While Paris Sleeps (1932 film)  While Paris Sleeps is a 1932 drama film directed by Allan Dwan. Jacques Costaud, a French war veteran is sentenced to life in prison for killing a man but soon escapes from a penal colony in French Guyana. He then flees to Paris to find his daughter Manon, who believes him dead. Now he must try to keep her from being abducted into a life of prostitution and keeping his true identity a secret.