Plot
On a rainy afternoon in Paris, debonair actor Phillipe Martin (Francis Lederer) goes to a darkened movie theatre for a romantic assignation with his married mistress, Yvonne (Liev De Maigret), but sits in the wrong seat and kisses instead lovely Monique Pelerin (Ida Lupino), the daughter of a powerful publisher (Joseph Cawthorn). Monique, who is engaged to powerful Count Alfredo Donstelli (Erik Rhodes), makes a public accusation against Phillip, and the priggish head of the Purity League (Eily Malyon) exploits the incident until it becomes a national scandal, with Phillipe dubbed "The Kissing Monster." When Phillipe is tried, his defense is that he was overcome by Monique's beauty, and that it is a Frenchman's nature to be romantic, even to perfect strangers. His punishment is to spend just three days in jail, but when he is released, he discovers that Monique has paid his fine, supposedly to avoid more publicity, but actually because she is secretly attracted to him. In the meantime, the tabloids have made Phillipe into a national hero, and instead of his producer, Maillot (Roland Young), firing the actor, he gets a raise. His new show will have him re-enact the kissing incident, but on the day of the opening Monique's father has him arrested, only be released when Yvonne, who turns out to be the wife of the Minister of Justice, convinces him to allow Phillipe to do his performance. At the show, Phillipes finds that Monique has taken the place of the actress he was to re-enact the kiss with.
Read more about this topic: One Rainy Afternoon
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