Steve Drexel voluntarily strands himself on a deserted island on a bet. He intends to re-create civilization and carves a miniature city of 52nd Street and Park Avenue out of the jungle. Drexel is befriended by his dog, a native monkey, and a wild goat that is captured in one of his traps. He attempts to cultivate a native as his Man Friday from Robinson Crusoe, but fails as the native escape.
After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.
A tough prosecutor who has sent dozens of criminals to prison finds himself framed on a bribery charge and winds up in prison himself.
A tale of the World War I love affair, begun in Italy, between American ambulance driver Lt. Frederic Henry and British nurse Catherine Barkley. Eventually separated by Frederic's transfer, tremendous challenges and difficult decisions face each as the war rages on.
The south sea island Tonga is full of plantations and scoundrels. Ellen Bradford arrives expecting marriage to respectable and successful plantation owner only to find he is a drunk and gambler. Being the only white woman she is the desire of scoundrels and cut-throats.
A circus performer falls in love with the son of a plantation owner in antebellum New Orleans. When the young man's stepmother objects to the wedding, the couple break apart and go their separate ways for a time. Also in the mix are two circus comics who feud over the heart of another Southern belle.
Hollywood producer Alexander Meyerheimer has hired drunken writer Richard Benson to write his latest movie. Benson has been in Paris supposedly working on the script for months, but instead has spent the time living it up. Benson now has just two days to the deadline and thus hires a temporary secretary, Gabrielle Simpson, to help him finish on time.
Women rebel against slave labor in a filthy jungle prison where they feed sugar cane to a mechanical maw.
Joe Palooka is a naive young man whose father Pete was a champion boxer, but his lifestyle caused Joe's mother Mayme to leave him and to take young Joe to the country to raise him.
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
Nappus sends his grandson north for schooling to shelter him from their community.
During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.
After New York City firefighter Terry Lynch is unable to receive any compensation for an injury incurred during the off-duty rescue of a young girl, he grows suicidal. Furious, his brother Jimmy attempts to have Mayor Tyler intervene, but the corrupt politician instead denounces Terry as a drunk. Determined to get justice, Jimmy begins a graffiti campaign of embarrassing slogans mocking the mayor, which soon captivates the city.
Nora Moran, a young woman with a difficult and tragic past, is sentenced to die for a murder that she did not commit. She could easily reveal the truth and save her own life, if only it would not damage the lives, careers and reputations of those whom she loves.
The coquettish granddaughter of a respected small-town judge is stranded at a bootleggers’ hide-out, subjected to an act of nightmarish sexual violence, and plunged into a criminal underworld that threatens to swallow her up completely.
An investigative reporter romances a suspected smuggler's daughter.
Prohibition is ending so bootlegger Bugs Ahearn decides to crack California society. He leases a house from down-on-her-luck Ruth and hires her as social secretary. He rescues Polly Cass from a horsefall and goes home to meet her dad who sells him some phony stock certificates. When he learns about this he sends to Chicago for mob help.
After being accused of murder and awaiting his death penalty, Kishen Mohan Girhotra is compelled by NGO worker Gayatri Kashyap to form a musical band of prisoners to compete at band competition held at the dreaded jail of ‘Lucknow Central’. Kishen befriends and convinces a talented bunch of criminals to form a band that provides them with a purpose and a new lease of life.
Tommy has lost his job, his love and his life. He lives in a small apartment above the Trees Lounge, a bar which he frequents along with a few other regulars without lives. He gets a job driving an ice cream truck and ends up getting involved with the seventeen-year-old niece of his ex-girlfriend. This gets him into serious trouble with her father.
After being transferred from juvenile to adult prison, Mel Blight is taken under the wing of both Mark Shepard, Australia’s most despised criminal, and Warren Murfett, a soon to be paroled inmate. As a paternal triangle grows between them, we see that even the worst of men have a little bit of good inside that will be their undoing.