Writer Georges Duroy (George Sanders) is one social-climbing S.O.B. who does most of his climbing over the warm (and cold) bodies of women. He begins with Rachel(Marie Wilson)| a hanger-on in the cafes and Folies Bergere crowd| and then moves on to dally with Clotilde de Morelle (Angela Lansbury). Always striving to moveupward on the social scale| he ditches her to marry Madeleine Forestier (Ann Dvorak). Now he gets on the fast track. He persuades Madame Walter (Katherine Emery)|the wife of his publisher| to fall in love with him| and then compromises Madeleine to frame a divorce| so he can pursue Madame Walter's daughter| Suzanne (SusanDouglas| before somebody decided her later-married name was her most-often used screen name). He moves along so well that ere long he is in legal position to usurpthe title of one of France's most noble houses. The moral| at the end| is it is okay to mess with French women| but triffling with French titles is going too far.