Professor Jarvis is a teacher of anatomy who discovers that one of his students Perry Hatch is cheating on an exam. Perry pleads for forgiveness, but Jarvis threatens to tell Perry's father. Later, Perry visits Jarvis to try to get him to change his mind. At Jarvis's house, Perry sees the professor disposing an old hat box. Knowing that Jarvis's wife has not been seen in a while, he begins to suspect foul play. He examines the hat box and discovers Mrs. Jarvis's favorite hat which she certainly would have taken if she had gone on a trip. Perry informs a police inspector named Roman who interviews Jarvis. Jarvis claims that he and his wife are seperated and denies that there has been any wrongdoing. Roman accepts Jarvis's story and returns his wife's hat. Jarvis takes the hat to his study. He places the hat on a skeleton hanging there and says ""Goodnight, Margaret"".

Six-year old Jackie Chester is delighted when his Uncle Rick arrives from Africa with a surprise gift. Unable to wait until rick unpacks, Jackie goes through his Uncle's bags and finds a loaded gun. Jackie thinks it is a toy, the gift his uncle promised. He goes outside to play with it. Jackie's parents and Uncle Rick discover that Jackie is on the loose with a loaded gun and set out frantically to find him. After aiming and not firing the gun at verious people, Jackie goes home and asks the maid to play with him. When she says she's too busy, Jackie aims the gun and fires it at her. Uncle Rick and the parents arrive just in time to deflect the shot.

Leo Torbey works at a carnival and awakes one day after a night of drinking to discover that he has bought a strange monkey for his sideshow. The monkey is actually a dwarf named Maria who draws protraits of people while disguised as a monkey. Maria falls in love with Leo which causes problems with Leo's wife Carol. When Leo is away, El Magnifico tries to seduce Carol. Maria draws a picture depicting Carol and El Magnifico in an embrace. Seeing the picture, Leo accuses Carol of cheating on him. She leaves after an angry denial. Finally having Leo all to herself, Maria confesses her love for Leo. Angrily Leo spurns her affections and sells her to another carny named Benny. Leo writes to his wife begging her to return. Unfortunately Leo is killed by an angry Benny who was driven to a murderous rage after he saw a drawing of Maria that showed Leo and Benny's wife in a romantic embrace.

Phil and Davey are two stick-up men whoget into trouble when Davey shoots a bank messenger during a hold up. There is a witness to the crime and when the messenger dies Phil realizes that they now face a murder charge. He is determined to eliminate the witness. He devises a plan, but refuses to tell Davey about it. Phil disguises himself as a policeman and manages to bluff his way past the guards at the witnesses apartment. He kills the witness and makes a successful escape. Later, when he returns to his hideout he is shot by Davey who mistakes him for a real cop that is coming to arrest him.

When her husband Marco tells her that he is working late again with his brother, Julia Reddy is angry. Later when she hears a noise she calls the police. The police think its a false alarm, but she gets an idea. She calls a detective and asks him to search the house. When the detective arrives. She tries to seduce him. Marco arrives, but when he sees the pair he doesn't get jealous. He tries to run away. The detective apprehends Marco and Julie discovers that Marco and his brother have been robbing warehouses at night. Her unwitting trick on her husband has gotten him arrested.

Mark and Alan are frat boys. During a party at a beachfront frat house, Mark challenges Alan to a drinking contest. Alan drinks a full pitcher of beer, but Mark refuses to do the same. Alan becomes angry, but he and Mark eventually pass out. Alan's frat brothers decide to play a joke on him by injecting Mark with a substance to make him appear dead. They place a bloody weapon in Alan's hand, hoping that when he wakes up he'll think he killed Mark. The pranks goes off according to plan until Alan decides to cover up the ""murder"". He buries Mark's body on the beach. When the prank is revealed to him, he desperately returns to the beach. Unfortunately the high tide has washed away all traces of Mark's grave.

While her husband is away, Julie Barton is attacked in her home by an intruder. She doesn't get a good look at him, but manages to fight him off. In the process of fighting she rips one of the intruder's leather gloves. Julie is terrified. When she goes to identify the intruder in a police line up she wears a pair of dark sunglasses. She identifies one of the men and her husband Tom attacks him. Unfortunately Tom breaks his own leg. Later, as Tom is preparing to go to the doctor's, Julie notices a ripped leather glove in his possession. Tom reveals that pressure from work has caused him to have a breakdown. He admits that he snapped and was the man that attacked her. Julie goes to the police and tells them they got the wrong man.

Loretta Burns is under the mistaken impression that her husband Frank is really a former engineer. Frank is actually a retired hit man. When a man threatens to tell Loretta about Frank's past, Frank kills him and his partner. Hearing the news Frank's ex-boss insists that Frank return to work. He tell Frank that if he doesn't his wife may end up getting rubbed out.

A private detective named Frute is hired by a man named Captian Morgan in order to spy on his wife. Morgan is convinced that his wife is cheating on him. As Frute starts following Mrs. Morgan, he begins to fall for her. The two begin an affair though Mrs. Morgan does not know he was hired to spy on her. Later, Captian Morgan demands evidence of his wife's infidelity. Frute gives him detailed descriptions of his own meetings with Mrs. Morgan. Angrily, Morgan files for divorce and thus clears the way for a relationship between Frute and Mrs. Morgan.

While passing a construction site a young man is hit on the head an gets amnesia. He can't remember who he is or where he was going. The only clues he finds in his wallet: a thousand dollar bill and the name of Dr. Ralph Mannix. He visits Mannix, but the doctor doesn't recognize him. The doctor suggests that something familar may trigger his memories to return. He sees a picture of the doctor's wife and wonders whether he has a wife of his own. Later his memory returns. He realizes that the thousand dollars was from the doctor's wife. He's a hitman and she hired him to kill her husband. He visits the doctor again and fulfills his contract.

Charlie Pugh is a burgler who one day kills a policeman in a shootout. Unfortunately, there is a witness and Charlie himself is injured. Charlie visits Dr. Vogel who prescribes pain killers. When he goes to the drug store he hears his own description on the drug store's radio. The pharmacist, Mr. Fletcher, doesn't realize Charlie is the murder and gives him the painkillers. Later Charlie returns to his apartment, but doesn't take the pain killers. He wants to stay alert in case he has to make a run for it. He decides to skip town and heads for the bus station. As he's leaving for the bus station, he sees Vernon, a clerk at the drugstore. Thinking that Vernon knows that he is a criminal, he kills him and leaves. Mr. Fletcher is called to identify Vernon's body. When he arrives, he reveals that he sent Vernon to Charlie's because he made a mistake in his prescription. Instead of giving him painkillers, he gave him a bottle of poison.

Millie Wright is arrested for the murder of her husband. She is later released for lack of evidence. Millie's neighbor Sarah Hale and the sheriff's wife Mary Peters decide to do some investigating on their own. They find evidence that Millie is the murderer, but they also discovered that Millie's husband was a violent brute who probably deserved what he got. Instead of turning in the evidence, the two decide to say nothing.

Elisa Minden begins to have second thoughts about marrying Sir Humphrey J. Orford. She has these second thoughts because he took her to his wife's grave and talked about torture as a way of purifying those guilty of infidelity. After she is married, Elisa's worst fears come true when she discovers that Humphrey's first wife is not dead. She is really locked in his study and has been kept there for years. She is now insane and cannot call for help because Humphrey had her tongue out for adultery.

Bart Conway is a struggling actor with a bad temper and a drinking problem. He finds himself competing with a fellow actor Jerry Lane for the part of a strangler in an upcoming mystery. He invites Jerry over to his apartment for a little rehersing. Bart gets a little too into character and chokes Jerry to death. To cover up his crime he chops up the body and dissolves most of it in acid. The police stop by to question him about Jerry's disappearance, but they find nothing amiss. They begin to leave. As they leave one of the police notices Bart's ice bucket which contains Jerry's undissolved head.

Captain Shaw works the night shift at a police station when he is approached by an old man who is suffering from amnesia. A lost boy then appears. Shaw tries to send the man to a hospital and the boy to hom. Both, however, refuse to go. Eventually more people arrive. Each lost in some way or another. Eventually Shaw manages to clear out everyone, but the boy and the old man. The boy reveals that his father left him at the police station so that he would be sent to a home. When he hears this, the old man's memory returns. He is wealthy and has lost his family. He lives all alone in an enormous mansion. Shaw urges the old man to adopt the boy that that both of them can have a family.

Psychiatrist Dr. Cooper employs Maude Sheridan who falls for a crook named Jimmy French. French convinces her to allow him to look at Dr. Cooper's private files. He wants to blackmail one of his patients. French picks the file of M.J. Harrison. He discovers that Harrison had an affair with a woman named Diana. French approaches Harrison and demands money. Harrison agrees, but kills French instead. Dr. Cooper tells Maude the bad news about French. He then reveals that Harrison never had an affair. It was all the product of his disturbed mind. He believed the delusion so strong, however, he was willing to kill to protect it.

Reverend Otis Jones is a faith healer who stops at a service station to get his car repaired. The station's owner Aaron Menefee is an honest man who impresses the reverend so much that he agrees to cure his ulcer. Aaron becomes attracted to Rev. Jones's daughter Emily. He quicks his job and joins the reverend's revivial show. Aaron wants to marry Emily, but the reverend does not give his permission. The reverend does not believe Aaron's faith in him is strong enough for him to marry his daughter. Later the revival returns to Aaron's town. Aaron discovers that the town doctor is being held by two hoodlums, one of whom is injured. Aaron believes that this is a test of faith. He calls for Reverend Jones to cure the injured man. The hoodlums warn that Jones will be killed if his faith healing does not work. The end result in never shown, but Aaron wins either way. Either the faith healing works and Aaron's faith is demonstrated, or the faith healing fails and Jones is killed. In either cas

After killing a gas station attendent in a robbery attempt, a wounded Ray Bardon stops a girl named Lisa and demands to be driven to safety. Lisa realizing that her life is in danger agrees. As she drives, Ray falls asleep. Suddenly the car gets a flat tire. Instead of making an escape, Lisa changes the tire. Later the two stop at a hotel. Ray wonders about the girl's loyalty and asks why she didn't run and go to the police. As he talks, Lisa manages to get his gun. She reveals that the gas station attendant was her fiancee and that she didn't leave because she was waiting for an opportunity to kill Ray.

Pedro Sicueros fakes paralysis after a train wreck in order to collect a huge insurance settlement. After collecting the money he doesn't want to stay in the wheelchair. He meets a young girl named Maria who is really paralyzed. He discovers that she has been going to a nearby holy shrine for years hoping for a cure. Pedro gets an idea. He visits the shrine and begins to pray. On the fifth day of his prayer he stands and pretends to be healed. After he stands, his legs collapse. He discovers that he is now paralyzed for real. At the same time, some distance away, Maria is cured.

Vernon Wedge is an attorney who is approached by the father of Benjy Marino. Benjy is accused of stabbing another boy with a knife. Vernon decides to take the case, but his case for the defense seems hopeless until he discovers a special test that can determine if a knife blade ever had blood on it. He tries to conduct the test in court, but the prosecution resists. Even without the test, however, Vernon manages to get Benjy off. Later, Vernon decides to conduct the test in order to determine whether Benjy was really innocent. Before he can conduct the test Benjy's father arrives and cuts himself with the murder weapon. By doing so, he prevents Vernon from ever knowing the truth about the case.

Harrison Fell is an ad executive that needs to come up with an ad campaign to sell the 801 Burglar-Proof safe. Harrison invites the press and a notorious safe-cracker Sammy Morrisey to a gala ball. He challenges Sammy to open the safe in less than three hours. If Sammy can do it, he can keep an envelope containing $50,000 dollars that is being kept within the safe. If he can't, then he gets some consolation prize. Initially Sammy is reluctant. He has given up on safe-cracking and is trying out a new profession. Eventually, he agrees. At the party, Harrison puts the envelope in the safe and locks it. Sammy is given three hours, but he fails to open the safe. He is given the consolation prize. Harrison is pleased since his advertising plan is a success. Later, however, he opens the safe and discovers that the envelope contains worthless paper and no money. Sammy pulled a switch. His new profession is as a pick-pocket.

Dora baby-sits for a wealthy F. Hubert Fellowes. She plans to rob him with her boyfriend Mike and his buddy Gino. The three carry out the robbery, but as they are about to leave Fellowes returns and tries to stop them. He is shot and killed. The three make off with $32,000. A hitman named Murphy tracks them down and kills them. Fellowes was a big-time gangster and the mob sent out a hitman for revenge.

On Miles Cheever's last day of work, he is given a retirement party. When he comes home, his wife tells him that he deserved more for fifteen years. Mile's agrees and that night goes to ofice and robs the safe. Intending to leave his wife, he heads to the airport where he is met by his girlfriend. A stewardess, however, tells Mile's to put his suitcase in a rear storage compartment. Though the suitcase contains the money from the office, Miles reluctantly agrees. Later as he waits on the plane, he learns that a bomb threat has been called in. Since the police are searching the bags, he worries that he will be caught. What he doesn't realize is that his wife called in the bomb threat. She knew he was having an affair and called the threat in so he'd get caught.

Claude is cheating on his wife Clara with Clara's best friend Margo. Since Clara has been having problems with Claude, Clara asks Margo for advice. She wonders whether she should maker Claude the president of the company she knows. Clara tells Claude that is wife is going to divorce him. Since he will be left broke after a divorce, Margo suggests that Claude kill his wife. Claude tries to, but has second thoughts. Later she tells Margo that he will hire someone to do it. Margo decides to kill Clara herself. She offers Clara poisoned laced tea. Clarea drinks it and dies. A man named Weeks arrives and Margo pretends to be Clara in an effort to get rid of him. The man says he is here to collect an envelope with two thousand dollars in it. She gets the envelope and then kills Margo thinking she was Clara. Weeks was the hitman hired by Claude to kill his wife. The two thousand dollars was his payment.

Marvin Foley is trying to arrange a burial for his late partner. He approaches a mortician, Amos Duff, and asks for advice. Since Amos's business is in need of money, he recommends the costly Class A service. Marvin, however, rejects the idea preferring a cremation without the Class A treatment. Later Amos discovers signs of foul play in the death of Marvin's partner. He approaches Marvin who agrees to buy a Class A funeral if Amos keeps his mouth shut. After the cremation, Marvin refuses to pay and tells Amos that nothing can be done since all the evidence was just destroyed. Amos, however, has kept one crucial piece of evidence: the fire-proof hunting buller Marvin used to commit murder.

Boxing manager Arthur Duffy is offered a powerful drug by a shady character named Boots Murphy. Boots tells him it is a drug used on race horses to turn losers into winners. Arthur decides to use the drug on one of his washed up fighters named Soldier Fresno. After Soldier is injected with the drug, he starts to win. Arthur and Boots begin to rake in the money. Soon Soldier gets a bout with the champion. Before the fight, however, Boots tells Arthur that he only has two more doses of the drug. Determined to win the fight, Arthur injects Soldier with both doses. Unfortunately the overdose causes Soldier to believe that he is already in the ring. He springs up and starts fighting. He beats Arthur to death.

Alan Chatterton, an unsuccessful writer, sends successful author Ralston Temple a letter along with three sample chapters from his novel in progress. Alice, Temple's secretary, convinces her boss that the chapters are good and that he should meet the writer and perhaps give him money to finish his book. Temple agrees to meet Chatterton, but finds him an obnoxious boor. Nevertheless he gives him a six month loan. Six months later, Temple continues to fund Chatterton even though the book is not completed. Chatterton shows up again and asks for a thousand dollars so he can get married. Temple gives into the request, but later finds Chatterton partying in an expensive restaurant. Temple confronts Chatterton and rips up their contract. He then goes on vacation. Later, Alice tells Temple that Chatterton has finished his book. It is a best-seller and is going to be made into a movie. Temple shows up at a store where Chatterton is autographing his book. To Temple's surprise, Chatterton gives h

Ned Malley loves Annie his old dog, a Kerry Blue. Ned's wife Thelma grows jealous. Though she likes the dog, she thinks her husband's love for it is unhealthy. One day, Annie dies. Ned accuses his wife of murder. He slips an overdose of sleeping pills into her hot chocolate. As she slips into unconsciousness, Ned hears familiar barking. He goes to investigate, but trips on fatally injures himself. A neighbor calls the police who come and revive Thelma. As her dead husband is being taken away she wonders whether she should have bought him a new Kerry Blue.

A jewler sells a $5000 black pearl left with him by Captain McCabe. He then cheats McCabe out of some of the money owed to him. Hubert Wilkens, the pearl's buyer, asks the jewler for a second matched pearl. The jewler returns to McCabe. McCabe can provide one, but since he has been cheated he demands more money. Figuring that he can charge Wilkens a much larger amount, the jewler agrees. Unfortunately the jewler disocvers that he has been conned. McCabe and Wilkens were working together. The jewler bought the same pearl twice.

Fred Riordan is a recent parole who gets into a bar fight and is thrown back into prison. The prison warden, who is also running for governor, and the prison doctor believe Fred is simply afraid to cope with the outside world. They try to find out why. Fred tells them that when he got out of prison he went to his old neighborhood and realized that no one wanted him around. He tells them that he was contacted by a mobster named Tony Wando who wanted him to kill an associate of his. Fred tells them that he pretended to go along with it, but arranged to go back to prison to get out pf the deal. Warden Bragen feels sorry for Fred and arranges for him to get a comfortable desk job in the warden's office after a month of laundry detail and good behavior. This is perfect for Fred because it is Warden Bragen that he was in fact contracted to hit.

In college, Dave Sumner was voted most likely to succeed. Nowadays, however, he has had a run of bad luck. He takes a job from Stanley Towers, a shady businessman. Stanley's business is being investigated by the goverment. At a meeting with the IRS, however, Stanley is shocked to discover that Dave is really an undercover Treasury Depeartment agent. He only pretended to be down on his luck so he could get the goods on Stanley's shady business dealings.

While on their honeymoon, Joe and Madeline Drake get into an accident that leaves him with a bad leg and her with painful headaches. Later, Joe discovers that Madeline's old boyfriend Ralph Morrow sent her an expensive wedding present. When Ralph shows up at their house, Joe become paranoid. He is worried that Ralph is responsible for a number of butcher knife murders that have been occuring in their neighborhood. Joe goes to search for his wife, as does Ralph. Meanwhile, Madeline is walking home. She hears someone behind her. She ducks into an alley, but is followed. Joe arrives on the scene only to discover Madeline standing over Ralph's bloody corpse. She confesses to her husband that she though someone was following her and killed to protect herself. She then admits that it has happened three times before when her headaches struck.

Paul Devore is an unhappily married department store manager. When he catches Lois Callen shoplifting he hatches an idea. He tells Lois that he will not turn her in, if she agrees to be part of a plan of his. Paul wants a divorce, but his wife refuses to give him one because she doesn't want him to take half of everything they own. When his wife is out of the house, he invites Lois over. Lois arrives and discovers the house burglarized. The burglary, however, is really Paul's doing. He hopes that his wife Kate will divorce him now that her treasured possessions are all gone. Paul asks Lois to tie him up. She does so and leaves. Later Kate arrives and tells Paul how lucky he is that the burglars didn't kill him. Instead of freeing her husband, however, she takes this opportunity to kill him.

Herbert J. Wiggam works at an investment firm for Sylvester Tupper. Tupper treats him employees like slaves. Knowing that a $565,000 bond is about to arrive Herbert and two other disgruntled employees decide to steal it. The plan to hide the bonds in the garbage can until the police leave. The plan goes awry, however, when one of the policemen knocks over the garbage can. The plot is not foiled, however. A old cleaning lady arrives just in time to scoop up the papers and takes them out with the trash. Later, Herbert arrives at the airport. He is headed for South America. He arrives with the cleaning lady who is, in fact, his mother.

Frankie Fane is an American gangster hiding from United States law enforcement in Italy. He is wanted by U.S. officials because he use to sell drugs to schoolchildren. At the suggestion of an American tourist named Ainsley Crowder, Frankie visits an old Etruscan village named Alda Nouva. While on a tour, the children of the village rob him. They then toss him into a deep pit to slowly die. America officials manage to trace Frankie to the village. When they discover that he has vanished, they decide to give up the search, thinking that justice has not been served.

Edward Gibson, a recent divorcee, must make alimony payments of $2000 every month. One day an artist arrives at his house and offers to sell him a portrait of his ex-wife for $2500. Edward throws him out, but keeps the painting. Later Carl Seabrook arrives and tells Edward that he will marry his ex-wife if Edward gives him $5000. If Gloria is married, Edward will not have to pay alimony. Edward accepts the offer and pays Carl $3000 up front. Later that day, Edward heads over to his ex-wife's house. He wants to give her the painting as a wedding gift. At his ex-wife's, he discovers her dead of a heart attack. He later discovers that his ex-wife died earlier that morning and that Carl was with her at the time. After his ex-wife died Carl approached him with his offer. Cheated out of $3000, Edward angrily calls Carl only to discover that he has left town going on a first class honeymoon with a stunning new wife.

Mitch and Judy are out-of-work beatniks in need of money. At a party held by one of Mitch's friends Bruce, Judy meets an older man named Kenneth. Kenneth is not a beatnik, but he likes to attend their parties. He asks Judy on a date. Mitch encourages Judy to date Kenneth because he seems to have money. Kenneth gives Judy a diamond bracelet which Mitch takes and tries to sell to a jeweler. The jeweler has Mitch arrested. It seems that the bracelet Kenneth gave to Judy was in fact stolen. With Mitch in prison, Kenneth who is actually a beatnik-hater stabs Judy to death in her apartment.

Caroline Hardy is the housekeeper to and lover of an actor named Paul Ross. Paul Ross sneaks off with another woman. Caroline grows jealous and wants revenge. She arranges an explosion and Paul is horribly scarred. He has plastic surgery. Caroline tells him that the operation did not restore his looks. She refuses to let anyone see him and agrees to stay with him for the rest of her life. In reality, the plastic surgery was a success and Paul is as handsome as he ever was.

Hugo is a retarded boy without a home. He is taken in by a kind carnival magician Sadini. Sadini's deceiful wife, Irene, performs in her husband's act as the woman whose body is, supposedly, sawed in half. Irene manipulates Hugo into killing her husband. She says she wants to start a new act with Hugo and convinces him that he can perform the sawing the woman in half trick because the magic is in the wand. Hugo killes Sadini for her, but then she backs out on her promise. Hugo knocks out Irene in a struggle. He then decides to attempt the trick and ends up sawing Irene in half for real.