naval officer, and a rickshaw man. ...

La Chanson du Souvenir (1937)

A French-language remake of Douglas Sirk's "The Court Concert" (1936). ...

Blanchette (1937)

Blanchette, unable to find a job, prostitutes herself in Paris. She then finds the man she loves when her morale is at its lowest. ...

Un mauvais garçon (1936)

Monsieur Serval has made a deal with his daughter Jacqueline. She can be a lawyer and act her own way provided that, in a given period of time, she becomes a great name of the profession. If she does not, she must pledge herself to marry the son of a rich ...

With a Smile (1936)

A tramp learns that even honesty won't help him overcome his struggles to prosper. After a man tells him that he needs to smile in order to succeed, he turns his attitude around and he becomes successful. ...

Mister Flow (1936)

While still behind bars, a crook manages several schemes including one that almost gets his penniless young lawyer into trouble.The crook's mistress, married to a rich man, then becomes attracted to the lawyer. ...

Une gueule en or (1936)

The Marquis de Barfleur, an unattractive man, decides to resort to plastic surgery to ensure the fidelity of Colette, his young mistress. Now endowed with a face to die for, he is about to achieve his goal. But the Marchioness de Barfleur, the Marquis' lov ...

The Fear (1936)

A lady who had a secret affair lives in fear. ...

Baccara (1935)

A rich banker is actually a crook. His mistress, an alien, wants to become French and the only way is to marry a Frenchman. ...

Flight Into Darkness (1935)

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 ...

Mysteries of Paris (1935)

Towards the end of the 19th century, the Duke of Gerolstein traveled to Paris. Sixteen years earlier he had a daughter who was taken from him by her mother who was chased out of the palace. After many dramatic adventures, the Duke finds his daughter in the ...

Speak to Me of Love (1935)

A young girl marries an attractive but very busy businessman. So busy, that on the wedding day, he has no hesitation in taking an unexpected trip. ...

Dark Eyes (1935)

In 1913, in Russia, a widower hides from his daughter that he is a butler in a meeting restaurant. She meets a banker who is trying to seduce her and takes her to this restaurant. The father, knowing the decadent life of this client, immediately sends his ...

Sacrifice of Honor (1935)

Before the Battle is the English-language title of this espionage melodrama. The first half of the film takes place aboard a French cruising ship, steaming through dangerous waters during WWI. Among the passengers is heroine Jeanne (Annabella), who was onc ...

Itto (1934)

Filmed in French Morocco, Itto's dialogue is spoken primarily in the tribal Chleuh language. The jingoistic story concerns a series of clashes between French occupational forces and a rebellious Chleuh chieftain. Itto (Simone Berriau), chief's daughter, be ...

Le Prince Jean (1934)

Following a quarrel with his father, Prince Jean joined the Foreign Legion. When he returns, he finds his brother who, on the king's death, usurped his title, and the woman he loved, betrothed to another. Helped by a very rich and philosophical old uncle, ...

La flambée (1934)

A commander who had devised helpful defenses for his country kills a spy who'd tried to entrap him.The officer's young wife who had been thinking of leaving him for a minister, rallies to his side. ...

Le Bonheur (1934)

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 ...

Liliom (1934)

Two women love the same man in a world of few prospects. In Budapest, Liliom is a "public figure," a rascal who's a carousel barker, loved by the experienced merry-go-round owner and by a young, innocent maid. The maid, Julie, loses her job after going out ...

S. S. Tenacity (1934)

Bastien and Ségard decide to leave France for Canada. They buy tickets aboard a rickety craft, the Tenacity, that never quite seems able to leave port. While stuck there they both fall for the innkeeper's daughter, which causes them to rethink their Canad ...

We Are Not Children (1934)

In the spring of 1913, Jean Servin, a son of a family, became friends with Roberte, a little midinette. He leaves her a few months later to marry Cécile Breton. The years go by. Jean becomes an important businessman. One evening, he meets Roberte, who has ...

Criminal (1933)

A wrongfully convicted man finds himself suspected of a crime committed in his prison. ...

Love... Love... (1932)

The adventures of a pompous jeweler who refuses to listen to the advice of his level-headed employees. In due time, the jeweler is robbed, but his sharp-eyed subordinate manages to prevent the villains from getting very far. Wising up in a hurry, the jewel ...

Circulate! (1931)

David Golder (1931)

David is a poor but ambitious Polish Jew who reinvents himself as a powerful New York business magnate. After gaining wealth, he relocates to Paris, only to have his selfish and demanding wife squander his fortune. ...