Based on the popular stage play by Georges Courteline. The film is set in 1885. It focuses on a group of troops, a mix of regulars and reservists, and their different responses to the daily military routines. A crisis emerges when a General pays a visit while two deserters are still absent.
Two friends, Tricoche and Cacolet, are partners in a detective agency. Chance has it that Cacolet is hired by Van der Pouf, a rich banker who wants him to watch over his wife Bernardine while the latter, on her part, seeks the services of Thicoche.
Auguste, a somewhat simple-minded Provençal fisherman, loves and admires Mireille. This concerns only Maurice, son of an important wholesaler, whom scruples do not stifle.
Pursued by a rival gang after a violent robbery, Toni escapes with nearly thirty million francs. On the train to Paris, to avoid arousing suspicion, he has no choice but to threaten an honorable philosophy professor, Justin Mignonnet, with his gun, so that he will carry the loot for him.
The reservist Lafleur, having a wife, a mistress and still running after the first petticoat that comes along, his namesake, an active soldier, finds himself embroiled in the vengeance or intrigues that all these women are plotting.
Lafraise and Plumard, two rookies on the ship Le Victorieux, are on leave in the port of Toulon. At a time they get lost and in order to escape the Navy patrolmen, they disguise themselves and board a train.
The architect Georg Wall is sitting in his spacious Stockholm apartment. He has been waiting several hours since lunch for his significantly younger wife, Lola Wall, to appear.
In this murder mystery, sexy blonde film star Irma Gladden is found dead in her car after shooting the last scene in her film, "Falling Star" at Eminent Studios.
Eight Girls concerns an all-female rowing team with its own club-house. One of the team announces she pregnant and finds herself torn between men (father and fiancé) who want the child aborted and the women who want her to keep it and bring it up at the club.
Thelma and Zazu are on a leisurely excursion in a borrowed car. Thelma lets Zazu drive. When she brakes to avoid a bull pulled along by three rustics, her foot gets stuck and the car crashes through a barn.