Charles Blavette

In the 1920s, the Provence is a magnet for immigrants seeking work in the quarries or in the agriculture. Many mingle with locals and settle down permanently - like Toni, an Italian who has moved in with Marie, a Frenchwoman. Even a well-ordered existence is not immune from boredom, friendship, love, or enmity, and Toni gets entangled in a web of increasingly passionate relationships.

During WW2, Thérèse lost her husband; he had been reported missing in Germany. In her small bistro, she is still waiting, waiting... One days she spots a tramp on the street (George Wilson). Might he be the one? (IMDB Comments)

Etienne Alexis, a candidate for president of the new Europe, is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eliminate passion. His wealthy household (his family owns chemical corporations that will profit from his ideas) is stiff, intellectual, and sterile. To celebrate his engagement to a German cousin, he hosts an aseptic picnic, where mother nature asserts herself. (imdb)

In this little Provencal village, a new baker, Aimable, settles down. His wife Aurelie is beautiful and much younger than he. She departs with a shepherd the night after Aimable produces his first breads. Aimable is so afflicted that he can not work anymore. Therefore, the villagers, who initially laughed at his cuckoldry, take the matter very seriously (they want the bread) and organize a plan to find Aurelie and to bring her back to the bakery. (imdb)

After the young people abandon their French village for the city, middle-aged poacher Panturle (Gabriel Gabrio) longs to revive the area. Soon a knife grinder, Gedemus (Fernandel), arrives at the village with his companion, young Arsule (Orane Demazis), whom he treats harshly.

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband... but even once the deed is done, they must live with the consequences of their actions. (imdb)

Andre Laurent, the captain of a tugboat, married Yvonne ten years ago. She has a heart disease but does not want to tell him. She dreams he quits the job for they can live quietly. One night, during a sea rescue, he meets Catherine. She wants to leave her husband, the captain of the rescued ship. She is a beautiful and unusual woman. (imdb)

In reaction to the Fascism spreading through Europe, the French communist party commissioned this film extolling the virtues of collectivism.

Manon des Sources, directed by Marcel Pagnol, tells the story of Manon, a girl living in the mountains, who decides to block the spring supplying the water to the village. Manon wants to have revenge on the inhabitants of the village that ignored her father when he was killing himself to find precious water for his own land. (imdb)

Cigalon (Alexandre Arnaudy) manages a restaurant in a small town in Provence. A chef with a high opinion of his past culinary achievements, he makes no effort to attract customers and is rude to those who venture into his establishment expecting to be fed. To Cigalon, gastronomy is the greatest of all the arts, and so he is naturally aghast when a former laundress named Madame Toffi (Marguerite Chabert) opens a restaurant next door to his.

An old man sells his orchard, but when the new owner wants to cut the trees down, he threatens with suicide.

An itinerant, hunchbacked worker falls for a woman from afar, but is prevented by his handicap from expressing his feelings. Thus he vicariously romances her by smoothing the path of her relationship with a handsome villager.

Old Félix, a prosperous landowner in Haute Provence, will be expropriated because a dam is being built on the River Durance and his estate is to be flooded. He receives thirty million francs in compensation but dies soon after. Hortense, his only daughter, inherits the money but the trouble is that Félix has hidden the loot somewhere and it is nowhere to be found... (Guy Bellinger)