In occupied France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, a beautiful young laundress, Elizabeth Rousset (Simone Simon), shares a stage coach ride from Rouen, France with a group of condescending nobles and businessmen and their wives, a political firebrand named Jean Cornudet (John Emery (actor)) and a young priest on his way to his new assignment (Edmund Glover). When they stop for the night at a village controlled by Prussian Lieutenant von Eyrick, known to his fellow officers as "Mademoiselle Fifi" (Kurt Kreuger), their coach is held up until the laundress agrees to "dine" with the lieutenant. Unlike her social betters, who have all fraternized with the enemy, and had them as guests in their homes, Elizabeth is a simple patriot, and will not eat or consort with the invaders of her country, so the coach cannot go on. The group finally convinces her that it would be best for France for them to get on with their business, and she concedes. While she is closeted with the arrogant Prussian, whose aim is to humiliate and degrade her, the rest of the travellers celebrate their deliverance by getting drunk on champagne, and following the progress of the evening's encounter through the sounds coming from upstairs.
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Robert Wise |
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