A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during World War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.
Janet Holman is suspicious of her fiancé, Allen Wells, after he kisses her best friend Gwen when the lights are turned out during a party. Allen leaves early, purportedly for business reasons, but in reality, he is going to visit his secret girl friend, seventeen-year-old Ruth Jarrett. When Ruth's neighbor and landlady, Mrs. Humphries, overhears her talking to Allen on the phone, she becomes morally outraged and calls the police. Ruth is taken away to juvenile hall, and when Ruth's older brother Nick comes home to celebrate Ruth's birthday, Mrs. Humphries explains that Ruth has been seeing an older, wealthy man who has been leading her astray, and that she sent her away for her own good. Nick is saddened that he has failed to keep Ruth on the right track, and when he returns to his apartment, he becomes enraged to see Allen there. When Allen claims ignorance of Ruth's age, Nick hits him, and they engage in a brawl.
The children of feuding gangsters fall in love and fight to escape their parents' notoriety.
When he finds out that his wife is having an affair, a criminologist commits the perfect murder--and pins the crime on his wife's boyfriend so well that the man is convicted of the murder.
On leave in Italy, Lt. Tommy Knowlton falls in love with Jean Standish, who's not only married, but is the daughter of his submarine's commander. Friction between the two officers becomes intolerable once at sea and after Commander Toler is forced to abandon Tommy's best friend topside while the sub dives to escape enemy planes, Tommy is no longer able to contain his anger.
A terminally ill woman and a debonair murderer facing execution meet and fall in love on a trans-Pacific crossing, each without knowing the other's secret.
An ancient Egyptian priest named Imhotep is revived when an archaeological expedition finds his mummy and one of the archaeologists accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the field site and searches for the reincarnation of the soul of his lover.
Buck is a hard working lumberjack, but likes to have fun. Buck's father is the foreman and wants Buck to take over when he retires. Buck is in love with Honey, a show-girl on the carnival boat, but she won't live in a lumberjack camp.
Socially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused of robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair... all in the same day.
A woman's life falls to pieces when she's caught cheating on her husband.
Returning after a long absence, a man learns the woman he fell in love with on the ship going home is his stepmother.
Jay Rountree, a young, rising businessman and a son of a wealthy manufacturer gets caught up in a web involving an escort service or 'party girls' and trapped into an unhappy marriage.
Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men - a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.
Tampering with life and death, Henry Frankenstein pieces together salvaged body parts to bring a human monster to life; the mad scientist's dreams are shattered by his creation's violent rage as the monster awakens to a world in which he is unwelcome.
A producer puts on what may be his last Broadway show, and at the last moment a chorus girl has to replace the star.
When Polly Fisher, a circus aerialist, is hurt while performing, she is taken to the house of a nearby minister, John Hartley. As she recuperates, they fall in love with each other and secretly marry. But when the truth leaks out , John's congregation rebels at having a circus woman as their minister's wife, and he is fired. Polly decides to leave John in hopes of giving back to him the calling that means so much to him. But fate steps in and rearranges all plans.
New York City tenement dwelling neighbors Blondie and Lottie are longtime best friends. When Lottie makes the cast of the Follies and moves up in the world, she arranges for Blondie, as well, to join the cast and gain the advantages. But the friendship goes awry when Lottie's sweetheart, wealthy Larry Belmont, falls for Blondie and she for him.
A Depression-downtrodden waif uses her brains instead of her body to rise from tyro con artist to crime boss.
A stage star finds herself torn between a wealthy older man and a handsome younger one.