Best friends Kenneth Reynolds and Raymond Jordan are U.S. Navy officers, and Kenneth is engaged to Raymond's sister. But the eruption of the Civil War divides them, as Raymond stands by his native Virginia while Kenneth remains on duty as a Northern officer. Kenneth's uncle, John Ericsson, designs...
Newlyweds Webster and Jackie Frye spend their honeymoon in a sinister old country house. Before long, they are besieged by a gang of crooks, searching for a fortune in diamonds. With the help of chauffeur Harmony Jones, the honeymooners attempt to outsmart the villains.
In Brooklyn circa 1900, the Nolans manage to enjoy life on pennies despite great poverty and Papa's alcoholism. We come to know these people well through big and little troubles: Aunt Sissy's scandalous succession of "husbands"; the removal of the one tree visible from their tenement; and young...
Young and restless Nick Adams, the only son of a domineering mother and a weak but noble doctor father, leaves his rural Michigan home to embark on an eventful cross-country journey. He is touched and affected by his encounters with a punch-drunk ex-boxer, a sympathetic telegrapher, and an...
An amoral lowlife accidentally stumbles into an acting career that sets him on a trajectory to Hollywood stardom. But everyone on whom he steps on the way to the top remembers when he is nominated for an Oscar and he runs a dirty campaign in an attempt to win.
Eddie Tayloe's grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Tayloe to leave his dull newspaper job in Texas and move to New York to become a playwright. Along the way, his car breaks down and a girl walking along the highway asks for a lift. It turns out she's...
Raised by Natalie Brennan, a flamboyant and irresponsible mother, Ziggy Brennan gets involved in hustling men at a young age. She hangs around with a wild crowd and learns gets her "street smarts" first from her mother, who wants everyone to think they are sisters, and then from Denny Reagan, an...
Newly married sweethearts Chuck Evans and Molly Roberts work at Blair's Department Store and Molly plans to quit to be a stay-at-home wife and mother. But Chuck unexpectedly and unfairly gets fired so Molly stays on. She catches the eye of Dolan, the crooked store detective, and he makes a play for...
Tommy McCoy grew up poor and scrappy. As a young man he discovers that he can fight with his powerful right arm. He becomes successful at boxing, however he has an alcoholic father.
Eddie Ellison is an ex-con who spent time in Sing-Sing prison. Kay marries him as soon as he serves his time. Five years later, Eddie and his ex-convict buddy Larry, have both gone straight, and Eddie and Kay have a beautiful little girl named Shirley. However, Welch has kept a close eye on them...
President Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in order to cheer up an American public still suffering through the Depression. The new secretary soon runs afoul of political lobbyists out to destroy his department.
An orphaned girl is taken in by a snobbish family at the insistence of their rich, crotchety uncle, even as her devoted aviator godfather fights for custody.
A skip tracer--someone who collects late payments from people who've purchased appliances, etc., or takes them back them when they don't pay--repossesses a small radio from a deadbeat who's skipped payments. What he doesn't know is that a gang that has stolen diamonds from a Hollywood movie star...
Sponsored by The Protestant Film Commission, this religiously-affiliated tale centers around citizen Henry Wood (played by Oscar winner James Dunn from "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"), who loved family and church, gave to the needy, and donated most of his money to charity. Now deceased, his somewhat...
U.S. sailor Jimmy Harrigan, on shore leave in San Pedro, meets and falls for Sally Brent She promises to wait for him when he ships out to San Francisco, but Jimmy becomes jealous and tells her off when he learns Sally has entered a marathon dance contest sponsored by a lecherous snake named Baron...