Based on Balzac's The Human Comedy, this action melodrama set in the time of Charles X was made in late 1943, during the German Occupation. Thus, Michel Simon's Vautrin comes across more as a Robin Hood than a thief and rogue, and statements such as, "The throne trembles from its very foundations, Sir! Under such circumstances it is better to have the services of a clever adventurer than an honest imbecile!" had a special political resonance. Vautrin escapes from a penal colony in Rochefort and, after killing and assuming the identity (and fortune) of a royal Spanish messenger, moves to the top of Parisian society. En route he meets a poor but ambitious young man (Georges Marchal) who becomes his puppet.