
Acting
Paul Meurisse (21 December 1912, Dunkirk – 19 January 1979, Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French actor who appeared in over 60 films and many stage productions. Meurisse was noted for the elegance of his acting style, and for his versatility. He was equally able to play comedic and serious dramatic roles. His screen appearances ranged from the droll and drily humorous to the menacing and disturbing. His most celebrated role was that of the sadistic and vindictive headmaster in the 1955 film Les Diaboliques. Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Meurisse, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.

A gangster escapes jail and quickly makes plans to continue his criminal ways elsewhere, but a determined inspector is closing in.

An aging gangster, Fernand Naudin is hoping for a quiet retirement when he suddenly inherits a fortune from an old friend, a former gangster supremo known as the Mexican. If he is ambivalent about his new found wealth, Fernand is positively nonplussed to discover that he has also inherited his benefactor’s daughter, Patricia. Unfortunately, not only does Fernand have to put up with the thoroughly modern Patricia and her nauseating boyfriend, but he also had to contend with the Mexican’s trigger-happy former employees, who are determined to make a claim.

Danielle Darrieux stars as Arabella Delvaire in this baroque adaptation of Pierre Benoit's novel Bethshabee. Arabella is a woman of the world who arrives at a remote Foreign Legion outpost for a rendezvous with her current lover, Captain Duveuil. It so happens that one of Arabella's previous amours, Captain Somerville (Paul Meurisse), is also serving at the same post. So much for joining the Foreign Legion to forget. A climactic knife duel "solves" the film's various plot complications. Despite its Foreign Legion background, Bethsabee has next to no action, which must have made things difficult when the film was distributed to the U.S.

In the south of France, the body of a 22-year-old American tourist, Candice Strasberg, is discovered in the middle of the scrubland. Two days of rain prior to the discovery of the body made it difficult to collect evidence at the scene, as the rain had washed away the footprints. Using the victim’s diary, the police are attempting to piece together her movements. The investigation is entrusted to Gaston Delarue, the public prosecutor of Tarascon; Gérard Souffries, the investigating judge; Commissioner Bonetti of the Marseille police; and Divisional Commissioner Bretonnet of the Paris police. Among the six suspects is Bernard Vauquier, the son of the President of the Senate. The investigation proves to be as complicated as it is sensitive. But who murdered or killed Candice Strasberg? Screenplay adapted from ‘La Pieuvre’, a novel by Paul Andreota, published in 1970.

New Europe presidential candidate Etienne Alexis is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eliminate passion. To celebrate his engagement to a cousin, he hosts an aseptic picnic, where Mother Nature asserts herself. A shepherd's flute conjures a windstorm throwing Alexis together with the luscious Nénette, a farm lass who, although unimpressed with men, wants to have a baby.

As Dominique Marceau is being tried for the murder of Gilbert Tellier, accounts by different witnesses paint a picture of the kind of relationship the two used to share.

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

An unconsummated marriage to fool the father who wants his heir to be wed.

In 1943, a German commando conceals a large quantity of gold in an undersea cave on the coast of Corsica. Years later, Schlumpf, the sole survivor of the commando, returns to Corsica to recuperate the treasure -- with British and Soviet spies on his heels, and closely monitored by Dromard, from the French intelligence services. The monocled Dromard is convinced that he can outfox his opponents, but difficulties accumulate: despite his plump appearance, Herr Schlumpf is a sly fellow; Corsica is teeming with treasure hunters from various nationalities; and all parties readily resort to unnatural alliances, brazen treachery, and strong-arm tactics. Who will get the treasure?

