Good-natured and devout, a French house painter takes the train to Rome, where he has decided to go on a pilgrimage. There he meets a scatterbrained dresser who has been assigned by a music hall star to bring her the gown she is to wear on stage. The two men get stolen by Cleo, a charming thief. Once in Rome, the painter finds himself penniless and the dresser without the gown...
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.
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.
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.
Following a broadcast on the radio, each of the listeners remembers these "little nothings" (the title is borrowed from a play by Mozart), which have often changed their lives.
Through the pattern of this film a ‘Test’ at Lord’s runs like a thread and a broadcast commentary on the match is imposed on the background of cricket as a game, a craft, an interest of a people, a piece of history.
Prosper Bourrache, who has the gift of the gab, is natural born street vendor. Due to a mistake he gets involved in the burglary of a shady banker's house.