Gambler's Choice
"A Thunder bolt of thrills...with life betting on the turn of a card!"
6.2
NR
1944
66 min
"A Thunder bolt of thrills...with life betting on the turn of a card!"
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
One unlucky evening, Louis Cropa, a part-time bookmaker, discovers that his restaurant has become a hotbed of conflicting characters. In addition to having to please a whiny food critic, Louis must fend off a hostile takeover from a pair of gangsters, to whom his sous-chef is in debt. Further, Louis has an argument with his son, the star chef, whose culinary creativity has brought success to the business.
A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
Petty crook and cop-killer Martin Rome, in bad shape from wounds in the hospital prison ward, still refuses to help slimy lawyer Niles clear his client by confessing to another crime. Police Lt. Candella must check Niles' allegation; a friend of the Rome family, he walks a tightrope between sentiment and cynicism. When Martin fears Candella will implicate his girlfriend Teena, he'll do anything to protect her. How many others will he drag down to disaster with him?
An attorney defends a hoodlum of murder, using the oppressiveness of the slums to appeal to the court.
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
When an employee at an illegal gambling den dies suspiciously, her sister, Nancy, looks into the situation and falls for Johnny O'Clock, a suave partner in the underground casino. Selfish and non-committal by nature, Johnny slowly begins to return Nancy's affection and decides to run away with her, but conflict within his business threatens their plans. As Johnny tries to distance himself from the casino, his shady past comes back to haunt him.
Truck driver Mike Lambert is a down-and-out mining engineer searching for a job. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he happens upon a venomous seductress. When her boyfriend robs a bank, they intend to frame Lambert.
Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.
A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity—with unfortunate results.
Gamblers who "took" an out-of-town sucker in a crooked poker game feel shadowy vengeance closing in on them.
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.
Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.
A telephone repairman in Los Angeles uses his knowledge of electronics to help a bookie set up a betting operation. After the bookie is murdered, the greedy technician takes over his business. He ruthlessly climbs his way to the top of the local crime syndicate, but then gangsters from a big East Coast mob show up wanting a piece of his action.
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.
Holly Parker, the wife of a wealthy diplomat, is compromised by the accidental death of a man who has been romantically pursuing her. She is forced by her mother-in-law to assume a new identity in order to save the reputation of her husband and infant son. She wanders the world, trying to forget her heartbreak with the aid of alcohol and unsavory men. Eventually returning to the city of her downfall, she murders a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Amazingly, Holly is represented at her murder trial by her now adult son, who has become a public defender. In the hope of protecting her family, she refuses to reveal her real name and is known to the court as "Madame X".
Chester Morris
Ross Hadley
Nancy Kelly
Mary Hayes / Vi Parker
Russell Hayden
Mike McGlennon
Lee Patrick
Fay Lawrence
Lloyd Corrigan
Ulysses Sylvester Rogers
Sheldon Leonard
Chappie Wilson
Lyle Talbot
Yellow Gloves Weldon
Maxine Lewis
Bonnie D'Arcy
Tom Dugan
Benny
Charles Arnt
Honest John McGrady
Billy Nelson
Danny May
Jack Carr
Jim (uncredited)