Barbara Stanwyck

John Hay Forrest (George Gaynes), noted scientist and cheese-maker, dies in a single-vehicle car accident. Private investigator Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) is approached by Forrest's daughter, Juliet (Rachel Ward). She hires Rigby to investigate the death, which she thinks was murder. In Dr. Forrest's lab, Rigby finds two lists, one titled "Friends of Carlotta" and the other "Enemies of Carlotta", as well as an affectionately autographed photo of singer Kitty Collins, whose name appears on one of the lists. His search is interrupted by a man posing as an exterminator (Alan Ladd, in This Gun for Hire), who shoots Rigby in the arm and frisks the lists from the supposedly dead investigator. Rigby manages to find his way to Juliet's house, where she sucks out the bullet, snakebite-style, and points Rigby to the club at which Kitty sings. Juliet also reveals a note to her father from her alcoholic brother-in-law, Sam Hastings, which in turn reveals that Dr. Forrest gave him a dollar bill "for safekeeping". Despite warnings that the mentally disturbed Leona will not be of much use, Rigby calls Leona, who after a rambling discussion, hangs up (Barbara Stanwyck, in Sorry, Wrong Number). On the way out, Juliet asks Rigby to leave further news with her butler or cleaning woman. Mention of the latter causes Rigby to go berserk (a homage to the old Slowly I Turned vaudeville routine), due to his own father running off with the cleaning woman and his mother dying of a broken heart. Rigby tracks down alcoholic Sam (Ray Milland, from Lost Weekend) and gets Dr. Forrest's dollar, which has "FOC" (Friends of Carlotta) names scrawled on it - including Kitty Collins and Swede Anderson (Kitty's boyfriend). Rigby tracks down Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner, from The Killers) at the Brentwood Room. He asks if she's one of Carlotta's friends, which causes her to leave abruptly. He trails her to a restaurant, where she ditches her brooch into her soup. Rigby subsequently retrieves the brooch, which contains an "EOC" list, on which all names are crossed out, except Swede Anderson's. Rigby visits Swede (Burt Lancaster, from The Killers) but while Rigby prepares a "java", Swede is killed. Rigby calls Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart, from The Big Sleep), his mentor, for assistance. Juliet hands over a key from Dr. Forrest's desk, a key to a train station locker. The accompanying note, "most recent rat", tells Rigby to look for locker 1936, the last Chinese Year of the Rat. Upon exiting, she asks Rigby to call with any progress. Marlowe arrives, and picks up the EOC list to check against unsolved murders. Rigby goes to the train station to collect the contents of locker 1936, which contains more lists. A "handsome" guy (Cary Grant, from Suspicion) follows him onto a train but, Rigby puts him to sleep with the help of his harmonica. Rigby finds F.X. Huberman, whose name he found on one of the lists and who turns out to be a "classy dame", throwing a party (Ingrid Bergman, from Notorious). She flirts with Rigby (represented by Cary Grant's silhouette), then drugs his drink and steals the locker key (represented by Claude Rains' wine cellar key). Rigby wakes up back up at his office, where Juliet informs him that Sam Hastings fell out of a window to his death. She also has a New York Times reference for him from her father's office. The reference is to an article about a South American cruise ship called Immer Essen (German: Always eating) on whose last voyage Sam Hastings was a passenger. When Marlowe (Bogart, from The Big Sleep) calls, Rigby questions him about Walter Neff, the ship's owner, and learns that Neff cruises supermarkets looking for blondes. Juliet offers to dye her hair to serve as bait, but Rigby is protective of her as more than a client. He first tries to recruit Monica Stillpond (Veronica Lake, from The Glass Key), but she's not as willing. Next, he tries Doris Devermont (Bette Davis, from Deception), but he ruins his chances with her by strangling her for saying "cleaning woman". Then he successfully recruits Jimmie Sue Altfeld (Lana Turner, from Johnny Eager) and unsuccessfully attempts to make peace with her father (Edward Arnold, from Johnny Eager) by giving him a puppy. He then is beaten up by four thugs (Kirk Douglas and others, from I Walk Alone). After this, Rigby disguises himself as a blonde and meets Neff (Fred MacMurray from Double Indemnity). Rigby drugs him and finds documents about the Immer Essen, including a passenger list identical to an EOC list, and articles about the ship's imprisoned captain, Cody Jarrett, who refuses to talk to anyone about it but his mother. Rigby then dresses up as Jarrett's mother to visit Jarrett in prison without arousing the prison guards' suspicion (James Cagney from White Heat). He tries to win Jarrett's confidence by explaining the Friends of Carlotta are after him. Rigby doesn't learn anything from Jarrett though, so he cashes in a favor with the warden to act as a prisoner for a few days. Jarrett turns out to be a Friend of Carlotta after all, kidnaps Rigby on a jail break, and shoots him while he's still in the trunk of the getaway car. After sucking out a third bullet, Juliet leaves for the drugstore for medicine. On her way out, a call comes in from an old flame (Joan Crawford, in Humoresque). Juliet overhears parts of it, takes it to be a double dating by Rigby and closes the case. While Rigby is drinking, thinking himself betrayed by Juliet, Marlowe calls and tips Rigby off that Carlotta is an island off Peru (the island in The Bribe and also perhaps a nod to The Man Who Knew Too Much). At a cafe, Rigby finds Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner, from The Bribe) there. Carlos Rodriguez, a local policeman from Rigby's gun-running past, warns Rigby of the locals, including Kitty's new boyfriend, Rice. The next day, one of the characters Rodriguez warned Rigby of (Charles Laughton, from The Bribe) approaches him and tries to bribe Rigby into leave the island. Next, Kitty drops by Reardon's room. Carlos calls to tell him Rice is in town with a group of Germans when the telephone line is cut. Kitty then drugs Rigby's drink, causing him to pass out. He wakes up to see Rice (Vincent Price, from The Bribe) trying to suffocate him. After exchanging shots and chasing through the "Fiesta De Carlotta" fireworks celebration (much of it archived footage from The Bribe), Rigby shoots Rice and frisks the corpse for instructions leading him to a hideout where he finds Juliet, her father (actually still alive), and her butler, who introduces himself as Field Marshal Wilfried Von Kluck (Carl Reiner). Rigby and the Field Marshal compete about the right to explain what happened. It turns out that Dr. Forrest had been tricked into divulging a secret cheese mold by Nazis posing as a humanitarian organization. Once he discovered their true intent, to use the mold's corrosive properties to destroy America, he assembled a list of Nazi agents, the "Friends of Carlotta". Before he could divulge the names to the FBI, he was abducted, and his death faked to prevent a police investigation. The Immer Essen, a cruise ship passing by, witnessed the corrosive effects of the mold tests, making all passengers "Enemies of Carlotta" and targets for murder. Rigby is captured but Juliet gets the Field Marshal to say, "cleaning woman", causing Rigby to go berserk, break his chains and overpower the Nazis. While Juliet gets Rodriguez, the Field Marshal manages to pull one of the switches, destroying Terre Haute, Indiana, before being shot dead by Rigby. Rodriguez rounds up the other Nazis while Rigby shares a long kiss with Juliet.

After a singer loses his job at a coffee shop, he finds employment at a struggling carnival, but his attempted romance with a teenager leads to friction with her father. Charlie Rogers (Elvis Presley) is a leather-jacketed biker who's fired from a singing engagement after getting into a fight with a group of college toughs. While riding his cycle to the next gig, an irate dad runs him off the road when he flirts with his daughter. He's forced to hook up with a travelling carnival until his bike can be fixed. The carnival is run by a tough old broad, a broken-down drunk, and his nubile daughter. Along the way, Charlie (who's got a chip on his shoulder about being an orphan) somehow learns about family values from this vaguely dysfunctional one. A scheming rival carny shows up, based on the legend of Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's real-life manager.

In South America, after Jeff Dawson and Dutch Peterson's oil rigs are dynamited by local bandits, the two partners resort to risky transportation of nitroglycerin to raise money. In a hypothetical country in South America, Jeff Dawson and his partner Dutch Peterson have invested all their savings in a lease contract to explore oil. However, their expectation ruins when bandits blow the derrick of the oil well with dynamite and they get stranded in the town without any money. In despair, they accept the risky transportation of nitroglycerin to raise US$ 800.00 and Dutch is shot in the leg by road thieves; but Jeff discovers that their employer is a trickster and they area not paid for their job. When their former friend Paco Conway meets them, Jeff finds that he is a local tycoon and is married with Marina Conway, who had a past with him. Paco hires Jeff his foreman to help him with his eighteen oil wells while Dutch is recovering in the hospital. Meanwhile the criminals press Paco to pay US$ 50,000.00 otherwise they will blow his wells and Marina revives her love and desire for Jeff, leading the trio to a tragedy. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Mae Doyle comes back to her hometown a cynical woman. Her brother Joe fears that his love, fish cannery worker Peggy, may wind up like Mae. Mae marries Jerry and has a baby; she is happy but restless, drawn to Jerry's friend Earl. The bitter and cynical Mae Doyle returns to the fishing village where she was raised after deceptive loves and life in New York. She meets her brother, the fisherman Joe Doyle, and he lodges her in his home. Mae is courted by Jerry D'Amato, a good and naive man that owns the boat where Joe works, and he introduces his brutal friend Earl Pfeiffer, who works as theater's projectionist and is cheated by his wife. She does not like Earl and his jokes, but Jerry considers him his friend and they frequently see each other. Mae decides to accept the proposal of Jerry and they get married and one year later they have a baby girl. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil After ten long years of absence, Mae Doyle returns to her hometown of Monterey, California, disillusioned by the big-city lifestyle of New York. There, unattainable Mae's air of sophistication and confidence catches the eye of the hard-working, good-natured fisherman, Jerry, and his misogynistic, patronising, movie projectionist friend, Earl, who, right from the start, begins to court her. But, Mae has had her share of loser boyfriends, and even though she seems determined to spare an innocent her cynicism, she decides to take a second chance at love and marries Jerry. Now, one year and a baby daughter later, a silent undercurrent of unspoken desires and raw lust threaten Jerry's happiness. Once, Jerry promised that he would do anything for Mae. Is he prepared to lose everything in the aftermath of love? —Nick Riganas Without warning to anyone at her destination, Mae Doyle, having been east for ten years, returns home to the fishing community of Monterey, California to regroup in a sudden change in fortune having to do with her married politician lover having passed away and thus time away unfulfilled in her goal of a rich husband to take care of her. She moves back into the family cottage occupied by her brother, fisherman Joe Doyle, who is ambivalent to her return in they having different outlooks in life, he who just wants to settle down in their blue collar life with his cannery worker girlfriend, Peg. While Joe is concerned that Mae will give Peg, whose life experience has been relegated to Monterey, grand ideas of the world, Mae herself has to decide where her future lies as she catches the attention of two very different men. The first is Jerry D'Amato, Joe's boss, a simple man who lives with and is thus caregiver to his drunkard widowed father and his freeloading maternal Uncle Vince. Jerry wants a traditional family life with a wife who would look after him, while he in return would never hurt her, he thus being a "safe" but boring choice. The second is Joe's best friend, Earl Pfeiffer, who works as a projectionist at the movie theater. While Earl is already married, to a chorus girl on the road more often than she is at home, he too is a restless soul which manifests itself often in inappropriate behavior. While Mae understand someone like Earl more so than someone like Jerry, she also knows that Earl has the potential to be bad for her, especially in they being so like minded and in he seemingly and inherently not liking women. —Huggo

In a New York City apartment building, pregnant Helen Ferguson is knocking repeatedly at her ex-boyfriend's door. Steve Morley is inside with his new girlfriend, Irma, and won't open the door. Trying not to attract attention, Helen pleads for Steve's help. At last he slides an envelope under the door. It contains train tickets to San Francisco, which is Helen's hometown, and some money. Obviously he doesn't intend to do the right thing and marry Helen. In her haste to get away, she loses the money. Irma warns Steve that he had better not try to get rid of her that way. The train is crowded and Helen is forced to sit on her suitcase. A well-dressed young woman sees her and nudges her husband to give Helen his seat. She gratefully accepts and the two strike up a conversation. Her new friend is Patrice Harkness, who is also pregnant. She and her husband Hugh are traveling to the midwest to live with his family. Patrice is nervous about meeting them for the first time. She wouldn't even let Hugh send them a picture so they have no idea what she looks like. Patrice also mentions that she has no family left. Helen makes up a story about being widowed, which earns her Patrice's sympathy. When the dining car opens, Patrice and Hugh invite Helen to be their guest at dinner, sensing that she has very little money. In fact, all she has left is thirty-seven cents. Later, Patrice and Helen are in the washroom preparing for bed. Patrice shows Helen her wedding ring, which has their names engraved on the inside. Since she has cold cream on her hands, she gives Helen the ring to hold. Helen slips it onto her own finger. Just then the train gives a lurch and leaves the tracks. The women tumble to the floor and the last thing Helen hears is Patrice screaming for Hugh. Some time later, Helen half-regains consciousness in a hospital. The accident has caused her to go into labor and a c-section must be performed. She is delivered of a healthy son. When she wakes up, the first thing she notices are the beautiful flowers by her bedside and wonders who sent them. The nurse comes in and calls her Mrs. Harkness. Helen is still wearing Patrice's ring and realizes that they think she is Patrice. She tries to protest but is too weak. Her condition improves and the doctor is pleased. But he must break the news to her that her husband did not survive. Again Helen protests that there has been a mistake, she has to make them understand. But the doctor gives her a sedative, assuming that she is in denial about her husband's death. Wanting to ask about Patrice, Helen tells the nurse that there was another woman with her in the washroom. The nurse says they have no identification for her, only a worn purse with thirty-seven cents inside. She asks Helen if she had only met the woman on the train and Helen says yes. Unfortunately, the woman and her baby died in the accident. Helen is too frightened to tell the truth. A letter arrives from Hugh's mother, along with some beautiful baby clothes and more flowers. Mrs. Harkness writes that she is so looking forward to finally meeting Patrice. Due to ill health, she cannot come to the hospital. When Patrice is strong enough to travel, she will be put on the train and her in-laws will meet her at the other end. Wanting to provide for her son, Helen assumes Patrice's identity. Her in-laws welcome her warmly and she settles into the family. But it is not easy. Hugh's brother Bill shows up. Helen didn't know he had a brother and he reminds her that they met at the hospital. She explains that she was not fully conscious and that's why she doesn't remember him. Mrs. Harkness, who has a heart condition, brings Helen a box of Hugh's pictures. But they mean nothing to Helen because she is not Patrice. Life at the Harkness mansion is much easier than the life Helen knew in New York. She doesn't have to work and it is evident that the family means to provide for her and the child, whom Helen has named Hugh Jr. But she cannot avoid slips of the tongue, including not recognizing Hugh's favorite song, causing Bill to grow suspicious. Christmas is coming up and Bill asks Helen to meet him downtown to choose a gift for his father. They decide to get him a fountain pen and Bill suggests that Helen sign her name to see how it writes. She starts to write Helen Ferguson, then crosses it out and writes Patrice Harkness. That night, Bill decides to tell his father of his suspicions. But before he can do so, his mother remarks how fond she has grown of Patrice. Both parents dote on their grandson. Realizing this, Bill decides to let the matter drop. Then Helen receives a letter, unsigned, with a message asking what she is doing there. She is terrified that someone has found her out. Bill asks her to go with him to the Country Club dance and his mother urges her to accept. It is time she got on with her life and started seeing people again. Helen reluctantly agrees to go, even after another letter arrives. At the dance, Helen is horrified to see her former boyfriend and the father of her child, Steve Morley. He introduces himself to Bill and asks to dance with Helen. After a few minutes of dancing, he steers her outside. When the train accident occurred, he went to identify Helen's body. But the dead woman that bore her name tag was not her. Steve made inquiries and figured out what happened. Now he wants money for his silence. Once he has it, he will leave and she'll never see him again. Helen realizes she will have to pay him but she has no money of her own. After a hint at the dinner table, she is given her own checking account. She and Steve meet at the train station. He takes her check but does not leave as she expected. He puts it in an envelope addressed to Mr. Harkness, along with the rent receipts from when he and Helen lived together back in New York. Unless she goes along with the next part of his plan, he will mail the envelope. His plan is for them to get married, giving him access to any money the Harkness parents leave to Patrice. He knows Mrs. Harkness is very ill and figures the old man will not long survive her. Helen has no choice but to agree. Steve laughingly reminds her that at one time she was desperate to marry him. Steve and Helen drive through snowy weather to the justice of the peace in the next town. Helen breaks down and declares she cannot go through with it, so Steve places a call to the Harkness home. Mrs. Harkness, confined to her bedroom, answers the phone and overhears Helen pleading with Steve. The connection is broken but Bill manages to have the call traced. He sets out to rescue Helen but runs his car off the icy road. Meanwhile, Helen marries Steve. Helen decides her only hope of escape is to kill Steve. When he drops her off, she take a gun from a drawer in the Harkness home. Bill follows her to the downtown building where Steve has taken a room. When Helen enters the room, she sees Steve sprawled on the bed. She tells him to wake up but he doesn't move. She fires the gun but realizes he is already dead. Someone else has shot him. Bill pounds on the door, demanding to be let in. Helen tries to keep him out but he forces his way inside. Assuming that Helen has shot and killed Steve, he takes the gun and asks if there is anything to link the two. He finds the marriage license but the check has disappeared. Helen tries to explain but Bill doesn't believe that she didn't kill Steve. Now they must get rid of his body so there will be no link to the Harkness family. He drags Steve to his car and puts him in the back seat. They drive out of town to a bridge over a railroad. Bill knows that a train will be coming along shortly. He rolls Steve's body off the bridge and it lands in an open car. The train is going out of town and hopefully the body won't be discovered for a while. Afterwards, they sit in the car and Helen tells Bill everything. He told her he had known for a long time that she was not Patrice but didn't want to upset his mother by outing her. When they return home, the doctor is there and Mrs. Harkness is dying. Helen is momentarily left alone with her and confesses how much she loves Mrs. Harkness. That much is true. Somehow she senses that Mrs. Harkness knows she is not Patrice but it doesn't matter now. Mrs. Harkness dies and Helen and Bill decide to marry. Unfortunately, Steve's body is discovered and traced back to the Harkness family. The police arrive to question Bill and Helen on the day of the funeral. Bill makes up a story about how Steve was a gambling acquaintance of Hugh's from his college days. He showed up to get money from Patrice to cover the debts Hugh had owed. Beyond that, Bill and Helen know nothing about him or how he died. The police seemingly accept this story but warn them that they may be questioned again. Bill and Helen -- who has decided to remain Patrice -- marry but they are not happy. Each of them thinks the other killed Steve. In a voice over, Patrice says that one day she will leave Bill or he will leave her. Then they get a phone call that the police are on their way over. Before they can decide what to say, the housekeeper brings them a letter from Mrs. Harkness. Her instructions were to give it to them if the police came. Inside is a written confession from Mrs. Harkness, stating that she killed Steve Morley because he was threatening her daughter-in-law. Bill and Patrice are horrified and realize instantly that she has done this to protect them. Patrice says she will gladly confess so there will be no stigma attached to the only mother she ever knew. Bill tears up the letter and says he will confess. Then the police arrive. They have the check Patrice wrote. Irma, Steve's girlfriend, had killed him, taken the check, and tried to cash it. Bill and Patrice realize they are free and can be happy now since neither is a murderer.

Wealthy invalid Leona Stevenson finds herself completely alone in her New York City townhouse. Thinking that her husband Henry would be home, she gave her nurse and the servants the night off. But Henry never came home from work and Leona is frantically trying to locate him. His office number is busy. In desperation, Leona telephones her husband's secretary, Miss Jennings, at home. She learns that Henry left the office with a Mrs. Lord and did not return. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Leona is the spoiled only child of J.B. Cotterell, the owner of a pharmaceutical company based in Chicago. Her mother died in childbirth and Leona grew up believing that she had a heart ailment. In college she met Henry Stevenson, who came from a dirt-poor background. Although he is dating her best friend Sally, Leona makes a play for him and succeeds in taking him away from Sally. Against the wishes of her father, Leona marries Henry and he goes to work for her father. But he is unsuccessful in persuading Leona that they need a home of their own instead of living with Mr. Cotterell. Leona has a fainting spell and requires a nurse to take care of her. This has happened many times over the years and Mr. Cotterell blames Henry for this latest episode. Henry tries to find other employment but Mr. Cotterell has put the word out not to hire him. Returning to the present time, Leona takes a call from a Mr. Waldo Evans. He has called several times wanting to speak to Henry but won't say what he wants. In telephoning Henry's office again, Leona is accidentally connected to a conversation in which two men are talking. They cannot hear her but she hears them plotting a murder. A woman is to be killed in her home at 11:15 that night. An overheard train will cross the tracks and the cop on patrol always takes a break at that time. No one else will be in the house and their client has arranged to leave a downstairs window unlocked. Their client wants them to make it look like a robbery and he doesn't want the woman to suffer. Leona is horrified and calls the operator, demanding that the call be traced. But the operator doesn't understand what she means about being cut in on a conversation and refers her to the police. The officer who takes Leona's call doesn't believe her. In frustration, Leona hangs up but continues to worry about the unfortunate woman who is set to die. In looking through the telephone messages that came in earlier that day, Leona finds one from the mysterious Mrs. Lord. She telephones the woman and demands to know what is going on with her and Henry. To her surprise, Mrs. Lord turns out to be her old friend Sally. By now Leona is thoroughly bewildered. Sally explains in a low voice that her husband works for the District Attorney and that Henry is in trouble. She came to his office to warn him. Then she hangs up abruptly after telling Leona that she will call back when she can speak privately, as her husband is home. Leona cannot imagine what sort of trouble Henry could be in. She telephones her father in Chicago but he is having a party and doesn't give her a chance to explain why she is calling. He is surprised and angry that she is in the house alone and promises to have a talk with Henry. The phone rings again and it is Western Union with a telegram from Henry. He is en route to a pharmaceutical convention and will telephone her later. Then Sally calls from a pay phone, having told her husband that she was going out for beer. She doesn't know exactly what trouble Henry is in, only that it is very serious. Earlier that week she followed her husband and one of his colleagues to a deserted house on Staten Island. It appeared to be a drop-off point and Sally heard Henry's name mentioned. Sally is forced to hang up because the drugstore is closing, leaving Leona frustrated and upset. Mr. Evans calls again and this time Leona demands to know why he keeps bothering her. She is a bedridden invalid and cannot take this kind of stress. Mr. Evans reveals that he knows all about her, having been a Cotterell employee for many years. He is in charge of a laboratory; first in Chicago and now in New Jersey. One night when he was working late, Henry stopped by. He looked around the laboratory and asked where the narcotics were kept. Mr. Evans showed him but felt uneasy about it, even though Henry was the boss's son-in-law. Later Henry offered Mr. Evans a ride home as it was raining and his bus was late. During the ride, Mr. Evans shared his desire to retire and return to England. He would like to purchase a horse farm but doubts he will be able to afford it. Henry agrees and offers to cut Mr. Evans in on a deal. If he will hold back some of the narcotics, Henry has a purchaser. They will each receive a large cut, which will go a long way toward purchasing the horse farm. Mr. Evans is horrified and refuses, but greed overtakes him and eventually he agrees. All goes well until Mr. Evans receives a sudden transfer to the New Jersey plant. Henry assures him that it is routine, as he would have been arrested if they were found out. Mr. Evans declares that he wants out but Henry won't allow it. He has already decided to act on his own instead of going through their purchaser, a Mr. Morano. Their share of the money will be a lot more. Henry and Leona move to New York, where Mr. Evans purchased the deserted house on Staten Island. He takes the drugs there and someone in a boat picks them up. Unfortuately, Mr. Morano traces them there and is waiting in the house when Mr. Evans arrives. He wants $200,000 as compensation for the business they took away from him. If they don't pay, they will be killed. When Henry protests that he doesn't have that kind of money, Mr. Morano reminds him that he has a rich wife. An accident can be arranged and he would inherit her money. Henry is sickened but realizes he has no choice. Mr. Evans closes the conversation by giving Leona a message for Henry. The game is up as the police have arrested Mr. Morano. Mr. Evans has burned down the Staten Island house. After midnight he can be reached at a certain number, which Leona writes down. It turns out to be the number of the city morgue. Mr. Evans obviously intends to commit suicide rather than be arrested. Leona telephones her father again but there is no answer. She begins to realize that the phone conversation she overheard was about her. She is the woman who is to be killed that night. Believing that her heart is about to give out, she telephones her doctor and begs him to come over. He can't, although he tells her that the results of a recent examination were very good. She does not have heart trouble at all. The doctor sent her a letter with this information but Leona never got it. She calls a nurse's registry but they don't have anyone they can send over at a moment's notice. Hysterically, Leona tries to get out of bed but she can't make her legs move. Then Henry telephones from the train station in Connecticut and Leona tells him she knows everything. She asks why he didn't come to her for the money, that she would gladly have given it to him because she loves him so much. Then she hears a noise downstairs and screams at Henry that someone is in the house. He orders her to get out of bed and yell out the window for help. But Leona is paralyzed by terror. He admits to having arranged her murder and tells her unless she does as he says, he will burn. The two plainclothes detectives who have been following Henry close in on the phone booth. Then Henry hears Leona's dying scream as she is stabbed. Henry calls back, the killer picks up the phone, says "Sorry wrong number" and hangs up.

A limousine drives up a sinuous road to a mansion while a young woman on horseback races it and cuts across its path several times. The limousine pulls up to the mansion and a staff member greets the Senator who escorts a woman into the house. She thanks him for giving her a ride from the station. As she sits in the large foyer, she turns to face the camera for the first time, giving us the first look at Sandra Marshall (Barbara Stanwyck). Meanwhile, Senator Caldwell (Jerome Cowan) exits into another room. After a bit he returns to tell Sandra that his brother will see her now. Sandra goes into the adjacent room where Mark Caldwell (Errol Flynn) sits behind a desk. He reminds Sandra that the family is in mourning over the death of his nephew, so he assumes her reason for visiting must be urgent. Sandra reveals that she is the widow of the nephew. She shows a copy of a marriage license and tells Mark that she met his nephew in school where she was finishing a degree. She agreed to marry Jim because he couldn't get his hands on his inheritances until he turned 30 unless he married earlier. She says their arrangement was for him to give her $2,000 to complete her studies with the understanding that she would divorce him after 6 months. Mark notes that conveniently only 5 months have gone by and the $2,000 has become 2 million. Sandra shows him a copy of Jim's will, saying she intends to claim the rights left her in his will. Mark insists Jim left no will but Sandra produces an unsigned copy. Mark dismisses it. Sandra insists there's an original properly attested and insists if Mark doesn't find it, she'll insist on her entire rights. Mark will let Sandra stay the night but wants her to leave in the morning. She asks to see her husband's body but the casket is closed. While paying her last respects, she hears the sounds of the Senator and Mark arguing. At dinner, Sandra meets Julie Demarest, Jim's sister (and the horsewoman from the opening sequence). Julie is furious with Mark for opening her mail. Julie is immediately taken with Sandra and wants her to stay. Sandra says she has a suitcase at the station and the Senator volunteers that the servant, Becket, can bring it up in the morning, so it's arranged that Sandra will stay. Julie insists Mark will not succeed in breaking off her romance. Later, the maid, Marta (Helene Thimig), says goodnight to Julie and closes her door, but Julie sneaks out of her room and goes to Sandra's room where she accuses Mark of using Jim's money to fund his laboratory. She tells Sandra that Jim was in love with another woman, Amy Daniels, but she suspects Mark of causing the breakup of that relationship. One day Jim and his girlfriend were all romance and the next it was over. Sandra asks the cause of Jim's death, and Julie says it was pneumonia, that she heard Jim's voice after he came back from a trip to Canada, but then the next day he had been moved to the laboratory where she was never allowed to go, and Mark told her that Jim had fallen ill. She never saw him again. Leaving Sandra's room, Julie looks over the railing to see Mark pacing in the foyer below. When he looks up she quickly steals away into her room while he looks up suspiciously. The next day, everyone returns from Jim's funeral. A moment alone, the Senator insists to Mark that he's done what he agreed to do: he's put in an appearance at the funeral, but now he needs to go. Mark wants him to stay till the question of Jim's will is settled, but the Senator insists on leaving, hoping Mark won't regret what he's doing. Rejoining Sandra and Julie and others, he asks his lawyer, Davenport, how long it'll take to locate Jim's safe deposit box. About 2 weeks he's told. Sandra is given Jim's death certificate, signed by the local doctor and undertaker. Julie arranges to go riding with Sandra, but once out, admits she's meeting her boyfriend, Ronnie Manning. Sandra leaves them alone but quickly comes across Mark who knows what's going on and reproves Sandra for abetting Julie. Julie rides up and angrily strikes Mark with her riding crop for spying on her. He takes the crop and breaks it, then insists Julie get off her horse so he can talk to her. Returning to the stables, Sandra notes the rear extension of the house and asks the groom if they use it. He tells her, Oh, yes, that's Mr. Mark's laboratory. Looking at the wing, Sandra sees a bearded man close one of the windows. Turning she sees Julie ride up angrily, dismount and stride towards the house. That night as Sandra lies in bed awake, Julie rushes in and insists Sandra must've heard it, too: a sound of scuffling and a man's voice, crying out in agony. She says it sounds like Jim's voice. Sandra starts to assure her it's not possible when a man's voice is heard, crying out in agony. Taking Julie's hand, Sandra leads her along the corridor, asking her where the entrance to the laboratory wing is. Julie points it out, up a short flight of stairs but says it's always kept locked. Sandra is convinced that's where the cry came from. They move towards the door when they hear someone approaching from the other side. They flee down the corridor. The laboratory door is opening throwing a light against the wall with a man's shadow. Sandra puts Julie to bed, telling her to pretend she's asleep and hides in Julie's closet. Mark opens the door and looks in on the apparently sleeping Julie while Sandra watches. Once Mark leaves, Sandra promises Julie she'll find out what's going on. She tells Julie to tell Mark what she heard but not that she left her room and not that Sandra was with her. The next morning Mark reads in the paper that Senator Caldwell's Investigation Hits Snag with the subheading Certain Factions Oppose Appointment. When Sandra joins him, he points out the problems the Senator is having. She notes the Senator's appointment would make him famous, not that Mark's scientific achievements aren't already well known. Julie joins them and tells about hearing scuffling and cries again. Mark insists it's nightmares and that she's had nightmares about his laboratory since she was a child when he used to take her in there but had to stop and keep it locked when she started sneaking in by herself. Once he leaves the table, Sandra agrees Mark is lying, and looks for a time when she can explore. Julie says Marta takes an afternoon nap when Becket watches Julie but that he has many things to do. At Sandra's request, Julie shows her Jim's room. Sandra sees a happy photo of Mark with Jim in an album. She notes that Julie and Jim's mother must have been very devoted to Mark, but Julie says Mark and her mother made up her mother's will when she was only 3 and Jim was away at school. They discover that all of Jim's pipes are gone and his sports clothes for riding and tennis. Julie surmises that Sandra believes Jim is in the laboratory and starts to get hysterical, thinking she'll be the one going there next. Marta interrupts to say Mark wants to see Sandra in the library. Sandra takes Julie back to her room where Julie says she's less afraid when the doors are closed and eyes aren't looking at her, that sometimes she feels like a black cloud is following her. Sandra encourages her to face her fears, saying she was fearful in Jim's room when she thought he might be still alive but she was wrong to convey those fears to Julie. In the library Mark is upset that Sandra has been in Jim's room and has gotten Julie upset. He insists he's only letting Sandra stay because Julie's so fond of her. He pours her a liqueur while telling her his grandfather fell in love with a dancer but it ended badly: she died two months after they were married... when he poisoned her. Sandra chokes on the liqueur which Mark describes as an old family recipe used for special occasions and called Lacrime Sangue which Sandra translates from the Italian as Tears of Blood. Mark toasts Jim's will. Then, he comes on to her, complimenting her steady eyes and strong chin. She asks if he's looking for her to compliment him back, but he doubts she can overcome the first impression she had of him. She admits he's getting to her. He kisses her. She asks why he did that. He said the scientist took over; he wanted to confirm his first impression of her, and when he says it was confirmed, she slaps him and leaves. Back in her room, a new maid says Julie asked to borrow her face cream, and Sandra gives it to her to take to Julie. Marta closes and locks Julie's door as Julie begs her not to. Marta says she's only doing as she'd told. When Sandra arrives and is about to knock, Marta tells her that Julie is asleep, keeping Sandra from finding out that Julie is locked in. Back in her room, Sandra learns from the new maid that Mark gets dinner by dumbwaiter at exactly midnight and always leaves the laboratory no later than 2 am. She sets her alarm-clock for 3 am. Waking, she removes the tray from the dumbwaiter, climbs in, and hauls herself up to the laboratory. Once inside, there's a second room beyond a closed door and the light is on. She hears Mark ask someone named Laidell (we see it's a bearded man) if everything is all right at Three Hills. Laidell is concerned about filling prescriptions; Mark tells him to fill it in another town if necessary and not to worry about the local doctor, Mark will handle him. Mark comes into the room Sandra's in. She hides behind the door, but he notices the dumbwaiter is not where he left it and finds something in it. Glancing at the door behind which Sandra is hiding, he never-the-less leaves. Sandra returns via the dumbwaiter and is back in her room by 3:30. At 4 a woman screams. Sandra sees Mark running in the courtyard outside her window. Inside, Becket is seen hurrying along the upstairs pulling on his bathrobe. Sandra goes to Julie's room and finds Marta there but not Julie. She goes to the open French doors leading to the window terrace. Mark arrives and tells her not to look but she does and sees Julie sprawled on the courtyard, dead, with her suitcase nearby. Down below, the doctor arrives. Mark insists it was an accident when Julie tried to run away, but Sandra sees her cold cream and insists if Julie were running away, she never would have taken Sandra's cold cream (in a jar established earlier that belonged to Sandra's mother). Sandra insists that it's obvious that Julie didn't pack her bag; someone else packed it for her under orders, clearly thinking Marta did per Mark's orders. Sandra tries the door to the laboratory but finds it locked. She climbs the stairs to the attic and looks out one window seeing a vista, causing her to murmur, Three hills. The next window suits her purpose and she climbs out onto the roof, making her way to a skylight which allows her to drop down into the same room in the laboratory she was in before. She moves to the door, opens it and finds herself face-to-face with Mark who wants to know what she's up to. She insists she thinks that Jim is alive. Mark accuses her of frightening Julie and causing her to try to flee and therefore die. He tells her she'd better go and gives her a comb that fell out of her hair that he found in the dumbwaiter, letting her know he knew she'd used the dumbwaiter before. Sandra, Mark, Marta, and Becket attend the interment of Julie. Back in the house, the furniture is covered with sheets as the staff closes it up. Mark shows Sandra some jewels that belong to his mother and other relatives, jewels that were to be Julie's when she grew up. He tells Sandra to take whatever she'd like much to Sandra's surprise. Mark tells her that Jim's safe deposit box has been found and opened and the will was there. He apologizes for the way he's treated her. Then he tells her he wants to show her something and leads her up the stairs to his lab. When she gets there the lab is empty. Out of the window she sees the same three hills. She asks Mark about Laidell and is told he's a kind of gamekeeper. She asks what'll happen to the horses. Mark says they'll be sold. Sandra asks to go for a ride. He agrees and will call the groom. She leaves and he calls the groom and tells him to give her Colonel. The groom gives her Colonel and tells her that the estate extends in one direction to the three hills, but he warns her not to ride in that direction because the Three Hillls is an abandoned game preserve. She takes Colonel and heads for the Three Hills, getting close enough to see smoke from a fire. A rabbit startles the horse who bolts, eventually throwing her and then running off. She finds she's close to the fence surrounding the game preserve, climbs over and is moving through the woods, hearing ominous rustling when someone calls to Jim. Jim (Richard Basehart) answers and walks right by her. She calls to him. He doesn't seem to know who she is at first and says the Laidells have been taking care of him since the accident. Sandra tells him about Julie and warns him about Mark. They arrange to meet at the house later that night. Returning to the house, Mark tells Sandra they've been searching for her since Colonel came back without her. He tells her it's too late to catch the train; she'll have to drive with him. She says she'd like to stay the night in the house. Mark notes there's no one there, but she doesn't mind. He insists on staying, too, and she can't dissuade him. Mark wants to tell her something, but she evades. He goes off and hears a scraping sound. Returning, he finds she's opened a window and has fled. Outside, Sandra sees a man and calls out Jim! only to run into Mark. She admits she's waiting for Jim and knows he's alive. Mark tells her the truth: Julie and Jim's father went insane and he's been watching them for signs of insanity, too. Jim had an accident in Canada, got into an argument with a gas attendant and killed the man with an iron. Jim and his brother managed to keep the killing out of the U.S. papers, but the court gave him custody of Jim only if he kept him under lock and key. He kept him in his laboratory until the Three Hills site was ready. Jim arrives and sneaks up on Mark, clubbing him unconscious with a wrench. He then accuses Sandra of being in love with Mark and she realizes Mark was telling the truth: Jim is insane. She flees into the house, but Jim catches her. Mark, recovered, enters with Laidell who sneaks up to the second floor landing where Jim is with Sandra. Grabbing Jim, Laidell grapples with him and in the struggle, Jim goes over the railing and falls to his death into the foyer below. Sandra goes out onto the terrace away from the awful sight. Mark joins her there and they apologize for not trusting each other. They walk off hand-in-hand.

On a rainy night in 1928 in a Pennsylvania factory town called Iverstown, 13-year-old Martha Ivers (Janis Wilson) tries to run away from the guardianship of her wealthy aunt, Mrs. Ivers (Judith Anderson), with her friend, the street-smart, poor Sam Masterson (Darryl Hickman). She is caught and taken home, where Martha's tutor, Walter O'Neil Sr., presents his timid son, Walter Jr. (Mickey Kuhn), as the one responsible for Martha's capture. Walter privately tells Martha that despite what his father said, he was not the one who sent authorities on her track, and would never betray her. His father claimed this in order to ingratiate himself with the aunt. Scolded by her aunt, Martha defiantly states her name is not Ivers, but Smith, her father's name. During a power failure, Sam comes for her, but Martha's aunt hears her calling to him from downstairs. While Sam slips out unnoticed, Mrs. Ivers starts beating Martha's kitten with her cane. Martha wrestles the cane away from her aunt and strikes her across the head, causing her to fall down the stairs, accidentally killing her. When the power comes back on, Martha lies about the incident to Walter Sr. Even though Walter Jr. saw everything, he backs her up. The greedy Walter Sr. makes it clear to both Walter Jr. and Martha that he knows what happened but that as long as he and his son stand to benefit, he will play along. Sam leaves town. Seventeen years later, in 1946, Walter Sr. is now dead, and Walter Jr. (Kirk Douglas) is now Iverstown's district attorney and is married to Martha, who has used her inheritance to expand the Ivers milling empire. Their marriage is one-sided; he loves her, but an embittered Walter knows she does not love him, and knows that all she wants is control. Sam (Van Heflin), having been a Sergeant in WWII and an itinerant gambler while he was away, drives into the small town by chance and, after an accident, leaves his car to be repaired. While waiting, he goes to his old home, now a boarding house. He meets attractive Antonia "Toni" Marachek (Lizabeth Scott), who has just been released from jail. She misses her bus. They have a drink together in a hotel bar and spend the night in adjoining rooms in the hotel, sharing an adjoining bath. They had plans to share his car to travel further on. When he is woken in his room by police detectives, notifying him she was picked up for violating her probation, Sam visits Walter to ask him to use his influence to get Toni released for "old time's sake." A suspicious Walter is convinced Sam has blackmail in mind. But when Martha reacts joyfully to seeing Sam, a now jealous Walter forces Toni to set him up. Walter later grills Toni and he threatens her in order to have her set Sam up. At dinner, she was tells Sam she was convicted of a fur coat theft but given probation since it was a first offense. Just then, they are confronted by a man claiming to be her "husband," insisting on fighting Sam. He is ambushed outside by a group who force him into a car, beat him and dump him outside the city. He wakes up at night alongside a county road with a private detective's badge in his fist. But he is too tough to be intimidated. He hitches a ride into town and catches up with Toni before she takes a bus at the depot. She admits setting him up, having been threatened with serving her five years, but that they promised not to hurt him. When the beating fails, Walter makes a half-hearted attempt to kill Sam by grabbing a gun in his desk drawer, but Sam easily disarms him, knocking him out. Walter inadvertently blurts out his fears of blackmail, only to learn that Sam had not witnessed the death. Intrigued, Sam agrees to meet later to discuss things. Through a newspaper archive search, Sam learns that Walter Sr. had presented Martha's version of the 1928 accidental murder to the police: that an intruder murdered Martha's aunt. With that leverage, Walter Sr. had made Martha marry his son. When the police identified a former employee of the aunt as the murderer, the two Walters and Martha frame the innocent man, and he was hanged. Only Walter junior has any qualms about this, which he still has, but the other two, particularly Martha, were too strong for him to go against them. Sam is torn between his old love and his new one with Toni. Although he eventually forgives Toni for betraying him, he and Martha spend an idyllic day together, rekindling his feelings for her. Martha breaks down and laments that he left without her all those years ago, taking her only chance for love and freedom with him. Just after Martha drops off Sam, she finds Walter drunk, and arranging to meet him to settle matters. As he leaves the hotel, Sam tries to keep Toni from leaving him but she refuses to see him hurt again. When Walter drunkenly falls down the stairs, Martha urges Sam to kill her unconscious husband, as Walter had just predicted. Sam instead brings Walter around. Martha realizes Sam won't murder for her, she pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot Sam in "self-defense" as an intruder. Sam tells her it would work if she could get Walter to corroborate her story. Saying he does not believe she will shoot him, Sam turns his back on her and leaves. Martha drops the gun and Walter picks it up. Walter thinks she still loves Sam. Martha says she was afraid Walter would leave her. He embraces and kisses her as she tells him it can be just like nothing ever happened. Walter pulls out the gun and points at her midriff. She pushes the gun closer to her, puts her thumb over his finger on the trigger and presses. As she is dying, she defiantly states her name is not Martha Ivers, but Martha Smith. Outside, Sam hears the shot. He runs toward the mansion and sees Walter holding Martha's body. Walter then shoots himself. In the final scene, Sam is packing his suitcase in his hotel room when Toni emerges from her room next door, having waited. They drive away from Iverstown. Sam says to Toni, "Don't look back, you know what happened to Lot's wife." Toni says, "Whose wife?" And Sam says, "Sam's wife." Toni smiles and says, "Sam's wife."

A food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife must try to cover her deception when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her home for a traditional family Christmas. Journalist Elizabeth Lane is one of the country's most famous food writers. In her columns, she describes herself as a hard working farm woman, taking care of her children and being an excellent cook. But this is all lies. In reality she is an unmarried New Yorker who can't even boil an egg. The recipes come from her good friend Felix. The owner of the magazine she works for has decided that a heroic sailor will spend his Christmas on *her* farm. Miss Lane knows that her career is over if the truth comes out, but what can she do? —Mattias Thuresson In her Smart Housekeeping column, Elizabeth Lane provides amazing recipes and homemaking hints. However, Elizabeth's got a little secret: SHE needs a recipe to boil water! Elizabeth has no cooking skills, no Connecticut farm, no adoring hubby and no baby-makes-three as suggested in her column. Something her boss, the magazine publisher, doesn't know when he decides to invite himself and a recently returned war hero to her home for a traditional family Christmas. Watch as Elizabeth tries to be a good wife and doting mother, with absolutely NO experience. —Carolyn Weiss The destroyer of Jefferson Jones and his partner Sinkewicz is sunk by the Germans and they float adrift in a raft for eighteen days. When they are rescued, they are sent to a hospital and Jefferson has to follow a stringent diet imposed by the doctors. He seduces his nurse expecting to get solid food and she decides to write to Alexander Yardley, who is the owner of the Smart Housekeeping magazine where the famous journalist Elizabeth Lane writes a column about recipes and food, asking him to allow Jefferson to spend Christmas with Elizabeth and her family in her farm in Connecticut. The prepotent Yardley sees the chance of free promotion of his magazine and forces Elizabeth to invite the hero Jones. However, Elizabeth is single, does not have a baby and lives alone in a small apartment in New York and she made-up a perfect married life for her fans. Further, she does not how to cook and the recipes belong to her Hungarian friend Felix Bassenak, who owns a restaurant in New York. The architect John Sloan, who has been wooing Elizabeth for a long, proposes to marry her in his farm in Connecticut and she brings Felix with her to help to proceed the farce. The things get complicated when Yardley also decides to spend Christmas with Elizabeth while she falls in love with Jones. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Elizabeth Lane is the perfect homemaker in so many ways. She's an outstanding cook and interior decorator who lives in a beautiful house in the countryside, is happily married and recently had a baby - as her regular column in Smart Housekeeping magazine recounts to her wide readership. There's only one big catch: she isn't any of those things - she can't cook, doesn't know the first thing about decorating and lives in a tiny, dingy apartment. It all begins to unravel when her publisher, Alexander Yardley, arranges for recently rescued sailor Jefferson Jones to spend the weekend at Lane's country home. To top it off, Yardley invites himself to spend the weekend there as well. Elizabeth scrambles, getting her friend Felix Bassenak to cook for her and borrows her friend John Sloan's country house. She even gets a baby from a neighbor. As if she doesn't have enough to deal with, she and Jones become quite attracted to one another. Somehow it all works out in the end. —garykmcd

Walter Neff, a successful insurance salesman unwittingly finds himself stuck in insurance fraud scheme, which arouses the suspicion of an insurance investigator.

When reporter ANN MITCHELL (Barbara Stanwyck) is laid off by managing editor HENRY CONNELL (James Gleason) because of streamlining, she begs to stay on since she's supporting her MOTHER (Spring Byington) and TWO SISTERS (Tina Thayer and Carlotta Jelm), but it's no use. Angry, she gathers up her belongings but then, as a parting shot, types up a fake letter from "John Doe" stating that he's so downtrodden by the unfairness of things that he intends jumping off the building on Christmas Eve. The paper prints the letter and it causes a sensation. Everyone relates to and wants to help John Doe. Connell, desperate to get hold of the original letter is shocked when Ann tells him there was no letter. Connell, angry, is ready to print a retraction but Ann suggests that they hire a "fake John Doe" to embody the pathos of the letter. She gets her job back along with a lucrative fee and contract. Several desperate MEN line up claiming to have written the letter, so Ann and Connell must now pick the one. When handsome JOHN WILLOUGHBY (Gary Cooper) walks in, Ann's clearly smitten. A likable, quiet baseball pitcher who's fallen on bad times, John's the one who will become "John Doe." Although he seems too honest to lie, Ann believes he's desperate enough. They create a fake letter, put him up at a fancy hotel with bodyguards, making him sign an agreement. Also in tow (much to Connell's chagrin) is THE COLONEL (Walter Brennan), a confirmed vagabond, distrustful of society, who warns John that he's falling into a trap of privilege. Next come publicity photos, which are directed by Ann to get the correct "angry protest" look. With headlines proclaiming his anger at the unfairness of the world, John becomes an increasing media sensation, courtesy of hyperbolic headlines concocted by Connell. Meanwhile, the GOVERNOR (Vaughn Glaser) suspects John Doe is a myth but mistakenly feels it was concocted by publisher B. D. NORTON (Edward Arnold) to discredit him. Ann convinces Norton to play it for what it's worth. Norton offers her money to write radio speeches to sell Doe. He also wants her to work directly with him and not Connell. Ann goes to work, typing up a storm but nothing comes to mind. Ann's Mother (Spring Byington) suggests that she write something upbeat and simple, using the values of Ann's late father as an inspiration. By now, John has begun realizing that his baseball career might not get started again if the John Doe business is revealed as a phony. Nonetheless, John reads his first manufactured upbeat speech, written by Ann, to a packed house. Ann coaches him to be sincere, suggesting that she's fallen in love with John Doe. The speech, broadcast on the radio, stirs the people with its "love-thy-neighbor" style message. CROWDS love him but John can't get away fast enough. He and the Colonel retreat to riding the rails in a boxcar and flee. B. D. Norton, thinking he was great, wants him located. When a DINER WAITER (Sterling Holloway) recognizes him, John's hope for a return to normalcy is squelched by sudden CROWDS, eager to meet him. Ann and Norton locate him. John isn't happy about it. When Norton offers him a lecture tour, he refuses it angrily. When the common PEOPLE who have a "John Doe" club talk to him, however, he softens when hearing how he's touched them. Now, John's torn. His itinerant pal, The Colonel, thinks he's been "hooked" and, disgusted, walks out on him. Norton arranges the lecture tour. John speaks in state after state, addressing the many national clubs in his name. Connell tells Norton, however, that he's curious why Norton is spending so much money on the tour. In the meantime, Ann, knowing that John now likes her, feels increasingly like the heel she feels she is. She feels even worse when John relates a tender dream that he had about her and talks to her about how he relates to the lonely, hungry people to whom he's been speaking. Norton gives Ann a fur coat and a gift. He then tells her that he wants John Doe to announce a new "third political party," which, it's clear to Ann, was Norton's plan all along. Norton wants to be the presidential candidate for that party, which will be less for the people than it is for those like Norton - big business types. John visits Ann's Mother, telling her he'd like to marry Ann. Her gentle advice is just to ask. While John talks with Connell, the editor, who's had a few drinks, blurts that Norton has a dark agenda. John feels hurt and used, as he'd felt the whole John Doe was legitimate, not a tool for Norton's political ambitions. Connell also tells John how well paid Ann is to write the speeches and would do anything for money. Angry, John walk in on Norton and Ann at a lavish dinner party he's having in his mansion. John overhears Norton's political plotting as well as his toast to Ann for having aided him. Ann sees that John is listening. John asks Ann if indeed she wrote Norton's speech and she admits it. John then confronts Norton and all at his party. John threatens to thwart his efforts. Norton accuses John of being the fake, not him. Norton threatens to reveal such if he talks. Aghast that Norton would kill the John Doe movement to protect his own interests, John is furious with all of them. He tells them off with passion, impressing Ann and the STAFF, who overhear. John feels that the movement is far too powerful for Norton and his cronies to stop. Norton wants John stopped before he can blow the whistle at the huge gathering that has now formed at a public arena. Ann catches up with John, trying to explain, telling him that she didn't know what Norton and his people were doing. John doesn't believe her and won't allow her to accompany him in his cab. John shows up at the event as a huge CROWD stands in the rain singing the National Anthem. A PRIEST introduces John. Before he can speak, Norton has published a report that John Doe is a fake. Norton's TROOPERS storm the event as John tries to get the mob's attention and speak. With John subdued, Norton takes the mike and accuses him of being a fraud. As John tries to speak, the Troopers cut the mike cords. Ann listens on the radio as the mob becomes unruly. John returns to his place beneath a bridge with The Colonel. Newspapers herald his faker. Clubs disband. John feels disgraced. He's tortured by memories of the sweet, simple people that he feels he now let down. Christmas Eve comes, the appointed time that John Doe was to take his life by leaping from the building. Some of his FOLLOWERS are convinced he'll jump, so they head for the roof, as does Ann. Indeed, John shows up, a letter in his hand addressed to the admirers he feels he let down. He's about to jump when Norton steps from the shadows with this MEN, telling him that if he jumps the mayor has been instructed to remove his ID, and thus his suicide will be for nothing. But John tells him he's already mailed a copy of the letter elsewhere. John's glad they're here. He tells Norton that the movement that they killed will be born all over again. Ann shows up as he's about to jump, begging him not to do it. She insists they can start it over again together; his followers agree. John and Ann walk away, and Connell gets in the last word with a thwarted Norton.

A trio of classy card sharks targets a socially awkward brewery heir, until one of them falls in love with him. Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike meets con artist Jean Harrington on a ship. They fall in love, but a misunderstanding causes them to split on bad terms. To get back at him, Jean disguises herself as an English lady, and comes back to tease and torment him. —John Oswalt <jao@jao.com> After one year in Amazon researching snakes, the naive ophidiologist Charles Pike returns to the United States in a transatlantic. Charles is the son of the Connecticut's brewery millionaire Mr. Pike and disputed by gold diggers. The swindlers Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck), her father "Colonel" Harrington and their friend Gerald plan a confidence trick on Charles, but unexpectedly Jean falls in love with Charles and she calls off the scheme. However Charles's bodyguard Muggsy discovers that Jean is a con-artist and the disappointed Charles leaves Jean. Sometime later, in New York, the trio of con-artists meets their friend "Sir" Alfred McGlennan Keith in the horse races and they learn that "Sir" Alfred belonged to the high-society of Connecticut based on the reputation he had built. Jean sees the opportunity to take revenge at Charles, and she travels to the house of her "aunt" pretending to be the British noble Lady Eve. Mr. Pike promotes a party for Lady Eve and she seduces Charles that proposes her. But her intention is to get even with Charles. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Charles Pike, heir to the Pike brewing fortune, is a shy man who would much rather read a book than interact with people. While returning home from a scientific expedition in South America, he meets the lovely Jean Harrington. Unbeknownst to him however is the fact that Jean is part of a trio of cardsharps who travel on ocean liners looking for men just like him to give up his money. As they spend time together they soon fall in love and she is determined to protect him from her colleagues. Charles' bodyguard smells a rat and when he gets proof that Jean is a con artist, Charles breaks off the relationship. Jean now sets her sights on revenge and once back home, poses as the English Lady Eve to confuse and confound the innocent Charles. —garykmcd

An upper-crust artist hires a 'party girl' as a model; romance follows. Jerry Strong is the son of a wealthy businessman, but he wants to be a painter. He hires Kay Arnold, a young woman with a questionable past, as a model. They fall in love and plan to get married, but Jerry's parents raise strong objections. —John Oswalt <jao@jao.com> Kay Arnold (Barbara Stanwyck) is a single-minded gold-digger who is out to ensnare socialite and would-be-artist Jerry Strong (Ralph Graves). While she's working as a model for him, she begins to open up to him, and the pair fall in love. But in order to prevent her son from marrying a woman from the wrong side of the tracks, his mother (Nance O'Neil) implores Kay not to jeopardize Jerry's future by marrying beneath him. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net> An artist from a wealthy family hires a "party girl" to model for him. As the pair get to know each other, they become attracted to each other and the young woman begins to regret past choices she has made in her life. His family strongly opposes their relationship. —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>