Acting
The setting is a city block during a sweltering summer, where the residents serve as representatives of the not-very-idealized American melting pot. There is idle chitchat, gossip, jealousy, racism, adultery, and suddenly but not unexpectedly, a murder.
A girl marries a playboy from a rich family, expecting a life of comfort and luxury. However, her new father-in-law turns his ne'er-do-well son out into the street with no money, and promises the girl that if she can make a man out of her new husband, the father will give her $10,000 and see that she gets a quick divorce.
A man gets hit on the head and decides to give his fortune to artists.
Though he was protecting her when he accidentally killed a man, Mabel Kane (Thelma Todd) refuses to testify on behalf of her dance partner Jerry Davis (George Murphy), and he's sent to jail. In a riot, a hostile convict (Jack La Rue) forces Jerry to help him escape, so Jerry takes to the streets himself. Nightclub entertainer Anne Taylor (Nancy Carroll) meets him, and convinces her boss Louis (Arthur Hohl) to hire him as her partner.
Thieves break into a warehouse that stores guns, steal them and kill the night watchman. An undercover agent assigned to the case happens to get into a traffic accident with the sister of the man the police suspect is head of the burglary ring, and in order to work his way into the gang, he romances the boss' sister. Complications ensue when the two fall in love.
A girl decides to consult her natural father, whom she's never seen, for advice on her mixed-up love life.
An unscrupulous lawyer uses alcohol to swindle an innocent family.
A diver saves his best friend's life but loses his own arm in doing so. Later, unable to find work because of his missing arm, he is forced to go to work for a criminal searching for lost treasures. Meanwhile his friend, who has since become a policeman, finds himself assigned to break up the crook's operation and bring in his gang--including the man who saved his life.
After being introduced to the world of opera, a fisherman (Jan Kiepura) falls for a woman (Swarthout) whose guardian is a noted composer (Philip Merivale). They met when the fisherman evaded the police by seeking refuge in the village church. While there, they are each captivated by hearing the other singing Mass. The beautiful woman falls in love with the fisherman with the wonderful voice.
Millionaire Larry Duane is posing as his own chauffeur while touring the West and meets Molly Hennessey. They have a small romance until it is ended when her father strikes oil and moves his family east to satistify his wife's social aspirations. Larry also return east to close his estate for the summer, but stays on, still posing as the chauffeur, when he learns that Molly's family is renting the place.
A Treasury agent gains the trust of a mob gunman while working under cover to smash a crime syndicate.
A songwriter leaves his chorus girl sweetheart to join the US Army in WWI. In France he falls in love with French singer Madelon. He is crippled in action. Back in the States, his girl friend there leaves him. But Madelon can't forget him and comes to the USA to work there as singer. Per chance she meets the songwriter, and he is cured. Singing one of his love songs, he knows that he has found the right girl.
Mary, a high society girl, wants to see how the other half lives, so she becomes a cabaret dancer in a New York nightclub. The owner of the nightclub, Pop Hanson, and his criminal friends, Harry and Cassie, scheme to rip off a Montana millionaire. Finding herself interested in Harry, Mary goes along with their plan and decides to pose as his wife. The gang moves into Mary's aunt's deserted mansion as their base of operations. A silent film with sound sequences.
Small-time showgirl poses as a stripper to infiltrate a nightclub whose owner is believed responsible for her father's murder.
A college economics professor's "radical" ideas about capitalism get him fired. When he decides to put those ideas into practice, he finds that they actually do generate him huge amounts of money. Soon a local banker and others who scoffed at his ideas see the amount of money he's making and try to cheat him out of his system.
A diplomat is blackmailed by crooked vice cops into helping them frame prostitutes.
A parade highlights the Screen Actors Guild's Film Stars Frolic, hosted by Walter Winchell as Master of Ceremonies.
Slapstick comedy with St. John and Jimmy Aubrey dropping dishes in a restaurant with two patrons, one boss and a floor show of eight. There's singing and dancing too.
A real estate salesman who loses both his job and his girl, masquerades as a female singer at a dance for prospective customers in order to win them both back.
When his buddy is murdered a dedicated cop, goes after the gang responsible.
