''While Paris Sleeps'' is a 1932 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Allan Dwan Allan Dwan (born Joseph Aloysius Dwan; April 3, 1885 – December 28, 1981) was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter. Early life Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Dwan was ...

and starring

Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British-American actor and boxer.Obituary '' Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. His film career spanned from the early 1920s through the 1950s, initially ...

, Helen Mack and Rita La Roy.The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:''..While Paris Sleeps''
/ref>

Plot

Jacques Costaud, a French war veteran is sentenced to life in prison for killing a man but soon escapes from a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. He then flees to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to find his daughter Manon, who believes him dead. Now he must try to keep her from being abducted into a life of prostitution and keeping his true identity a secret.

Cast

as Jacques Costaud * Helen Mack as Manon Costaud * William Bakewell as Paul Renoir *

Jack La Rue Jack La Rue (born Gaspare Biondolillo; May 3, 1902 – January 11, 1984) was an American film and stage actor. Early life and family Gaspare Biondolillo was the son of Sicilian immigrants Luigi Biondolillo (1874–1951) and Giuseppa Biondoli ...

as Julot * Rita La Roy as Fifi *

Maurice Black Maurice Black (January 14, 1891 – January 18, 1938) was an American character actor known for his portrayal of mobsters. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1928 to 1938, when he died of pneumonia, four days after his 47th birthday. ...

as Roca *

Dot Farley Dorothea "Dot" Farley (February 6, 1881 – May 2, 1971) was an American film actress who appeared in 280 motion pictures from 1910 to 1950. She was also known as Dorothy Farley. Biography Born in Chicago, Dorothea Farley was the daughter of ...

as the Concierge * Lucille La Verne as Mme. Golden Bonnet *

Paul Porcasi Paul Porcasi (1 January 1879 – 8 August 1946) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than 140 films from 1917 to 1945. Biography Porcasi sang with the Metropolitan Opera. One of his early non-operatic productions was ''The Country B ...

as Kapas * Edward Dillon as the Concierge's husband * Arthur Stone as Mouche * Martin J. Faust as Apache

References

External links

''While Paris Sleeps'' (1932 film)
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

''While Paris Sleeps'' (1932 film)
at

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

1932 films 1932 drama films American drama films Fox Film films Films directed by Allan Dwan American black-and-white films Films set in Paris 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language drama films {{1930s-drama-film-stub