Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.

A young journalist, abandoned by her wealthy lover, sets out with a musician inventor to stage a musical.

Francois always despised the textile barons who ruled his local town. But he fell in love with the family heiress Gilberte. Ten years ago, he would have married her. Now only hatred holds them together. Francois is accused of murder. A hooker and a football star lie slaughtered. He thinks he has been framed by the mob. Going underground, he finds that the trail leads all the way to the top - to Gilberte's family. He needs friends. And friends are hard to come by in his town.

Journalist Claude Leroy (Jacques Champreux) reports that a secret society, The Companions of Baal, is behind a hold-up in the small town of Blaingirey. They are led by the Grand Maître Hubert de Mauvouloir (Jean Martin). An adorant of Lucifer, he aims to enslave the world. Accompanied by their acolyte, Pierrot Robichat (Gérard Zimmermann), and a young girl, Françoise Cordier (Claire Nadeau), Claude Leroy is determined to finally reveal the mysteries of the group's criminal enterprise.

A light philosophical movie about a painter who has the ability to produce paintings that can feed people's stomach by watching them.

A French resistance group frees twelve captured soldiers from a German prison camp, but apparently there is an additional prisoner among them who is suspected of being an enemy spy.

Soon after her latest husband death, the King himself (Louis XIV) meets with our heroine and begs her to help convince the Persian Ambassador to agree to a treaty. However, what they didn't realize was that the handsome Persian was in fact a sexual sadist. So, it is up to the King's half- brother, some Hungarian prince, to save Angélique from the evil troll's clutches.

A young boy lives in a popular part of Paris with his mother...

On prize-giving day, a few dunces recall various incidents that marked their school year.

Myra, daughter of the circus king, has been kidnapped in South America. Or so her father believes. In reality, Miss Shumway has escaped into the Indian jungle in the company of a conjurer. Millan, a mischievous and adventurous journalist, tracks down the young woman in the Indian sector of Tamazunchale. They get to know each other and Myra tells the young man what drove her to flee her father. But she's run out of money and expects her adventure to come to an end soon. Then she meets a man named Doc, who suggests she contact an old Indian sorcerer.

Enigmatic gangster Silien may or may not be responsible for informing on Faugel, who was just released from prison and is already involved in what should be a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisting, and multilayered policier, who will be left to trust?

When his uncle Paul died, Lucien Berlemont inherited a telescope and a sextant, which only aggravated his aversion to the high seas. At the age of 20, he began taking clandestine navigation courses. During his vacations in St-Lunac, even Mr. Dumesnil's daughters struggled to distract him from his marine reveries. But one evening, he inadvertently finds himself locked up with Marie-Angeline; the consequences of this prolonged evening force him to make a decision and commit himself, for better or for worse, to one of the Dumesnil girls.

Géo Paquet, aka The Gorilla, breaks from jail. Now an escaped convict, the elite agent must infiltrate a dangerous gang working for a foreign embassy as their leader, a spy enjoying diplomatic immunity, can't be arrested by regular police.

Jean-Paul is a Frenchman who yearns to live in communist Czechoslovakia. His wish is granted when, mistaken as a masseur of a French boating team, he manages to elude the democratic authorities long enough to scamper over the Czech border.

A beautiful 18-year-old orphan escapes from a reformatory and hooks up with a gang of jewel smugglers, and decides on a life of crime. However, she falls for and marries a policeman, putting a crimp in her criminal career.

A bossy count has trouble marrying off any of his six sons. When one of them, Adam, finally makes wedding arrangements, something happens to his bride to be: she develops amnesia after an accident.

Greece, in the 1920s, is occupied by the Turks. The country is in turmoil with entire villages uprooted. The site of the movie is a Greek village that conducts a passion play each year. The leading citizens of the town, under the auspices of the Patriarch, choose those that will play the parts in the Passion. A stuttering shepherd is chosen to play Jesus. The town butcher (who wanted to be Jesus) is chosen as Judas. The town prostitute is chosen as Mary Magdalene. The rest of the disciples are also chosen. As the movie unfolds, the Passion Play becomes a reality. A group of villagers, uprooted by the war and impoverished, arrive at the village led by their priest. The wealthier citizens of the town want nothing with these people and manipulate a massacre. In the context of the 1920s, each of the characters plays out their biblical role in actuality.

La Garçonne is a 1957 French film directed by Jacqueline Audry. It follows Monique, an ingenue and a clueless girl who believes in true love. When she discovers her future husband has a lover, she rebels against her bourgeois life:s he will lead a free and wild life and she will live like a man. Soon she becomes the toast of Gay Paris, sleeping with all the men around, and even with a woman.

In the 1880s, Georges Duroy, back from the Colonies, arrives in Paris with the firm intention of conquering the capital through his power of seduction, his selfishness and cynicism. Entering into journalism through the back door he will soon rise to the top with the support of several women: Madeleine Forestier, the wife of his journalist friend Charles; Clothilde de Marelle, his first mistress; Virginie Walter, the wife of a newspaper owner; Suzanne Walter, her daughter who eventually marries Duroy.

The short stories of Guy de Maupassant enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1950s, thanks in great part to the Max Ophuls production Le Plaisir. In Trois Femmes, three De Maupassant stories are dramatized, each conveying the central theme of women falling in love. In the first, a black female carnival entertainer causes an uproar when she falls in love with a white soldier. In the second, a young bride is pressured into having a baby to collect a huge inheritance. And in the final episode, a pregnant girl is "adopted" and protected by a small circle of friends. In standard De Maupassant fashion, each of the three stories in Trois Femmes is capped by a surprise twist.

François wants to buy a house to help underprivileged children. He lacks money, but a generous donor allows him to realize this dream.

A French squadron of camel drivers pursues a group of looters across the Sahara Desert. After experiencing heat, fever, and peril, the squadron finds the looters, but also lose their captain. The lieutenant takes command, leading the remaining men of the squadron back across the desert to their fort.

In a settlement in the northern mining country. The Marles, Bréhard and Gohelle families wake up and prepare for a new day at work. The young engineer Larzac, newly appointed to the mine, will soon oppose the authoritarian and conservative methods of his superior Dubard. Georges Gohelle would like to marry Marie Bréhard, but housing difficulties thwart their plans. Brezza, a Polish immigrant, who must return to his country, would like to hate his marriage to Louise Gohelle. Roger, Marie's little brother, has just turned 14. He does not want to go down to the mine as his elders have always done. He will however have to resign himself to it. Marles evokes for him the social struggles of 1906. Roger is injured during a landslide. In front of his family and his friend Marles, who had come to the hospital, he announced his decision to continue his profession. Larzac, invited to the Marles, reveals that he refused a quiet position at the Charbonnages de Paris. He too stays.

Film in two eras.1st era: They are not angels. Chronicle of a Free French parachute training camp during the Second World War. 2nd era: Terre de France. A group of paratroopers landed in Brittany sabotages the German installations.

Nicole tries to seduce a young man who lead a bohemian life in an untidy flat with his three pals.

Madame Millois, an ambitious mother, thinks she has found the perfect match for her daughter Arlette, Count de Tremblay-Matour. Alas, the ideal husband happens to be a crook. On the night of the wedding, the fake nobleman robs his wife and abandons her. While the outraged Madame Millois looks for the real Count de Tremblay, Arlette seeks consolation with Maxime, a childhood friend. At last, the real count is found. Unsurprisingly, he is furious to learn that, legally, he is Arlette's husband. After a while though, he mellows and accepts to "remain" Arlette's husband.

It's a sailors' story; they often sail away and when they return, the first thing they do is searching girls in the harbor. One of them -Jean- is shy and he does not know how to go with women. One day, he meets Yvonne and falls in love with her. But, alas, she prefers his good friend René. Another suitor, Pierre, owns the "À la Belle frégate" a café where Yvonne works as a waitress. Madam(e )Juliette, pretends she helps Yvonne and tries to make her an "entraineuse"(hostess) for less-than -handsome guests. But the girl knows better and will choose one of her suitors.

Claude is a young man whose girlfriend has just broken up with him. Feeling unable to overcome the pain, Claude has no other idea than to end his life. Back home, he finds five middle-aged or elderly men sitting at the dinner table but he refuses to join the guests and goes upstairs to his bedroom. The worst is prevented thanks to a servant who has caught sight of Claude's revolver. Claude 's uncle joins his nephew and manages to persuade him not to take action. He takes him downstairs to the dining room where each in turn, the five guests start telling their own story. For it happens that they too once had their heart broken and that they too once wanted to die for love.

The itinerant musician Lampluche, having found a musical score on the banks of a river and a full wallet, was taken to the neighboring town for the famous composer Maxence Leroy. The inhabitants of the small town only dream of music, so Lampluche is very well received. But Maxence Leroy arrives in the city.

A would be blind hoodlum redeems himself in the Salvation Army just for a lovely lieutenant.

Marceline, a fearless 17-year-old girl, is expelled from her boarding school. Her adoptive parents then sent her to a stricter school.

Once their military service is over, the instrumentalists of a regimental orchestra find themselves in civilian life and decide to run a hotel themselves on the Côte d'Azur.

In a café, sitting around a table, a journalist is explaining to three fellow-compatriots what he saw on the Maginot Line at the borders between France and Nazi Germany.

As Hélène is conveying her husband's body across the Sahara, her convoy is attacked by looters. The young widow survives only to be taken to a remote desert village called Tirzit amidst a band of lonely, ailing men. She meets her husband's partner who tries to kill her. Hélène does not report him to the police but is curious to learn the reasons for his action. Before dying of a terrible fever, the man confesses that he murdered her husband.

Lucien Bourrache, a good looking non-commissioned officer at the Spahis, is used to charm many women. He met Madeleine Courtois at Cannes. She is beautiful and lives in luxury. He lends her a large amount of money, which she loses gambling. Then she drops him. But Lucien is now in love, and once demobilized, he goes to Paris to find her again. But he's not so sexy without his uniform, and Madeleine and him do not belong to the same milieu.

A rich sugar factory manager wants to marry his daughter to an aristocrat, while the young girl is in love with an engineer, employed in a rival company.

Three "spinsters" focus their attention very narrowly on their nephew, in his first phase of adulthood. Éloi, handicapped by his shyness, behaves a bit awkwardly. He falls under the unfortunate influence of a couple of haddocks. The love of a pretty blonde woman will save him from this embarrassment.

Pierre loves Agnès who prefers Clément, an aviator. Out of desperation, he will commit suicide. Agnès then concludes a pact with him. During the three months that Clément will be absent, Pierre will be able to see her as much as he wants. She thinks that this time will be enough for the young man to realize that she is not the ideal woman for him.

Popolka takes advantage of the absence of his shrew of a wife to indulge in the delights of single life. His manager showers him with favors because he is in love with a young woman whom he believes to be Popolka's wife. When Madame Popolka returns, the situation becomes confused...

A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the Belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police's description: his name is Amedee Lange, and he murdered somebody in Paris. Lange was an employee in a printing works. His boss was a real bastard, swindling every one, seducing female workers... One day he fled to avoid facing his creditors, and the workers set up a cooperative to go on working. What then made Lange a killer?

Ginette is always squabbling with her mother and she cannot take it any more. One day, she asks Jim Ashbury to intervene and this is how the son of a wealthy lord gets involved in the life of a pretty Jane Doe. Charmed by Ginette, Jim invites her to a cruise on the Mediterranean. It does not take long before Cupid sends his arrows at the two young people but things are not so simple for all that. Jim indeed fears Ginette might want to marry him for money, which is totally wrong. Fortunately, Lord Ashbury manages to persuade his stubborn son of his error.

A couple get married, not out of love, but to get away from their families. When they run out of gas and have to stop at a mountain hotel, they discover their love is now real.

Under two different names, a journalist writes for two newspapers with opposing political doctrines and finds himself forced to fight a duel with himself.

Grégoire Vachette is a bashful librarian, forced to listen to the daily boasting of his colleague Courgéan, a great seducer according to what he says. But when, while on holiday, Grégoire meets beautiful Madeleine, the shy young man becomes fired up. Back to his place of work, he can't help communicating his enthusiasm for Madeleine, so much so that he too is taken for a Don Juan. But Madeleine is not for him. Nevertheless, his unexpected change of attitude will have helped him to conquer the heart of Denise, a typist who loved him in secret.

To win the heart of a rather simple minded young man who doesn't seem to care much for women, a young foreign lady takes a job as the chambermaid to the man's sister in law.

Georges is a lover of women, of all women, without exception. One fine day, a young girl like no other, a savage, will come into his life. Will Georges fall in love and experience the joys of marriage despite his love of women?

It is one thing to open a beauty salon (which Edwige and her young lover Gaston have just done) but it is another to keep it on its feet.To best promote their speciality, fountain-of-youth treatments, Edwige decides to apply to the letter the old slogan "It pays to advertise" by posing as... Gaston's mother, a sixty-year-old woman, miraculously grown younger.

Not content to be an austere judge, M. de Méricourt is also a domestic tyrant. He terrorizes his son René to such an extent that the young man has dared not confess to him that he has married. As can be guessed, a lot of confusion ensues.

When his wife storms out of a dinner planned for the American boss, because the dog isn't allowed to be at the table, an engineer substitutes his secretary and pretends she is the wife.

A poor boy lives in the attic of a luxury house. During a party, he pays court to an elegant young woman who, without warning him, surprises him at his home.

Josyane Plaisir, a rather idle singer, who is waiting for the man of her heart,handsome and rich if possible, accepts the offer of a dog handler. The clever man has worked out a scheme to snare rich men. The trick is simple: "Pantoufle", the little dog he lets for 5,000 francs a week, will run off, climb into a luxurious car with only one man inside and "retrieve" him to Josyane, since her address is stuck to the dog's collar. René, the first man who rings her door-bell, is single (or nearly so!), good-looking but ... broke.

When one of their number tries to tear away the veil from the face of a woman of Morocco, five French tourists find themselves cursed by an Arabic sorcerer to die in a specified order before the next new moon appears - and one by one, in different ways, they begin to die as predicted...

Marceline, the young wife of the florist Jean, can't help flirting with other men, but her brother Clo-Clo takes the poor husband's side against his sister.

Debt-ridden painter Michel is overcome with joy at discovering that he has just won 1 million florins in the Dutch lottery, but almost immediately, he discovers that his softhearted girlfriend, Béatrice, has given away his jacket containing the winning ticket to an elderly petty thief. Soon Michel, Beatrice and Michel's artistic rival, Prosper, are hurtling through the streets of Paris on the trail of the missing jacket.

A poor youth of noble birth needs to marry. Will the cynical, calculating upstart who wants to set him on the right course be able to help?

Willy, Jean and Guy are broke, so they sell their car and open a filling station. Then they all fall in love for the same girl. Simultaneously filmed French version of the German musical "Die Drei von der Tankstelle".

A naval officer has to abandon a young girl he has rescued as a stowaway, to the mercies of his sleazy show business mother and her plans.

Pivoine, a tramp living on the docks near Notre Dame, Macaroni and Georgette are his companions in misfortune. Could no longer bear the insults of passersby and stone throwing children, Pivoine decided to move...

Wirsoq, who belongs to the type of cosmopolitan financier, gets into his power a young French aristocrat, Arthur de Sorgepois, and insists that the boy's sister should marry him. The girl is in love with a young artist, Pierre Levannier, who secretly returns her affection, but does not declare himself at this critical moment because he is not rich enough to support a wife.

Story of a woman who thinks she prefers a life of glory on stage in Paris to life with her Scottish lord of a husband in his castle.

Set in Brussels, where Suzanne Beulemans, the daughter of a rich brewer is promised to marry Séraphin Meulemeester, the son of a rival brewer. The young man and his father both seem particularly motivated by the dowry of the young fiancée. But Séraphin has a rival in Albert Delpierre, a young Frenchman who is learning brewery from Ferdinand Beulemans and who is discreetly enamoured with the young woman. Albert learns Séraphin's secret that he is having an affair with a worker and that they have had a child. He promises Séraphin that he will never reveal any of it to Suzanne, but she is told by Isabelle, her maid.