J. Edward Bromberg

In New York City, Max Thursday (Zachary Scott) , an alcoholic and down-and-out former police officer, works as a house detective in the run-down residence hotel of Smitty (Mary Boland). One day, Georgia Thursday (Faye Emerson), Max's ex-wife, arrives at the hotel and tells him that their son Jeff has been kidnapped. She also tells him that Jeff was last seen with her brother, Fred Mace (Dennis Patrick), who has also disappeared. When Max asks her why she has not yet notified the police, she tells him that she has been threatened with harm by Dr. Elder (Jed Prouty), her brother's disreputable associate, if she reports the crime. Max quickly sobers up and pays a visit to Elder, who greets him at gunpoint. After drugging Max, Elder knocks him unconscious and throws him into the street. Max regains consciousness in a jail cell, where he learns that Elder has been murdered and that he is being held as a suspect in the crime. Captain Tonetti (Sam Levene), head of the homicide bureau and an old friend of Max's, releases Max when Georgia provides an alibi for her ex-husband. Max's investigation into Elder soon reveals that the doctor was involved in a diamond smuggling operation headed by Otto Varkas (J. Edward Bromberg). Max finds Varkas at his warehouse and threatens to tell the police that Elder was one of Varkas' men unless Varkas tells him where he can find Fred. Varkas refuses to help Max, but on his way out, Max meets Angel (Kay Medford), a Varkas moll, who inadvertently reveals that Fred is being held captive by Varkas' men. Angel also tells Max that Elder was the pick-up man for a mysterious figure named St. Paul. While on his way to Varkas' hiding place, Max is shot in the arm - he sustaining a flesh wound - by two of Varkas' men. Despite his crippling injury which Georgia mends, Max manages to return to Varkas' warehouse, where he finds Varkas dead. A pack of cigarettes belonging to one of Varkas' men provides the clue that leads Max back to Smitty's hotel, where he discovers that St. Paul is none other than Smitty, who used the kidnapping of Jeff to force Fred to give her the jewels he got from Varkas. Smitty tells Max where to find Fred, who quietly tells Max what's going on including where to find a safe Jeff. Smitty tries to involve Max in her scheme after Max shoots her thug Stitch Olivera (Elliott Sullivan) dead, but realizes this is the end of the road for her in that he has gone straight. As an epilogue, Max, Georgia, and Jeff are seen reunited as a happy family.

After a performance of Martha at the Paris Opera House, police inspector Raoul Daubert (Edgar Barrier) proclaims his undying love to singer Christine DuBois (Susanna Foster), despite her known affections for both her career and baritone Anatole Garron (Nelson Eddy). The conductor Villeneuve (Frank Puglia) then tells Christine that she has great promise, but must choose between the opera and "a normal life." The news is not so fortunate for violinist Erique Claudin (Claude Rains), who is fired after 20 years in the opera's orchestra. Returning home, he is threatened with eviction by his landlady, who questions his confessed poverty. The next day, Claudin visits singing instructor Signor Ferretti (Leo Carrrillo), whom he has been secretly paying for three years to coach Christine. With no funds to continue the lessons, Claudin offers his new concerto to music publishers Pleyel and Desjardines. Later, after mistakenly believing that the music publisher has stolen his work, Claudin strangles Pleyel to death, then is facially disfigured when the publisher's assistant throws a tray of acid in his face. The violinist escapes into the sewers of Paris, and the next day, the master key of the opera house is stolen, as well as a costume and two masks. Meanwhile, as Christine sings Anatole a childhood lullaby, Raoul arrives to question her about the murderer, as a bust of her was found in Claudin's apartment. At a performance of Amour et Gloire, Christine hears Claudin's disembodied voice, telling her that, with his help, she is going to be a great singer. The mad violinist then drugs soprano Biancarolli's (Jane Farrar) drink, and understudy Christine takes her place with great success. Biancarolli accuses Garron of drugging her and demands a police investigation. She agrees to drop all charges if Christine is returned to the chorus and no mention of her magnificent performance is published. Later, Claudin visits Biancarolli, ordering her to leave Paris, and when she refuses, murders the singer and her maid. The opera is closed by the police, only to have a note arrive, demanding Christine's performance. After Raoul agrees to re-open the opera, but with another singer, Lorenzi, in her place, to lure the murderer out, Christine is visited by her two suitors, who argue over their two plans to catch the killer. Anatole convinces Franz Liszt to perform Claudin's concerto as another lure and the opera house re-opens with Le prince masque de Caucasie. A new note from the "Phantom" is found, threatening harm if Lorenzi performs in Christine's place. To gain access to the performers, Claudin kills an undercover policeman, taking his place backstage, and sends a giant chandelier crashing down on the audience when Lorenzi begins to sing. He then abducts Christine and takes her into the catacombs of the opera house. He tells her that she can sing now, but only for him. Upstairs, Anatole instructs Liszt to play Claudin's concerto, as he and Raoul search for the missing singer. Claudin accompanies the famous pianist, and Christine slowly recognizes the piece as her childhood lullaby. The two suitors follow the music of Claudin's piano and Christine's singing to find the Phantom and his captive. Just as Christine removes Claudin's mask and discovers his disfigured face, her rescuers arrive. Raoul attempts to shoot the advancing madman, but Anatole deflects his arm, sending the bullet into the ceiling and causing the collapse of the Phantom's lair. Anatole, Christine and Raoul escape the disintegrating walls, but Claudin is buried alive. Christine questions how Claudin composed the concerto around her lullaby, but Anatole tells her that she and Claudin were from the same part of France, and that it must be an old folk song of the area. As she utters sympathetic words about her patron, Anatole comforts her, stating that Claudin's madness will soon be forgotten, but his concerto will live forever. Later, after a triumphant performance, Christine is congratulated by her two suitors. They demand that she choose between them, but she elects instead to greet her adoring public. Realizing that she has made her choice, the baritone and the detective decide to dine together.

Kay Caldwell [Louise Allbritton] and Frank Stanley [Robert Paige] have always been in love, even since they were children. But when Kay returns from traveling in Hungary, she seems changed. First, she begins to express a morbid curiosity with the supernatural. Then, she brings back with her a gypsy fortune teller, Madame Zimba [Adeline DeWalt Reynolds]. Finally, she has invited Hungarian Count Alucard [Lon Chaney, Jr] to be a guest at Dark Oaks, the southern plantation where Kay lives with her father Colonel Caldwell [George Irving] and her sister Claire [Evelyn Ankers]. On the night of Alucard's arrival, Kay throws a welcome party. But only Alucard's baggage arrives on the train; no Alucard. Madame Zimba warns Kay that Alucard is not who he says he is and that death looms over Dark Oaks. True to her word, Madame Zimba suddenly dies of a heart attack after seeing a bat. Later that evening, Colonel Caldwell also dies of a heart attack, and Alucard arrives at Dark Oaks. Days later, at the reading of the will, it is discovered that Kay inherits the plantation and Claire all the money. With no resources to care for the plantation, Kay should be worried, but she is not. In fact, she admits that this is the way she wants it. In addition, Kay does not intend anymore to marry Frank and appears to be seeing Alucard, but no one can find out where Alucard is staying or what happened to the two large boxes that arrived with his baggage. Claire and Dr. Harry Brewster [Frank Craven] wonder if Kay might be insane, and Brewster calls his Hungarian friend Professor Lazlo [J. Edward Bromberg] to inquire about the legitimacy of Count Alucard. Could he really be Count Dracula? One night Kay goes into the swamp where Alucard issues forth from a coffin buried under the water. Later that night, Kay and Alucard are married. Distraught, Frank shoots Alucard but kills Kay instead and escapes to Brewster's house. Brewster goes to Dark Oaks but finds Kay seated in bed and quite alive. Nevertheless, the next day Frank confesses to murder and, when the Sheriff goes out to Dark Oaks, they find Kay's lifeless body lying in a coffin. Frank is taken to jail, and Professor Lazlo arrives from Hungary to offer his help. As Lazlo educates Brewster about vampires, Alucard appears and confirms that he is indeed the son of Dracula. Lazlo frightens off Alucard with a crucifix, and Lazlo and Brewster set out to kill him and to cremate Kay. That night, Kay comes to Frank in his jail cell. She confesses her undying love for him, tells him that she did this for the immortality, and offers Frank the opportunity to share immortality with her, but he must first destroy Alucard. Frank escapes from jail and sets Alucard's coffin afire. The sun rises, and Alucard is destroyed. Frank then goes to Dark Oaks where he kisses Kay's body goodbye and sets her on fire, too. [Original

Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure. Verne (Clark Gable) wants nothing more than to escape from a penal colony located off the northern coast of South America. He tries to involve Julie (Joan Crawford), a saloon girl, in his plans but she turns him in to the authorities. On Verne's next try, he piggybacks on the escape of six other convicts and runs into Julie again in the process. One of the convicts is a spiritual figure (Ian Hunter) who seems to know what will happen before anyone else. The group attempts to travel through the jungle, board a boat, and make it to the mainland. —JeanneArmintrout@juno.com