[1] The film stars George Sanders[1] as a ruthless cad who uses women to rise in Parisian society, co-starring Angela Lansbury and Ann Dvorak.

[4] In Paris in 1880, Georges Duroy, an ex-soldier working as a poorly paid clerk, encounters his former comrade-in-arms, sickly journalist Charles Forestier.

He meets pretty young widow Clotilde de Marelle at a dinner party hosted by Charles and his wife.

Georges then tells her of his idea: to write a gossip column, Echoes, to be filled with innuendo and rumors that might in time influence politics and the stock exchange.

But Georges is pleased his column has helped overthrow the cabinet and made Laroche-Mathieu minister for foreign affairs.

Her husband and Laroche-Mathieu have fed him false information; the government is about to seize Morocco, contrary to what he has written in his column.

She is upset he is not even faithful to Madeleine and her, but Georges reads from a letter Clotilde once sent him saying she would always love him regardless of any cruelty and she would hide her jealousy.

The Walters invite the Duroys to their home to a viewing of a celebrated and costly painting (it is boldly coloured and full of evil-looking creatures).

Laroche-Mathieu is attracted to Madeleine, so he asks her to lead the foreign minister on to gain information and ensure that he does not deceive Georges again, at least that is what he tells her.

The 1945 painting The Temptation of St. Anthony by Max Ernst was shown on-screen, a brief splash of color in an otherwise black-and-white film,[2][4] having been the winner of a contest between invited artists; Ivan Albright, Eugene Berman, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, Dorothea Tanning, Leonor Fini, Louis Guglielmi, Horace Pippin, Abraham Rattner, Stanley Spencer and Ernst to create a work on the theme.

[7] Film critic Bosley Crowther condemned the painting as "downright nauseous" [2] but a contemporary review from Variety stated it was "one of the focal points of the story a la Dorian Gray, [] flashed on the screen the first time it’s shown in brilliant Technicolor for good effect.

"[8] Bosley Crowther, critic for The New York Times, panned the movie, stating, "it is incredible that a picture could be made from a Guy de Maupassant novel and be as tiresome as this.

"[2] He also complained that "everybody, from Mr. Sanders right on down through the whole list of love-laden ladies and fancifully costumed gents, acts as posily and pompously as they are compelled to talk.

"[2] A 1946 Variety review stated, "Confronted with the old problem of cleaning up a classic novel to conform to strict censorship codes, the production outfit has come up with a scrubbed-face version of the complete scoundrel depicted in Guy de Maupassant's novel Private Affairs of Bel Ami."

[8] The author John Strangeland, who wrote a book about Warren William, said that the film is a "tiresome bore" and "terribly dry".

Steve Daly wrote in a 1991 Entertainment Weekly article that "the video release of this film is happy news for fans of George Sanders' particular brand of cinematic spleen.