Avant le déluge (1954)
Directed by André Cayatte

Film Synopsis

In the early 1950s, Jean Arnaud, Daniel Epstein, Richard Dutoit and Philippe Boussard are four friends who attend the same school.  Like his father, who was a collaborator during the war, Richard is an unapologetic anti-Semite.  He has a crush on Liliane Noblet, the daughter of one of his teachers.  On learning that his mother is having an affair with a smuggler who is a business associate of his father, Philippe attempts to extort money from her.  Jean leads a sheltered life because of his over-possessive mother.  When France is drawn into the war in Korea, Jean and his friends are convinced that another world war is imminent.  To save themselves from perishing in a nuclear exchange they intend taking refuge on a remote island in the Pacific.  To pay for their transport costs they commit a robbery which goes badly wrong.  Jean unwittingly causes the death of a watchman...