Abandoned by the father of her child, the begging young mother desperately seeks refuge in a monastery church....

A girl in search of sailors lost in the Pacific.

Also known as Lilac, this early Anatole Litvak-directed talkie was based on a play by Tristan Bernard and Charles Henry Hirsch. The story bears traces of the Bertold Brecht-Weill piece The Threepenny Opera, with heroine Lilac (Marcelle Romeo) consorting with the criminal scum of Paris. Lilac falls in love with a handsome detective (Andre Luguet), but he doesn't let his emotions stand in the way of his duty, and in the end he reluctantly turns her over to the authorities. At $120,000, Coeur de Lilas was one of the most expensive movies to come out of France in 1931, but it more than made back its cost at the box-office.

Peut-on vraiment s’appeler Rothchild et n’être qu’un malheureux clochard ? Il semble que oui. Mais la condition sera de courte durée. Un compère astucieux saura bientôt attirer sur ce seul nom mythique richesse et pouvoir.

1921 film by Marcel L'Herbier

After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor's preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse's notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor's whereabouts, and capture him for good.