Jerzy Skolimowski's 1970 British-Italian-Swiss comedy-adventure The Adventures of Gerard features Peter McEnery, Claudia Cardinale, Eli Wallach, and Jack Hawkins. It was based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1896 collection The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard. During the Napoleonic Wars, vain and arrogant French brigadier Etienne Gerard served. He plans to demonstrate why he is the greatest soldier and lover to have ever lived. A collection of eight short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Adventures of Gerard (The Adventures of Gerard in some versions) was first released on September 22, 1903, by George Newnes Ltd. From August 1902 through May 1903, these short pieces were first published in The Strand Magazine. The book is organized into parts that cover various periods of his life as a soldier serving under Napoleon, as well as his individual achievements and the romance that swept him off his feet in between. Some of the stories show bloody encounters with his foes and how he managed to flee those encounters, as is typical of combat stories. Even if the woman he encountered along the road is from their enemy, there were tender moments.