Mauvaise Graine (English: Bad Seed) is a 1934 French action comedy directed by Billy Wilder (in his directorial debut) and Alexander Esway.

The screenplay by Wilder, Jan Lustig [de], Max Colpet, and Claude-André Puget focuses on a wealthy young playboy who becomes involved with a gang of car thieves.

Dr. Pasquier sells his son's beloved Buick roadster, which Henri later sees parked on a street with the keys left in the ignition by the new owner.

At the garage, Henri is introduced to the childlike Jean-la-Cravate, who invites him to stay at his flat with him and his sister Jeannette, who lures men away from their expensive cars so her brother's fellow henchmen can steal them.

Perceiving Henri and Jeannette to be troublemakers, the leader sends them to Marseilles in a car with a damaged front axle, hoping it will crack and crash, killing the two.

When Billy Wilder arrived in Paris from Berlin on March 1, 1933, he settled in the Hotel Ansonia, a haven for members of the German film industry who had fled from their homeland to escape the encroaching threat of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Among those living there were actor Peter Lorre, composers Franz Waxman and Friedrich Hollaender, and screenwriters Jan Lustig and Max Colpet, who agreed to help Wilder develop a plot he had conceived in Berlin.

In order to secure financing from a producer, they needed someone with directing credits to join their project, and Alexander Esway accepted their invitation.

[4] Without making specific reference to the extent of Esway's participation in the film, Wilder later recalled, "I directed out of pure necessity and without any experience.

The sole bonus feature is Joie de Vivre, an animated short subject released the same year as Mauvaise Graine.