Les Ôtages / The Mayor's Dilemma

This film takes place in 1914, and analyzes the reactions of a French village "under the German boot" during the First Battle of the Marne, on September 1914.  Two teenagers experience a love story like Romeo and Juliette. A German officer has been killed, and the occupiers demand five hostages in retaliation, all sentenced to execution if the guilty party does not come forward. Through an incredible coincidence, one of the hostages is town mayor Charpin, who not only knows the killer's identity, but is also an accessory after the fact. A rather abrupt and unexpected turn of events provides the film with a happy ending, especially for the young lovers Pierre (Jean Paqui) and Annie (Annie Vernay), whose forbidden rendezvous precipitated the killing in the first place.