The knight Henri de Lagardère wants to avenge the death of his friend, the duke Philippe de Nevers assassinated by the prince de Gonzague, a few years before.
Director Jean Delannoy's immediate followup to his brilliant Les Jeux sont Faits was the more conventional Aux Yeux du Souvenir (aka Souvenir and To the Eyes of Memory). The film is based on a true story, wherein an France airliner managed to survive a journey from Rio De Janeiro to Dakar with two of its engines incapacitated. To this already intensely dramatic situation has been added a romantic subplot involving Claire Magny (Michele Morgan) and Jacques Forester (Jean Marais). The love story adds very little to the film; fortunately, neither does it detract from the film's overall quality. As was the case with many French productions of the 1940s, Aux Yeux du Souvenir benefits immeasurably from the Wagnerian musical score by Georges Auric.
Cruchadouze and Castaniet are two inseparable friends. One day they decide to leave Arcachon to try the adventure in Bordeaux. After various odd jobs, they come into contact with Betty Florent, the banker's wife. This one has just been contacted by a former accomplice who blackmails him by offering him an insurance scam. A big bonus on the head of a simpleton. Cruchadouze was passing by.
A music-hall singer leaves his loving wife to run off with Delphine. The singer's wife and Delphine's husband make them believe that they love each other and the singer, already tired of his affair, wins back his wife's heart.
A young woman has doubts about her husband's fidelity. She pretends a trip, but settles in a hotel where her husband must pass. He meets her and, disturbed by the one he believes to be his wife's double, becomes her lover. Little by little the truth breaks through. The husband takes leave of the mistress and returns to the wife whose return has been announced.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the destiny of Félicie Nanteuil, a young girl from the provinces who became a big star on the stage thanks to a comedian who committed suicide out of love for her.