Unsuccessful writer Aylmer Franklyn takes the chance to change identities after he discovers a corpse. However, he soon finds himself accused of the murder of a maid at a near-by boarding house.
On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.
Agnes "Astra" Huston, a fortune teller at a run-down fair, is found strangled in her bedroom. As the police question five suspects, their interactions with her are shown in flashbacks from their point of view.
Bank teller Mike Donovan (Barry Sullivan) takes the first step on the road to Perdition when he fails to report a $49,000 shortage. Accused of theft, Donovan is fired from his job. He is then prevented from finding other employment by Javert-like insurance investigator Gus Slavin (Charles McGraw). Despite many setbacks, Donovan attempts to clear his muddied name.
An old-time crook plans a heist. When one of his two partners is found out to be a black man tensions flare.
Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.
The daughter of a Nevada casino owner gets involved with a racketeer, despite everyone's efforts to separate them.
Through a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.
A Texas oil driller schemes to steal millions of dollars in oil.
Steven Kenet, suffering from a recurring brain injury, appears to have strangled his wife. Having confessed, he's committed to an understaffed county asylum full of pathetic inmates. There, Dr. Ann Lorrison is initially skeptical about Kenet's story and reluctance to undergo treatment. But against her better judgement, she begins to doubt his guilt.
In a major murder case, an innocent man is convicted. Though saved at the last moment, his sanity is gone and he kills himself. Soon, the jurors on his case begin to be picked off, one by one, leading newspaperman Joe Keats to investigate.
In 1943 Malmö, 15-year-old Stig is attracted to his teacher Viola, 22 years his senior, who, drawn to his youth and innocence, believes the lad is a God-sent relief from her miserable marriage to a drunken, unfaithful lout.
Raoul Leduc is a police inspector trailing a spy who plots to kidnap an important American atomic scientist. Joe Victor a gangster who is hired to carry out the abduction, balks when he learns what is at stake and helps Leduc out instead.
In the summer of 1942 two young boys are sent to stay with their stern grandmother Kurnitz and their childlike aunt Bella in Yonkers, New York.
A con artist falls for the rich widow he's trying to fleece.
Neale and Pedro fly cargo between Chungking and Calcutta. When their buddy Bill is murdered they investigate. Neale meets Bill's fiancée Virginia and becomes suspicious of a deeper plot while also falling for her charms.
A daily news editor recalls a married detective and the deadly woman behind his downfall.
A murder mystery set in 1936 Budapest, just as Hungary was preparing to align itself with Hitler. A beautiful young girl is found dead and nobody wants to investigate—except Gordon, a crime reporter who has a gut feeling that things are not what they seem.
Bootleggers on the lam Frankie and Noll split up to evade capture by the police. Frankie is caught and jailed, but Noll manages to escape and open a posh New York City nightclub. 14 years later, Frankie is released from the clink and visits Noll with the intention of collecting his half of the nightclub's profits. But Noll, who has no intention of being so equitable, uses his ex-girlfriend Kay to divert Frankie from his intended goal.
After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.