List of Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes

Carl Spann (Meeker) wakes up early for his first day at a new job and makes his wife Elsa (Miles) breakfast. Carl briefly speaks with neighbor Mrs. Fergusen (Bavier) before driving to work, and Mrs. Fergusen offers to take Elsa to market, as Elsa has nothing to do in their new location by the sea, having been given advice by doctors to take a break after having a nervous breakdown. While Carl is at work, Elsa is apparently attacked and left traumatized by an intruder, claiming to be a salesman, in their trailer park home, as Carl comes home to a burning cake and Elsa in a state of shock. After reporting it to police officers (Willis and Daheim), two lieutenants (Teal and Lytton) take over handling the case. After talking to Elsa's doctor (Gallaudet), Carl decides to take Elsa on a vacation. Later, while driving in town, Elsa points out a man in a gray suit (Montgomery) as her attacker. Seeking revenge, an enraged Carl follows the man and kills him in his hotel room with a wrench, and a maid (O'Malley) quickly finds the body. But a little later, Elsa, still mentally disturbed, identifies another man as her attacker, leading Carl to realize, too late, that he might have killed an innocent man, just as the police close in on them. Elsa is taken away to a mental hospital while Carl is tried, convicted and sentenced to prison for taking the law into his own hands.

Kim Stanger (Forsythe) returns home to the U.S. after four years in Paris, hoping to reunite with his estranged father, Greg, who has not answered any of his letters. After being dropped off by local cabbie Mason (Brinegar), he runs into old acquaintance Douglas Irwin (MacReady), his sister-in-law's father, who is quite surprised to see him and tries to get Kim to call his family first. Upon returning home, he learns that his father died four years ago (1950) of a heart attack on the tennis court, a fact that his brother Perry (Stevens) and sister-in-law Susan (Leachman) did not tell him. Kim suspects foul play, as Perry inherited everything in the will and Kim finds a hunting license dated after Greg supposedly died in that October, so he inquires with Irwin, who says that Perry just got the date wrong. Kim then goes to see a cemetery official, Gerald Eaton (Helton), whom he pressures to let him see the body, Eaton admitting that there is no body in the coffin. Next, Kim sees the coroner, Isaiah Dobbs (Tyler), who claims ignorance because the former coroner retired, stating that three men (Greg, Irwin, and Greg's son) went hunting, and only two returned alive. Kim eventually learns from Susan that he is the one who killed his father. He has been in an Arizona mental hospital for four years and his memories of Paris are just a delusion.

Old Maggie Ryan (Corby) promises to fix a wonderful meal to Ben Morgan (MacGregor) if he will get to work during a very rainy day. Cowboy Dell Delaney (Barry) arrives shortly afterward, desiring a warm respite from the storm, and proceeds to scare the life out of Ben by drawing his gun on him when Ben brings in some firewood. Another cowboy, Red Hillman (McGavin), soon shows up at Old Maggie's roadhouse, and the two cowboys threaten a shoot-out over a poker game and intoxication from the night before. Maggie, widow to a renowned gunfighter, does her best to negotiate a peace, threatening to tell the sheriff that whoever shoots first is a murderer, and she eventually convinces them to only shoot each other when the clock strikes. All she requests is to hold the giant cross that her husband gave her on their wedding day, which sits next to the clock on the shelf. When the clock mysteriously stops, the men take it to be a sign from God and leave peacefully. The light-hearted ending is enhanced by an explanation from Ben of why the clock stops, as it is the cross that keeps the shelf level, enabling the clock to function properly.

Financially strapped couple Frank (Blackmer) and Mildred Partridge (Gregg) scheme to have Mildred "disappear" for seven years and be declared legally dead in order to collect Mildred's $25,000 life insurance policy. Frank got a sales job, but it won't start until next month, and bills are due. They rush to take Mildred to the bus station to "disappear", as Mildred's sister Lucy (Tedrow) will soon stop by to pick up Mildred. Insurance investigator Mr. Kettle (Emhardt) suspects that Frank killed Mildred, and his constant hounding of Frank means that the couple must not be in contact with each other. They have to carefully meet at the local library and avoid being seen by the librarian (Holland), and Frank suggests that Mildred go to San Francisco. Two days before the seven years is up, Frank is visited by Mildred, who has moved on with her life, and she declares that she wants a divorce and an end to the scheme, and she is willing to pay off Frank for $1500. In a rage, Frank bludgeons her to death with a figurine and buries her in his garden. On the seventh anniversary, as Frank is going to court, Kettle returns to congratulate Frank for "winning" and offers to help him with his garden.

Paris, 1899. British Mrs. Winthrop (Forbes) and her daughter Diana (Hitchcock) are on their way home from India via France, and check into a Paris hotel when finally given a room by the clerk (Marsac). Mrs. Winthrop falls suddenly ill while the bellhop (d'Arno), porter (Camlin), and maid (Gaylor) check them in their room, and the hotel doctor (Mylong) sends Diana to his home for medicine from his wife (Codee). When Diana returns, the front-desk clerk and other hotel employees profess to have no recollection of her, nor is there any record that the Winthrops were ever there. Diana goes to the embassy and speaks with the ambassador, Sir Everett (Napier), but her story is believed only by Basil Farnham (Toone). Basil sends an administrator, Maris (Hadlow), to check on the basic details given by Diana. Diana and Basil go back to the hotel and demand to see the room, which is very different from Diana's description, but Diana decides to stay there after seeing a painter in the lobby. She rips off the wallpaper, proving that there is a conspiracy at hand. The cover-up is revealed by Sir Everett to have been set in place by the French government, because Mrs. Winthrop, who is now dead, had the bubonic plague. Based on the Legend of the Vanishing Lady.

Lois Williams (Gates) goes to a high-class bar and fends off a drunk (Montgomery) in order to see Lou Henry (Bryar), as she expects recently released convict Dan Varrel (Barry) to kill her as revenge for her causing his brother Ritchie's death by giving police robbery evidence and Ritchie's location. Then she goes to see her ex-boyfriend Tim Grady (Adams) and confesses her fear, which he rejects as hysterics. When Dan visits her apartment later, he is surprised when Lois refuses to put up a fight and shows no fear, as she believes that she has nothing to live for and no one to turn to. He seemingly has a change of heart and offers her a business deal to help him look legitimate to the police. Lois sets up a boutique, hiring Mary (Cooper), Hilda (Angold), and a model (Christine). To help fund the shop, Dan visits Lou for a loan of $5000. There, he receives a lot of criticism from fellow criminal Shorty (Cook Jr.) for working with Lois. After months of hard work, the dress shop is launched successfully. Dan also convinces money-hungry Tim to reconcile with her under the belief that she is now wealthy, and Tim proposes. Lois, now happy and full of life, expresses her gratitude, but Dan reveals that he did all of it so that Lois would not want to die. Now he can kill her with satisfaction, which he does by shooting her to death the moment he's done talking.

Cynical movie producer William Callew (Cotten) dictates a letter while relaxing in the sun with friend Ed Johnson (Bailey). Callew fires a long-time employee, Hubka (Stanley), over the phone and scoffs at his crying. Later while driving on a rural detour, Callew gets into a car accident and is completely paralyzed (other than being able to move his left pinky finger) after crashing into a prison guard (Weldon) and multiple vehicles. He is robbed by escaped convicts (Spelling, Emanuel, one other) who ignore him and leave him for dead. Two more convicts (Edwards and Ragan) come by shortly afterward and take his clothes. Finally, the sheriff (Chandler) arrives after catching a prisoner. At the morgue, worker Lloyd (Alper) and the ambulance driver (Newton) discuss the escape, and the coroner (Landers) and his assistant (Peters) order William to be left for the night. Just when Callew is about to be declared legally dead, he saves himself at the last minute by getting the attention of Dr. Harner (Shannon) and his friend Chessy (Press) with his tears.

With a serial-murderer maid called Mrs. Andrews on the loose in the city, Ralph Montgomery (Sloane) becomes suspicious of his and his wife Ethel's (Ward) housemaid, Mrs. Sutton (Bondi). Ralph talks about major news with co-worker Earl Kramer (Reid) while walking to work. When Ralph gets violent cramps at work while dictating a letter to his secretary (Singleton), his co-worker George Brooks (Gordon) suggests that he go see a doctor. He becomes even more concerned while playing cards with friends Earl, George, and Dr. Pritchard (King). When he finds a can of arsenic in his garage, he decides to have his home cocoa analyzed by a chemist (Soulé), and it turns out to contain arsenic. Ralph initially blames Mrs. Sutton, and fires her, before he learns that the serial murderer has been caught. However, Mrs. Sutton confesses to him her unhappiness at having had to lie for Ethel, who is having an affair with her play co-star. Ethel, unaware of what Ralph has learned, offers him a cup of cocoa that she made for him.

Heavily indebted Charlie Raymond (Lawford) narrates his previous week's happenings, beginning with his gambling losses at the races. The bartender (Graham) takes a phone call for him, covering him as he owes $4200 to his bookie. He answers a newspaper ad placed by Walker Hendricks (Williams), who wants an English companion for his road trip to San Francisco who can talk in-depth of London. After starting out, Charlie is confronted by bookie Tommy Dewitt (Cantor), who tells him that he must proceed to Florida for a sure thing. Charlie steals Hendricks' money while he is away. He also learns, from a letter written by attorney Matthew Kelson (Warwick), that Walker is on his way to claim an inheritance of $200,000 from a family that he has never met. When they reach Salt Lake City, Charlie tests his ability to assume Hendricks' identity by visiting Hendricks' aunt Margaret Stoddard (Hoffman), at which he is successful. Charlie kills Walker by driving over him in the Nevada desert at night and takes his identity to present himself at lawyer Kelson's office. The secretary (Christine) keeps him company until Kelson calls him in, and he is met by Police Sergeant Mack (Gerstle), who informs him that the real Walker Hendricks was killed much earlier in New York City and thrown in the river. The man that he had killed was English Jim, another con man who had also been after the inheritance.

Supporting cast: Charlie Cantor as Tommy DeWitt, Gertrude Hoffman as Margaret Stoddard, Robert Warwick as Matthew Kelson, Frank Gerstle as Police Sergeant Mack, Virginia Christine as Secretary, Tim Graham as Bartender

Albert Pelham (Ewell) is a successful businessman who stops by his club, talking with the bartender (Willis) until distant acquaintance Dr. Harley (Bailey) stops in. Pelham tells Harley he has a paranoid suspicion that he has a double who is slowly taking over his life and is even better at it. In a flashback, Pelham was eating lunch with Detroit client Mr. Hartley when a friend, Tom Mason (Smith), entered, being somewhat upset of being ignored by Pelham two days before, when Pelham was actually in Philadelphia. An attendant, Harry (Arvan), confirms to him that he, or a twin, played pool that night, when he did not. Pelham believes that the situation must be a joke being played on him by friends Tom, Vincent (Compton), and the staff of the club. Even one of Pelham's secretaries, Miss Clement (Stewart), notices that he is off while delivering to him dictated letters that he knows that he did not dictate. Neither she nor the other secretary (Brewster) notice a difference in the details of the work being completed by Pelham. With the support of Harley, Pelham varies his schedule and buys a one-of-a-kind necktie from a salesman (Collier) in the hopes of catching his double off-guard. Upon returning to work, Miss Clement brings him documents containing his new signature, which he just started using. Pelham calls home and the double answers, troubling him greatly. When he returns home, his double is there, and they are seen together by Pelham's manservant Peterson (Watson), who has been constantly confused throughout the time period by the seemingly consistent inconsistency of Pelham. The impassive double points out that Pelham is the imposter by showing that he is wearing an unusual tie, and when Peterson believes him and thinks that Pelham is the impostor, Pelham has a mental breakdown. The impostor Pelham takes over Pelham's life, while the real Pelham is taken away to a lunatic asylum.

Stanley (Mantell) and Dorothy (Maguire) Crane live in the apartment below volatile couple Amelia (Evelyn) and Ben (Kemmer) Verber, and they often hear them fighting. While serving Mrs. Glavetsky (Wendorff) and Mrs. Santini (Narciso) in his shop, Ben notices bruises on Dorothy when she stops in. Following a particularly loud fight after Ben gets a phone call from a woman, Ben mysteriously vanishes, and Dorothy pushes Stanley to find out more. A man shows up at the Crane's apartment, claiming to be from the board of health. He reveals himself to Stanley as Sergeant Halloran (Simon) and says that he is investigating the disappearance of Ben. Despite his skepticism, Stanley helps Sergeant Halloran's investigation, and they break into the Verber's apartment. Dorothy is passionately insistent to Stanley that Amelia killed Ben. Sergeant Halloran and Stanley eventually discover that Amelia killed Ben and hid his body in the basement in the baby carriage, and the reason the fight got so out of hand was because Ben was about to leave Amelia — for Dorothy.

At a parole office, Doris (Harford) is being supervised by parole officer Clementine Webster (Gregg) when disgruntled ex-con Harold "Stretch" Sears (Fitzgerald) is brought in by Mr. Chambers (Space). Sears is hired by store manager Mr. Shaw (Watson) as a department store Santa for $10 per day plus lunch thanks to Miss Webster. Sears loathes the job, as he dislikes the children (Gibson, Hunley, Blankley, Bernard, Winkelman), but his attention is caught by a cynical poor boy (Clark) who wants an expensive toy plane currently being played with by a highly engaged man (Willis) and the boy believes that Santa is unable to give it to him. Sears is so unimpressed by the store that he doesn't even try to take anything past security (McVey), and he acts rather rudely to Miss Webster when she drives him home. Sears steals the toy to give it to the cynical boy for Christmas, as he sees himself in the child. Sears is caught by the police after leaving the boy's apartment home, but Webster understands Sears' intent and has the charges dropped by paying for the gift, despite the hesitancy of the police sergeant (Reynolds).

Lyle Endicott (McGavin) exchanges barbs with his now former boss, Herbert Koether (Macready), on the day of his firing and seeks consoling from his girlfriend Pamela Waring (Jones). Lyle worms his way into the good graces of Martha Cheney (Collinge), a rich, invalid woman with a penchant for sculpture. Lyle hopes to obtain her Cheney vase, which will fetch a high price on the market, with a buyer offering $45,000 for it. Lyle gets Pamela to forge a letter from Koether pushing for him to work for Martha. Lyle methodically cuts Martha off from the world in the hopes that she will die, even seeking to separate her from maid Bella (Card) by framing Bella for breaking items. He hires a new maid, Ruby Boyenton (Lee), to take the place of Bella, whom he fired, all the while telling Martha that Bella quit. Lyle cuts off the telephone, so Martha begs Ruby to help her, as she fears Lyle's intentions. Lyle even begins to lie to Pamela, telling her the vase is in a safety deposit box in order to cut her out while he plans to flee abroad to Frankfurt. When Pamela warns Koether and the authorities about his plan, Lyle rushes to Martha's gallery to take the vase, but discovers that Martha has been working on dozens of copies of the vase, and now he is unable to identify the correct one.

San Francisco, 1909. When middle-aged Mr. Stepp (Qualen) is suddenly fired from an investment banking company after 21 years of loyal service, he shoots his boss Nathaniel Baldwin (Cabot) and calmly leaves, telling the janitor (Adamson) not to bother Baldwin. Stepp's landlady (Lawson) remarks to him her concern for his tired appearance, but he reassures her all is well. On Monday morning, Stepp is awakened by his landlady about Baldwin's secretary Abigail Wilson (Clarke) is calling him, and Wilson tells him to report to the office immediately, as the office believes him to be late for work. Stepp is surprised when Baldwin is at work the next day as though nothing happened. Baldwin's partner, Walter King (Reed), convinces Stepp that he hallucinated the Saturday night shooting, and King tells Stepp to hire an assistant considering his extensive workload. King, however, has actually hired a look-alike actor named Davidson for $2000 to take Baldwin's place in order to close an important deal. King even tells Davidson that Baldwin had a stroke, which is the reasoning for his hire, although he admits to having an affair with Baldwin's wife. When Davidson figures out Baldwin has been killed, King admits to Stepps' action. King and Davidson agree to stage Baldwin's "death" later, and in order to close all possible leaks, King forces Stepp to retire. King tells Stepp that Stepp himself made up the issue with the new assistant and raise in pay. In retaliation, Stepp shoots and kills King, and then calmly leaves, believing this to be just another hallucination.

Supporting cast: Sebastian Cabot as Nathaniel Baldwin/Davidson, Philip Reed as Walter King, Cheryll Clarke as Miss Abigail Wilson the Secretary, Don McArt as Albert, Robert Patten (credited as Bob Patten) as Detective, Ruth Lee as Neighbor, Arthur Gilmour as Neighbor, Kate Drain Lawson as Landlady, James Adamson as Janitor, David Dwight as Fireman

Chicago, 1920. Gangster Sam Dunleavy (Mathews), fresh from killing a couple of gangsters in Miami, is visited by Police Lieutenant Al Hawkshaw (Downing), who presses him to leave Chicago. Sam wants to murder his ex-girlfriend, Goldie (Michaels), as she has started a relationship with Morgan (Dana). Sam visits his favorite bar, surprising bartender friend Ed (Edwards), before seeing close friend Barney (Stone). Sam has Barney arrange for him the perfect alibi for $2500. Barney has it staged as though he and Sam are playing a game of poker in Barney's backroom, with waiter Tony (Whiting) to witness the two in the backroom playing cards. Sam then sneaks out successfully through the fake phonebooth, but he finds himself unable to kill Goldie when she claims that she has a baby (named Dunleavy) and is married to Morgan. "Baby", however, is actually a revolver Morgan uses for robberies. When Sam returns to Barney's backroom, Barney accidentally shoots himself while cleaning one of his guns, and Sam is arrested for murder by Hawkshaw.

Sam Cobbett (Cassavetes) has just broken out of prison while serving four consecutive 99-year sentences by hiding in a laundry basket. Warden Jacobs (Teal) and his secretary (Dawson) work to fend off the media and begin a pursuit via helicopter. The pilot (Clark) and co-pilot (Patten) fly over a local community looking for any clues. Meanwhile, David (Johnson) and Mary Schaffner (Pavan) discuss a grocery list before David goes to work. Cobbett enters the Schaffner house while David is away and makes Mary cook for him, pretend that everything is okay over the phone when her mother calls, and curtly dismiss her neighbors Maude (Janiss) and Susie Martin (Winkleman) when they come by. Cobbett believes that he can take his time, so he shaves, showers, and changes clothes. However, prison guards (Pullen) and the warden suddenly arrive to arrest him. They were tipped off by Mary's mother — Mary is deaf and should not have answered the phone or been able to hear her mother's questions.

Based on the Lizzie Borden murders and set one year after Lizzie was acquitted for the murder of her parents. A little girl (Winkleman) walks by the Borden house singing about the murders. Emma Borden (Lorring) and friend Margaret (Hitchcock) talk about Lizzie's mental state and their desire to leave the house. Ambitious Sacramento reporter Nell Cutts (Rowles) barges into the home of the Borden sisters, Lizzie (Mathews) and Emma, in the hopes of an exclusive interview, and she pesters Emma with constant questions, even recreating the events of the murder. Lizzie finally comes downstairs with her cat (Orangey) to confront the reporter and throw her out. Cutts' aggressive questioning causes Emma distress, but it turns out that Emma killed their father and stepmother, and Lizzie was merely trying to protect her. Lizzie tells Emma of how she saw her after the murders holding the axe and wearing a blood-stained apron, and Emma admits as to why she killed the two people. Emma suddenly suffers a delusion that the parents are upstairs and feels an imminent need to kil them again. When Lizzie tries to stop her, she threatens Lizzie with the axe. Just then, reporter Nell returns and stumbles upon the axe, demanding a statement. Emma immediately leaves, speaking shortly to neighbor Grace (Stewart) before heading to the train station. To force the reporter out, Lizzie falsely confesses and threatens Nell with the axe, finally understanding Emma's ability to reach the breaking point.

Clarence Fox (Harris) and Elmer Shore (Qualen) are retired insurance agents who travel to see various accidents and determine the causes by interviewing witnesses (Morgan, Montgomery). They hope to use their years of experience to save people that they believe will die soon, especially potential murders occurring when the temperature hits 92 degrees Fahrenheit. Clarence has his sights on Mrs. Shrike (Fleet), a boorish alcoholic who he believes has a death wish, who yells at her nosy neighbors (Knight, Wendorff), and who rudely orders around children (Erickson) and her agitated butcher (Ansara). She irritates basically everyone with whom (Linder, Tesler) she comes into contact. They try to advise her to change her life and fix her house, but this just causes her to laugh at them and lash out, leading Clarence to almost strike her with his cane and admit to Elmer that he failed to see her as a lost soul. As the pair leave, they see Mrs. Shrike's husband Albert (Ross) return home with a meat hook, and she is killed soon afterward.

Husband Ralph (Reed) and wife Herta Cowell (Knudsen) argue over the price of an expensive black mink stow. Businessman Ralph receives a call from his partner, millionaire Alfred Sloane (Delevanti), who wants to meet and discuss repayment of an IOU for $10,000 (and half the profits) for funding his invention. While meeting in a park that night, Ralph claims he doesn't have the money, and when Sloane threatens to involve lawyers, Ralph strangles his silent partner to avoid paying what he owes. The murder is witnessed by vagrant Peter J. Goodfellow (Newton), who picks up Sloane's cigarette case with the IOU inside, and he uses it to blackmail Ralph. Goodfellow and his fellow vagrant friend Fenton Shanks (Silver) move into the Cowell home, much to the disgust of Herta. After months of Goodfellow and Fenton living with them and pawning almost everything in the Cowell home, as well as draining Ralph's bank account, Ralph confesses to Herta when she threatens to leave. After searching every night throughout the home, Ralph is eventually able to find the IOU and burn it. Goodfellow and Fenton leave, but soon afterward Police Detective Sergeant James Monroney (Foulk) arrives with a pawn ticket signed by Fenton for Sloane's cigarette case in Ralph's name, thusly tying Ralph to the Sloane murder.

Macey (Adrian) and Dan Silver (Tyler) make a bet while backstage in a theatre when an errant coin toss leads to the discovery of the dead body of juggler Luke Ockham. Detective Krovitch (Bronson) investigates the murder by questioning John Fabian (Rains) and his wife Alice (Carleton). His suspicions fall on John Fabian, a ventriloquist with a fixation on his female dummy, Riabouchinska (voice of Gregg). Riabouchinska, seemingly acting independent of Fabian's control, insists on telling Krovitch the truth about Alice and lover Mel Douglas (Gilmore), which angers Alice greatly, as she despises Riabouchinska. A stagehand (Haade) gives Krovitch some background information during Fabian's show, and Krovitch finds a picture of the real Riabouchinska, a woman named Ilyana who mysteriously disappeared while serving as an assistant to Fabian. Fabian admits to having a tempestuous relationship with her before her disappearance, and it is she who served as the model for the dummy. Krovitch interviews booking agent Zander (Cantor) about Ockham's whereabouts. When Krovitch confronts Fabian, Riabouchinska tells Krovitch that Fabian killed Ockham because Ockham threatened to expose Fabian and Riabouchinska's love affair to the world unless he received $1000. Fabian confesses and Riabouchinska declares she can no longer love Fabian. She stops moving and Fabian is arrested by Krovitch.

American journalist Mary Prescott (Trevor) is traveling on a train out of the Iron Curtain when her passport and documents are reviewed by the train conductor (Banner) and an officer (Van Eyck). She is befriended by local celebrity Jan Gubak (Bergerac), the captain of the national soccer team. Jan describes his on-field successes with the help of the conductor and an enthusiastic waiter (Manza) when Mary is suddenly approached by Professor Klopka (Klemperer), who states that his country has a secret serum to offer society. While talking privately, Mary agrees to carry a luxury watch for Gubak, but during the customs inspection Jan turns her in to Customs Officer Trevitch (Shayne) for smuggling luxury items. Mary is arrested, and Professor Klopka, who is actually Captain Kriza, attempts to interrogate her for evidence. However, she is released soon afterward when the watch is discovered to be fake and Kriza believes the entire event to be an attempt to raise outrage internationally. Mary is soon visited by Jan on the train to Munich, and she learns that he is part of the underground resistance. The charade was to create a distraction that enabled Gubak to smuggle sensitive microfilm out of the country containing information written by an imprisoned and tortured bishop. Gubak gives Mary the microfilm and urges her to write the truth about his country.

A man named Floyd Unser gets travel information from the ticket agent (Tyler) about a vehicle coming to pick him up. He is soon met by Brother Gerard (McClory), who takes him to a local monastery where he meets with Father Vincente (Sloane) about seeing a man named Dave Rocco. Father Vincente reveals that he knows the man is actually Ray Clements (Damon), whom Rocco stole money from and cost him his job, his father, and his girl. Clements wants to get revenge on Rocco, who is taking sanctuary there. Father Vincente gives Clements all the money he is owed ($13,000) and both he and Brother Gerard advise Clements to choose forgiveness, and Clements is forced to leave when he declines. Clements almost shoots a man after following Brother Charles (Glass) to a visitor's room, not realizing the man is someone else, but luckily he is stopped by Father Vincente. Clements later kills Rocco's partner, the actual Floyd Unser (Downing), in self-defense at the train station and takes sanctuary at the same monastery, as he was shot by Unser. Police officers (Akins, Mitchell) visit the monastery and ask Father Vincente questions about Clements' location. He tells Father Vincente that he no longer wants revenge, but Rocco died just before Clements' arrival.

Supporting cast: Mark Damon as Ray Clements, Joe Downing (credited as Joseph Downing) as Floyd Unser, Sean McClory as Brother Gerard, Everett Glass as Brother Charles, Steve Mitchell as Joey the Cop, Claude Akins as Cop, Harry Tyler as Train Ticket Agent

Englishman Herbert Carpenter (Williams) is digging a hole in his basement under the guise of building a wine cellar. He and his loving but pesky wife Hermione (Elsom) are planning a long holiday in California, which he desires to be permanent. Their servant Elsie (Glessing) is preparing the house for their extended absence. They hold one last party with friends, such as Major (Gould-Porter) and Mrs. Sinclair (Kemble-Cooper), Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt (Hamer and Tedrow), and others. They discuss jet flight, which the Carpenters fear, versus driving, their preferred mode of travel. On the day of their departure, and after doting good-byes from their friends, Herbert bludgeons his wife to death, as planned, and buries her body in the basement. He is almost caught in the act by a surprise visit from friends Mr. and Mrs. Wallingford (Muir and Warren), but he hides until they leave. He then goes off alone on his road trip to Northridge, California and a new job there, where he gloats in his freedom from marriage and forges a fake letter from Hermione to their friends. Soon after arriving at his new swanky "digs", Herbert receives the mail from his new employer Mr. Hall (Ford) while waiting for his new maid (Harris). Among the letters to his wife from their friends back home is a bill from a contractor for work that Hermione had secretly arranged for - excavating the wine cellar as a present for Herbert... meaning that his crime will soon be discovered.

France. Henri Tallendier narrates how his brother Paul Tallendier (Hatfield) and he plot to kill their Aunt Rosalie (Natwick) to inherit her fortune after a lawyer (Helton) reveals the contents of a deceased uncle's estate, with Paul being especially bloodthirsty. Aunt Rosalie pledges to leave her wealth to the local convent, aware that Paul and Henri want her gone, and Paul feigns fainting from anemia, with servant Ernestine (Hurlbut) instructed to care for him. Paul begins to live with Aunt Rosalie and her fast-talking parrot, who dislikes him but appreciates his capacity to play dominoes, and Ernestine is overjoyed with Paul's presence. Dr. Poncet (Kingsford) happily tells Aunt Rosalie that she has the pulse of a twenty-year-old, to the disgust of Paul. Henri begins breaking in to steal items for pawning and is confronted by Paul. After discussing their situations, Paul has Henri grind glass into fine powder while his wife Marie (Summers) is away, while Paul himself gets drunk rejoicing with a waiter (Chefe). Paul adds it to the egg mixture that is supposed to make a soufflé for Rosalie's dinner, but that night Rosalie drunkenly insists on eating fish, and the next morning Paul dies when he eats an omelette made out of the lethal egg mixture. Aunt Rosalie tells Henri, that as her sole remaining family member, he will be her heir.

Couple Frank (Bronson) and Lorna (Crane) Bramwell, desperate for money, go to the mansion of eccentric Monica Laughton (Winwood) to rob her when they learn from Theodore (Greer), the milkman, and Arthur (Treacy), the local deli manager, that Laughton is all alone after her relative Oscar died. They present themselves as relatives and are warmly welcomed by Laughton, who introduces them to ghost relatives that she believes are present for the funeral. Their robbery plan goes awry because Laughton proves wholly crazy and completely unresponsive to their threats to her. She only shows fear when they threaten her imaginary guests. The Bramwells become tired and frustrated, because they cannot find any money and there seems to be no food in the house. In desperation, they eat a batch of freshly made muffins, not knowing that they are filled with rat poison. Laughton's fortune turns out to be inside a handbag that she carries everywhere with her, which is revealed when she pays Theodore the milkman with a $1000 bill.

Dead mystery writer Alexander Penn Arlington (Williams) is distraught when he arrives in Heaven not knowing who killed him with a letter opener, as he wrote 75 novels and demands to know the answer. His recording angel, Wilfred (Napier), returns Alexander to Earth to repeat his last day to investigate, and he is awakened by his butler, Horace (Robles). Alexander's fired assistant Talbot (Coolidge), money-owing nephew Vincent (Slack), openly unfaithful wife Carol (Blake), and his wife's lover Wally Benson (Paris) all have motives. In his study, he tells them all that one of them is planning his death for midnight and asks them all questions. Benson turns off the light and Alexander is killed in the dark without seeing who did it. Returning to Heaven, Wilfred points out that the killer must have trusted the person who turned off the light, so Alexander deduces that it must have been Carol.

Elderly Mr. Crabtree (Qualen) worries about his wife Laura (Kennedy), who desperately needs an operation. Despite having attacked his former employer when being fired for being too old, he receives a visit from Miss Brown (Swanson) confirming his new employment filing reports regarding corporate notices for a generous $100 per week salary. One day, he is ordered by his new boss, the emotionless Mr. X (Greene), to kill a man who will enter his office on a certain day in exchange for keeping his job and one year's worth of salary to cover the operation as Mr. X admits to burning all of Crabtree's reports. The man in question is his wife's first husband, who is blackmailing Mr. X to keep his wife's secret of being a bigamist. Crabtree is to hand the man an envelope, secretly containing a suicide note instead of money, and then push the man out the window. Crabtree decides at the last moment not to do the task, but when a man (Harmon) enters his office at the expected time, Crabtree is so upset at the thought of losing his wife and job that he ends up killing him anyway, and Mr. X calls him to report mailing him his salary, as he witnessed the act. Police Detective Gryar (Baer) and another officer (Brinegar) question Crabtree briefly but leave without suspicion. Shortly afterward another man, the correct target (Atterbury), arrives at Crabtree's office, but Crabtree has already received his payment for the murder and simply walks out.

Supporting cast: Madge Kennedy as Mrs. Laura Crabtree, Parley Baer as Police Detective Gryar, Ruth Swanson as Miss Brown, John Harmon as Donations Collector, Malcolm Atterbury as the Blackmailer, Paul Brinegar as Police Officer

Married couple Mark (Abbott) and Debbie (Gates)'s first anniversary is ruined when a portrait they commissioned is revealed to be of Mark's first wife, Jocelyn, who has been missing for five years. The art dealer (Soule) tells them to talk to Jeff Harrison (Bailey), Mark's former brother-in-law, if they have an issue. Jeff tells Mark that he received a letter from Jocelyn from Switzerland two years prior, after she supposedly disappeared. Debbie jealously believes that Mark stills loves Jocelyn and urges him to find the truth. With the help of Jeff and a real estate agent (Tyler) who rents Mark his former cottage home, Mark tracks down the painter, Arthur Clymer (Baragrey), who claims to have been married to Jocelyn and killed her in a jealous rage. Mark attacks Clymer because he (Clymer) described how Mark, in fact, actually killed Jocelyn five years ago at the same cottage in which Mark is staying. Clymer is actually a police officer and worked together with Jeff to get a confession out of Mark.

Antiques dealer Laurence Appleby (Harris) is desperate for money, as he is being threatened with a lawsuit by Turkish national Mr. Desar (Ansara) over a $12,000 debt. He becomes utterly distraught when wealthy Martha Sturgis (Mundy) breaks an $11,000 camel statuette, although he is somewhat relieved when she writes him a check for the full balance. Appleby kills his argumentative wife Lena (Larabee) by deliberately causing her to fall and hit her head in order to get her inheritance. Since he still has debts, he woos and marries wealthy heiress Sturgis. When Martha refuses to give him money for $7000 in debt to Desar over Hittite curios, he tries to kill her while servant Ella (Glessing) is away, but Martha is prepared for him. Martha and her lawyer Sidney Gainsborough (Clarke) have evidence that Appleby killed his first wife, and if anything happens to Martha, Gainsborough will go to the police. Appleby is about to comply with Martha's demands to give up his shop and stay at home with her, but she accidentally falls and dies the same way as Lena.

Supporting cast: Gage Clarke (credited as Gage Clark) as Sidney Gainsborough, Louise Larabee as Lena Appleby, Michael Ansara as Mr. Desar, Edna Holland as Mrs. Murchie, Helen Spring as Mrs. Grant, Mollie Glessing as Ella

Karen Stewart (Thaxter), a recovering alcoholic, wakes up hung over and with no memory of the night before. She slowly recalls speaking with friend Margaret (Banks) before attending a party with her fiancé, Jeff Simmons (Stevens). Karen, jealous and insecure, started drinking again with a Mr. Marlow (Mullaney) when she concludes (from drunken rambling via Marlow) that Jeff's business associate (and Marlow's sister) Renee (Allbritton) is trying to seduce Jeff, even though Renee and the bartender (Ramstead) try to serve her ginger ale. Others, such as Mr. Sterling (Curry), constantly try to hand her alcohol, not knowing her addiction. Her last memory is of breaking a glass in her hand and Jeff trying to help her. Karen then learns from the nurse (Veazie) that she is in jail for killing Jeff with that broken glass.

Supporting cast: Jack Mullaney as Mr. Marlow, Joan Banks as Margaret, Mason Curry as Mr. Sterling, Jack Ramstead as Bob the Bartender, Jack Mulhall as Party Guest, Karine Nordman as Tipsy Woman, Carol Veazie as Nurse, Marion Gray as Party Guest, Franklyn Farnum as Party Guest (uncredited), Jack Deery as Bar Patron (uncredited), Herschel Graham as Party Guest (uncredited), Don Ames as Party Guest (uncredited)

London, May 1940. Sir Stephen Hurstwood (Clanton) and friend Derek (Irving) discuss their betting engagements while American oilman Howard Latimer (McGuire) celebrates a big victory. Hurstwood offers a bet of £1,000 (British pounds) if Latimer can stay the entire night in the supposedly haunted Cromwell room of the Hurstwood mansion. Latimer is given a gun, one candle, one match, and a book that describes the mysterious beheading of Julia Hurstwood in the room. He takes one practice shot to confirm that the pistol is loaded. He reads about and envisions Julia (Chaney) and Geraldine Hurstwood (Torgeson), the individuals serving as the basis of the ghost story. That night Latimer sees a ghostly headless figure, fires the weapon numerous times, and collapses in fright. In October 1945, Latimer suddenly shows up at the Hurstwood mansion and is met by the butler Hanson (Snowden) before meeting Hurstwood and Derek, who admit to putting blanks in the gun and state that the ghost is a trick set up by Hurstwood for money, which causes Latimer to attack Hurstwood. Two sanitarium officials, Calendar (Dodsworth) and an attendant (Alderson), suddenly arrive to subdue Latimer, and Calendar tells Hurstwood and Derek of Latimer's insanity and need to solve the murder of Julia.

Lottie Slocum (Ritter) is the last person to have seen Clara Nash (Mathews) before she was strangled to death, so she is interviewed by a police detective sergeant (Teal) and is supported by her daughter Janie (Welles). As the detective sergeant leaves, nosy Blanche Armsteader (Wickes) arrives to gossip. Lottie, who used to be the Nashes' babysitter, believes that Clara had it coming because she treated her husband Mr. Nash (Newton) badly, and she notes her distrust of Clara's boyfriend Mr. DeMario (Ansara). Lottie flashes back to the last fight between the husband and wife, one in which Lottie actually intervened by arguing with an angry Clara. After Janie leaves, Lottie is visited by DeMario, who warns her not to make things up about him to the police. The detective stops by to confirm Lottie's story about DeMario, as he has no alibi, and Lottie tearfully states that he left at 1:45. Lottie has feelings for Mr. Nash and hopes to please him by keeping his secret from the police — that he was at home the night that Clara died — so she writes him a note outlining what she knows about that night. He stops by while she is writing the note, supposedly to talk, but he burns the note and kills her instead.

Clint Ringle (Mullaney) wants to marry schoolteacher Ellie Marsh (Hitchcock), but when she refuses him, he kills her fiancé Walt Norton (Compton) with an axe and flees, as the act was seen by student Albert Grinstead (Saber). Clint is hunted by the townsfolk (Moody, Ehrhardt) and the sheriff (Greer), so he hides in the belfry of Ellie's school, planning to kill her when he gets the chance, and he even leaves a threatening note for her on the school chalkboard. The next day, Ellie blames students Albert and Luke (Lee), but a schoolgirl (Hartnagel) says that it was there when the children arrived. Clint stays in the belfry for a few days and feels smug when everyone assumes that he is long gone, although he is almost caught by Albert retrieving a ball. When Ellie's fiancé is buried after the local preacher (Hayward) conducts his funeral, local man Elmer (Leavitt) rings the bell, causing Clint to shout in surprise and reveal his whereabouts.

Dana Edwards (McGuire)'s fiancée Laura (Ames) is killed in a hit-and-run in front of Dana and others (Collier), and he is unable to remember any details of the car involved for Police Inspector Shea (Newton). His mother (Warren) consoles him as best she can, helping him try to recover, when a man suddenly arrives. The stranger, John Hurley (Harris), is a former teacher who lost his son in a similar way, and he claims to know how to give Dana Total recall. After many sessions, Dana is successfully able to remember the license plate of the car and tells Shea. He is then surprised to learn from Shea that John Hurley is crazy and not a memory expert at all, nor did he ever have a son.

Palm Beach, Florida. English author Randolph Burnside (Clanton) runs into wealthy Cecilia Smithson (Markey), Colonel Blair (Kingsford), and Irene Cole (Dana) upon returning to his former home, where he is welcomed by the cafe host (Anders). Donna Dew (Arlen) begs Burnside to write a script for her. Wealthy but plain housewife Irene, wife of oil millionaire Howard Cole (Hewitt) and herself a bottlecap heiress, is pursued by playboy Prince Burhan (Bergerac), who ignores other beauties (Dixon) for her and threatens to kill himself if he can't have Irene. However, she refuses to leave her neglectful husband (Hewitt) for him and consistently seeks advise and consoling from Burnside, who is writing a book about Burhan. When Burhan dies, Irene and her husband assume that he killed himself over his love for Irene. Sometime later, Burnside learns from the cafe host that Burhan's death was an accident, as his mechanic had disconnected his brakes, and that he had pursued Irene for her money. Burnside decides to keep this a secret when he sees that Irene, believing a man killed himself over his love for her, has a newfound confidence that has greatly improved her marriage and her spark for life.

Mild-mannered Paula Hudson (Hussey), supported by her friend Lois (Bromley), seeks to have a mink stole coat valued by fur shop owner Leslie Ronalds (Eustrel) and a furrier assistant (Burns), but she is apprehended by Police Sergeant Bradford (Janiss) for possessing stolen property belonging to Mrs. Wilson (Jackson). Paula attempts to prove that she bought it to Police Sergeant Delaney (Hayworth) for $400 cash the previous Monday, but to her distress the people she bought it from deny ever having sold it to her. The seller, Dolores Dawn (Paul), denies ever having met her, and her hairdresser Lucille (Borg) denies having given any information regarding the coat, although Lucille calls Dolores just after the police leave to discuss the matter. Paula is eventually approached by the man, Charlie Harper (McCallion), who stole the coat, and he offers to buy it back from her for $600, as he admits to facing 10 years in prison if caught. When she declines, he steals it back in order to end the police investigation, but he ends up being arrested.

Piano player Gil Larkin (Horton) is upset when he learns that the woman he loves, singer Mona Cameron (Williams), is being abused by her husband Ben (McDearmon), an agent. Gil confronts Ben in his office after the secretary (Laven) leaves, but someone knocks Gil unconscious and shoots Ben, placing the gun in Gil's hand and listening to the scene over the phone. Gil remembers the name Ritchie being said by Ben and realizes his predicament as a patsy, or decoy. After investigating a note on Ben's desk, Gil goes to see Mona, hiding himself from the theater doorman (Tyler), when he runs into Mr. and Mrs. Sasikawa (Mita and Yamaji), who report not having spoken with Ben over the phone. Gil speaks with disc jockey Dave Packard (Mullaney) about Ben's death after Dave deals with autograph seekers (Gorshin), but Dave is clueless. Gil is briefly apprehended by Lieutenant Brandt (Coolidge), as he admits that his fingerprints are on the gun. After he is released, he goes to Mona and realizes when he hears the record that was playing over the phone during the murder that she set him up so she could be with her lover, Ritchie (Lewis). Mona and Ritchie are arrested, while Gil takes his musical arrangements.

Martha Stone (Shaw) and George the janitor (Helton) discuss the extreme heat and a murderer killing local women. The murderer has killed two blonde women while they are alone at night. Ellen Grant (Ford) is terrified and wants extra locks on the apartment door, but her husband Steve (Brodie) is dismissive of her concerns as he is angry that he did not get a pay raise at work. Ellen wants Steve to request to work the day shift until the murderer is caught. Steve goes to have a beer before work and runs into friend Ed (Townes), who stops by the Grant's apartment and offers to stay with old acquaintance Ellen. The two discuss why Ellen turned down Ed romantically and Ed's continuing grudge regarding Ellen. While Steve is at work, Ellen is scared and suspicious of various people that she meets, such as the local shoemaker (Linder) and even George, but she turns down Martha's offer to stay with her that night. Martha even accuses Ellen of having an affair with Ed. She is only relieved when the locksmith arrives to fix a lock and chain on her door, but the locksmith turns out to be the murderer, and he strangles Ellen as a terrified Steve listens to the commotion over the phone.

Richard Paine (Homeier) narrates his hatred of the rat race of life. He and his wife Beth (Woodward) are about to be kicked out of their home, and both are angry that he worked on half pay to help his job and his boss, A.T. Burroughs (Christy) has yet to repay him the $450 owed. Richard tries to borrow the money from bartender Charlie (Newell) while having a drink with others (Cook), but Charlie lost his money at the racetrack. Richard goes to Burroughs' home and steals the money that Burroughs owes him, but in the process, he accidentally kills him when Burroughs interrupts him and a struggle ensues. Richard tells Beth that he got the money from Charlie. Just then, the janitor Martin (Kreig) arrives to show the apartment to a prospective renter (Tyler). Richard becomes paranoid that he is being watched and sought after by the police, and he follows an innocent man (Lehman) seeking his wife (Knox) at a bus stop. He then overreacts and is shot when a finance company agent (Hunter) comes to collect his debt. He flees just as the police (Dillaway) arrive. Beth becomes paranoid herself, believing a man (Tesler) reading a newspaper is monitoring her. He takes a cab ride to meet Beth at the bus station, and the cab driver (Ragan) shows concern and offers to get him help, though a radio announcer (Frees) giving a news flash about Richard's doings brings fear to the cabbie. Richard forces the cabbie to pull over, and he knocks him out after a passing motorist (Gilbert) stops to offer help. While injured and possibly dying, Richard discovers that Beth met Burroughs the night before and received the owed money, commenting about the rat race before passing out.

After his severely disturbed daughter Millie (Purdom) kills a schoolmaster, Withers, seeking shelter in the family barn from the heavy rain with a croquet mallet, Mr. Princey (Hardwicke) devises a plan to save his family name. Working together with his wife (Givney), hopeless medical school dropout son George (Barclay), and Millie, Princey methodically sets up the man's body and crime scene so that family friend Captain Smollet (Williams) will take the blame for the murder, as Smollet admits to the family that he had been turned down for engagement by the deceased man's wife and had walked in on the family discussing the murder (believing it to be a joke). Mr. Princey wipes the mallet clean of fingerprints and has George stash the body before threatening Smollet at gunpoint with a shotgun, having George punch Smollet, making Smollet handle the murder weapon, and finally forcing Smollet to dump the body in the sewer. They go back to the house and fake the story of a rat to deceive the maid, Jane. Smollet then leaves, while Mr. Princey feeds a story to the family to be used for the involvement of the police, whom he then calls.

Thirty-five-year-old Mary Summers (Thaxter) begs her salesman husband Arthur (Langton) not to go away on a business trip, but he refuses, instead offering her a revolver for protection. Mary complains that the house is small and isolated from her parents, with whom she desires to live, and which Arthur refuses to accept. They argue while a cab driver (Nelson) impatiently waits to take Arthur to the airport. Mary is alone in the house when Ted Lambert (Grizzard), an escapee from a state mental institution, breaks in. The two quickly develop a rapport regarding both having extensive fear, and Mary confesses that she is always been afraid except for when she lived with her parents, only her husband no longer wants to live with them. She even confesses to wishing that she had never gotten married. While talking, two hospital interns (Willis) stop by to check on Ted's whereabouts, and they search the house, to no avail, as Ted leaves. Arthur returns home after hearing of the hospital escape, and Mary shoots him when he walks up the stairs as had repeatedly occurred in her dreams. Mary then tells her father (Frees) on the phone that she can return home now.

Supporting Cast: George Grizzard as Ted Lambert, Billy Nelson as Cab Driver, Norman Willis as Hospital Intern, Paul Frees as Mary's Father (uncredited)

Note: Carol Veazie is credited as Mrs. Connolly but does not appear in the episode; this suggests deleted scenes.

Aware that their friend Professor Rankin's (Emhardt) wife Irene (Williams) is cheating on him, Wally (Jones) and Bud (Coolidge) draw the same conclusion when they find Irene missing and Rankin sealing up a hole in his basement. Bud flashes back to when he realized that Irene was unfaithful. He remembers seeing Irene openly flirt with a truck driver (Wynant) in Benny's (McLean) cafe. Wally remembers waking up in the middle of night hungry and Irene suddenly appearing in his kitchen wanting to share cigarettes with him. When they hear "Prof" working in the basement, they try to convince him to go fishing. Prof, however, is conducting an experiment with domesticating rats in the basement and wants to wait for Irene to return, as she is supposedly visiting an old family friend (that both Wally and Bud believe is made up). Prof receives a call from Swanson (Frees) at the bank regarding Irene emptying their accounts, while Wally and Bud discuss what could have actually happened with Irene. Wally and Bud confront Prof, asking which of Irene's lovers he caught her with, but their assumptions were wrong, and Prof is initially furious before accepting the reality of his circumstances. Wally and Bud agree to the story that they saw Irene hitch a ride and that they never went in the cellar. When Irene returns home later, Prof lures her to the basement and kills her for real.

Hoping to profit from life insurance fraud, siblings Katherine (Matthews) and Fitzhugh 'Fitz' Oldham (Cronyn) plan to torch their house and have a homeless man, Jorgy (Gleason), die in Fitzhugh's place. Forgetful pyromaniac Fitz is especially distraught at having to destroy his butterfly collection and kill all his birds, being an avid bird watcher. They invite Jorgy to eat a hearty meal of stew and dress Jorgy in a suit of Fitz's clothes before putting sleeping medicine in his glass of milk. The plan backfires when, once they have lit the fire, they are unable to put Fitz's identifying ring on Jorgy. The siblings have no choice but to save themselves and Jorgy, and they get to watch the house burn as firemen (Ragan) attempt to put it out and a neighbor (Listz) serves them coffee while proclaiming Fitz a hero.

Egotistical, vain, money-hungry Seymour Johnston (Hatfield) shoots and kills his rich Aunt Muriel Drummond (Dunnock) while the maid (Crehan) is away, as he is desperate to control his late father's fortune and she is utterly embarrassed by his antics. He believes himself to be a Renaissance man who operates an antique shop with his equally money-hungry girlfriend Liza (Stevens). He pins the blame on "Antonio Battani", a fake persona that he has created using make-up and a wig after finding a California driver license utilizing the name. He evens rents an apartment in New Jersey for months and engages with his neighbors brusquely to give the identity fullness. He sends threatening letters to Aunt Muriel demanding $10,000, though she easily sees through the scheme and doesn't even send the letters to the police, which he desired her to do. Liza laughs at his plan, which leaves to him to consider Liza's demise equally expedient. Seymour's plan fails because his willful blindness of his own faults means that he no longer "sees" his distinctive facial birthmark, which gives his disguise away to a neighbor (Bronson), and he is promptly arrested by a police detective (Lane) who was close friends with his aunt.

New York City, 1910. Landlady Mrs. Foster (Wickes) and resident Marie McGurk (Corby) discuss the eccentric new neighbor when Albert Birch (Harris) arrives with roses. Birch is excited to be reunited with his sweetheart, Edwina (Tandy), after 20 years apart, and he speaks of his lifelong obsession to the two ladies. An Italian tenant (Santon) complains about the heat when Edwina arrives with a baby in a bundle, whom she claims is just getting over scarlet fever. Edwina claims that the parents died recently in a carriage accident and she is now responsible for Toby. Although the reunion is joyful, Edwina has mood swings and refuses to let anyone, including Mrs. Foster (Wickes) and Marie and Mac McGurk (Mathews), see her baby nephew, Toby, even threatening the McGurks with a knife. Edwina tearfully confesses her extreme sadness at failing to start a family with Albert after he left years before. Eventually it is revealed by asylum attendants Ben and Amos that Edwina has escaped from a mental asylum and that Toby is a friendly black cat.

Supporting Cast: Mary Wickes as Mrs. Foster the Landlady, Ellen Corby as Marie McGurk, George Mathews as Mac McGurk, Penny Santon as Italian Tenant

Gangster Georgie Minnelli (Philips) argues with his known rival, Lucky Moore (Chandler), over the pinball racket and discuss the promotion of their cop enemy, Lieutenant James Larkin (Stephens). Georgie kills Lucky after Lucky jokes about sending Georgie the biggest lollypop in town and then works to set up an adequate alibi. He tries to use his willing bartender Uncle Leo (Reed), but Leo refuses to lie to Larkin. He then tries to reconnect with his former girlfriend Goldie (Smith), but she wants nothing to do with him after finding a signed photo of another girlfriend, Viola (Paul). Next, he goes to the hospital to set up the alibi with elderly friend Timmy (Tyler), but Timmy dies just a few minutes into Georgie's visit. Upon going home, he finally sets up an alibi that he was in his apartment the whole day by threatening landlady Mrs. Salvatore (Brunetti) about her fifteen-year-old daughter Maria. When Larkin questions Georgie, a delivery boy (Erickson) arrives with a package and receives no tip, so he complains, revealing that he had tried to deliver the package five times previously that day because Georgie was not at home.

Supporting Cast: Harvey Stephens as Lieutenant James Larkin, Alan Reed as Uncle Leo, Eugenia Paul as Viola, Argentina Brunetti as Mrs. Salvatore, Charlie Cantor as Barney, Shirley Smith as Goldie, Harry Tyler as Timmy, Herb Vigran as Newsman, Lee Erickson as Messenger Boy

Real estate salesman Herbert Brenner (Collins) threatens to take sisters Cissie (Stickney) and Joanna Enright (Matthews) to court unless they sell him their home. Herbert brags to his local bank teller (Stanhope) about the power he holds over them and the house, as Herbert wants to tear down the house for the value of the land upon which it sits. The cruel and domineering Joanna orders Cissie to poison Brenner through tea, but Cissie allows him to live just long enough so that he can shoot Joanna dead before Cissie poisons his glass of whiskey, and Cissie even confesses to the dying Brenner that Joanna isn't really her sister but is a nurse named Abigail who showed up thirty years before, when Cissie's mother was dying. Thusly Cissie is left alone with the house that she so dearly loves.

While traveling on a train, company man Mason Bridges (Horton) turns down an opportunity to play with friends Tom Ackley (Lummis), Whitman (Britton), and the porter (Watkin), among others. When asked by Tom why he turned it down, he explains by flashing back to a past controversial case of excess. After dealing with the secretary, Della (Stewart), regarding normal business, he gets invited to a high-stakes poker game and is determined to beat his rich client, Sam Klinker (Middleton). Klinker proves to be the only legitimate threat to winning, as the others (Gordon, DeSales, Kirkpatrick, Reynolds) fall easily by comparison. Klinker takes $1000 from Mason, who leaves desperate to win it back, so Mason takes $4000 of Klinker's money that was for legitimate office business. His rationale is that he has $9000 in the bank and can pay it back the next day. When Mason discovers that his wife Jessie (Kobe) has lost all their savings through a bad tip about oil in the stock market, he steals the rest of Klinker's money ($6000) from the office to keep playing. During a crucial hand, Mason thinks he has four queens and bets everything aggressively (even writing a worthless check for $5000), to Klinker's surprise. At the last moment Mason realizes that he had read his last card wrong, but Klinker folds and Mason wins the pot on his bluff.

Gil Dalliford (Allen), who had an extremely close relationship with his late father, Jonathan (Kennedy), narrates their closeness while revisiting his former home. He flashes back to his father informing him of beginning a relationship with his secretary, later stepmother, Rosine (Johnson), whom Gil has always despised. He accuses Rosine of killing his father while he was traveling in Mexico City, as he does not believe the report of Dr. Mack (Kingsford). Gil visited Mexico City on the advice of, and with, his friend Don (Wilder). It was then that he gave a giant bottle of poisoned brandy to Rosine in order to kill her. Gil's investigation uncovers the bottle in question, and Rosine admits that she had guessed that it was poisoned and so gave it to Jonathan instead, thusly killing him. She confesses that breaking Jonathan and Gil apart had broken her marriage to Jonathan apart as well, and she was desperate not to be left with nothing.

Supporting Cast: Douglas Kennedy as Jonathan Dalliford, John Wilder as Don

Private investigator Cutter (Hanmer) visits mobster Louis 'King' Koster (Middleton) and his miniature shipbuilding assistant Baldy (Lambert). Koster learns from Cutter that his wife, bird fanatic and former showbiz performer Marian (Hughes), is cheating on him with a professor-like man of thirty years or so in age. Marian claims to be meeting a friend in Cleveland whose husband died, so Koster, who has worked to go legitimate, sends Cutter to Cleveland and hires hit man Harry Silver (Silva) to confirm the information about Marian and her potential lover. Cutter returns to reveal that Marian did not go to Cleveland but met her poetic lover, who does not know her actual identity. Cutter believes the man to be a potential professor of English literature. Koster ultimately hires Silver to kill her and the lover for $20,000. However, after Marian surprises Koster and Silver meeting, Koster changes his mind about killing Marian, whom he loves immensely. Koster offers to pay $10,000 to kill the lover alone, but Silver changes his mind. Silver tells Koster that he doesn't know how to properly appreciate a woman like Marian, and only a good woman and a poem are to live and die for. Silver also tells Koster that he will marry Marian, therefore getting all of Koster's wealth. Silver kills Baldy and Koster instead, because Silver is the man with whom Marian is having an affair.

Louisiana. Publisher Alexander Vinton (Williams) takes a cab from gossip cab driver Barney (Peters) about sisters Julia Pickering (Collinge) and Cordelia Welles (Varden) and their background regarding romantic suitors. Vinton suspects that the novel Julia has written is based on a true story of how her domineering sister Cordelia had killed her husband, and Vinton stays in the room described as the murder scene. Julia had to write the book behind Cordelia's back, as Cordelia does not approve. Vinton evens digs in Cordelia's rose garden looking for the body. Vinton encourages Julia to stand up to her dominating sister, eventually drawing out a confession of the murder, which Vinton overhears. Cordelia murdered her husband and buried him in the other garden, and she always grows prize-winning roses.

Kooky mystery writer Babs Fenton (Scott) has an overactive imagination and suspects the worst when she fails to meet new neighbor Mrs. Blanchard after a couple of weeks, so she breaks into the Blanchard home late at night after the maid (Hardt) leaves and is caught by Charles Blanchard (Lummis), the husband. While imagining what gruesome outcome could have befallen Mrs. Blanchard, she is suddenly visited by the woman in question, Ellen (Mundy), who is perfectly pleasant. She continues to be suspicious when Charles acts strangely around Ellen, who assures Babs that Charles just hates being home without her. Babs even types about scenarios involving Charles killing Ellen. However, every time that Babs thinks that she has figured out the truth, she is proven wrong, and Ellen is always fine.

Harold Skinner (Marlowe) and John Brown (Collins) discuss the merits of modern chair designs versus classical designs, with John favoring classical designs and Harold favoring modern. Harold, who is having an affair with John's wife Vera (Dana), seeks to oust John from his company by getting him declared mentally unfit and sent to a home, with Vera in favor of the plan as well. After being served by the waiter (Rousseau) on their date, Harold plans to undermine John's authority by portraying him as forgetful and untrustworthy, making scenes in front of servant Ellen (Hayworth) and sabotaging paperwork at the office. At home, Ellen stages a forgetful moment in front of his doctor, Sam Helck (Kingsford). Dr. Helck sets up an appointment with specialist Dr. Croatman (Ryan), whom John greatly distrusts. John flees in front of the receptionist (Baker), to the delight of Harold, and the doctor recommends John be sent to a home. Harold's fails to impress various clients, while John thrives in becoming a painter. When the company tanks due to the failure of the modern chair designs, the company accountant (Leavitt) says only a loan could save it, as Harold needs to raise $50,000. After ten months, Vera and Harold desperately need John's help but are unable to get him discharged by his doctor, as John signs his discharge papers with the name "George Washington".

Newlyweds Ray (McGuire) and Meg Loomis' (Scott) honeymoon is slightly marred by the recent death of his aunt and a flat tire preventing them from reaching their destination. After discovering that their spare tire is flat as well, a man named Mr. Moon (Emhardt) arrives and fixes their tire enough to get them driving again. When Ray trips and gets Moon's suit filthy, Moon remarks that he could kill Ray for that and drives away. At their hotel, they find difficulty in finding a room due to a convention. The bellhop (Garris) informs them that Sergeant Carpenter (Fox) is waiting for them, and the sergeant has questions for them about his aunt's stolen jewelry. Meg, who grew up poor, wants to return to Ray's family mansion, while Ray just wants to get away. The clerk (Guth) finally finds them a room, which is right next to that of Moon. They are passively harassed by Moon, who Ray believes is actually trying to kill them. Although Moon makes substantial noise banging on the wall, Moon calls the hotel clerk complaining about Ray pounding on the wall, with Moon stating that he is trying to take a nap. When Ray barges into Moon's room, Moon pulls a pistol. Ray tries to get another room, but the clerk claims there are none, due to the convention. Moon suddenly appears with his pistol, Ray accuses him of murdering his aunt, with Ray then knocking Moon down and the couple fleeing. Ray orders Meg to leave when he hears what sounds like a time bomb, but he rushes back for his bag that contains the jewels stolen from his aunt. Moon, however, is a Pasadena police officer and set up the ruse to trap Ray.

Harry Parker (Jones) helps his pretty neighbor, Miss Elliot (Baxley), carry her groceries home from the store. Afterward, he gleefully holds a conversation with the building superintendent, Charlie (Helton), before going home to his wife Norma (Gregg). Harry's active dream life makes him stay up to watch television, but Miss Elliot knocks on his door, desperate for his help. They go to Miss Elliot's apartment, only for her to show him the body of her piano-playing boyfriend, Bill Nielsen, whom she claims was shot from outside the window. Harry agrees to help hide the body and stage the scene as if it were a robbery. After dreaming of the night's activities, he confesses to Norma the next morning, but she says that he was merely dreaming. When Harry goes down to the basement to check, he meets Police Lieutenant Orsatti (Lloyd), who is conducting the investigation. Orsatti and a police sergeant (Bartold) uncover that Norma was having an affair with the dead man, but they believe that Harry killed him over envy of Miss Elliot.

District Attorney Martin Ross (Dano) faces a crisis in his campaign for governor when his brother Richard (Townes), a construction company owner, shoots and kills the competition, three-term legislator Burton Reeves, with the death being confirmed by Sheriff Briggs (Teal). When Martin talks about resigning and turning in his brother, Richard threatens to kill Martin's wife, Laura (Stevens), with the same gun used to kill Reeves. Martin makes a deal with eighteen-year-old Tommy Kopeck (Ellis), his oft-used caddy, to temporarily confess to the murder in order to save Laura's life, as Sheriff Briggs has already arrested Tommy for the murder. After Martin returns home, he attacks Richard to seize the gun but is knocked out. Tommy's mother (Golm), mistaking Richard for Martin, begs him to release Tommy, and when Richard refuses, she stabs him to death.

White-collar criminal Stephen Fontaine (Redfield) and Police Sergeant Rockwell eat in a cafe while talking with a friendly waitress (Harford) about Fontaine's crime. Fontaine is being transported to prison via train and the two must rush when the station announcer (Frees) declares that the train is soon departing. Fontaine plays a game of fingerbang with a young boy, Billy (Hunley), which alarms his mother (Stewart). Fontaine then teases the train conductor (Lane), who inquires about Fontaine's upcoming criminal penalty while helping Rockwell learn the present security features. Fontaine, facing ten years in prison for larceny, then tries to bribe Rockwell, a father of four, for his freedom with $50,000, which was brought on board by Fontaine's mother (Evanson), and who snuck an envelope with the offer in Rockwell's pocket when he helped her with her luggage. Fontaine even convinces Rockwell to personally check to ensure that the money is indeed present, which it is. When the conductor announces that they have reached their final stop of Richmond and Rockwell still has not accepted, Fontaine grabs for Rockwell's gun and kills him. Fontaine then discovers that the bullet damaged the key in Rockwell's pocket, and he cannot unlock the manacles.

Carl (Meeker) and Annette Borden (Thaxter) say their goodbyes to friends Perry Harrison (Clanton), a banker, and Lorna Jenkins (Kardell), a businesswoman, who are leaving their dog, a Great Dane named Cassandra, with the Bordens. Cassandra becomes especially fond of Carl but is reluctant to engage with Annette. Carl and Annette have grown increasingly apart ever since a business trip, with each suspicious of the other. Harrison comes over one night for dinner, and Carl collapses in pain shortly afterward, calling Dr. Ralph Wingate (Hayworth) just before he passes out, who believes that the meal was simply too rich for his stomach. After Carl gets severe indigestion again due to the home cooking prepared by Annette, Ralph has Carl's blood tested and finds a large dose of arsenic in it. Carl is angered at Ralph for insinuating that Annette tried to poison him, but Annette later dies from arsenic-laced coffee just as they are set to vacation at Lake Tahoe. Ralph and Perry deduce that Annette gave Carl the wrong cup of coffee and help keep the circumstances of her death quiet. The entire scheme was a ruse by Carl to kill Annette, so that he could be with his lover.

Steve Morgan (Torn), a twenty-year-old ruffian, is picked up by Police Officers Rand and Franklin (Watts) and Detective Kelly (Nolan) for his first criminal offense after a failed stick-up at a candy store (he got only $12) with a fake .38 caliber revolver. After being booked by the booking officer (Sanders), he is lead to a cell occupied by 49-year-old career jailbird Skinner (Collins), who explains the process to Morgan. The jailer Madden (Ross) teases Morgan about his youth when he requests a shave before the custodial officer, Charlie (Leeds), leads the prisoners to the interrogation gallery. Morgan goes through the interrogation process along with Skinner, Assissi (Picerni), Tyrone (Wilson), and other prisoners, particularly enjoying the questioning of Assissi. At first he is cocky about being arrested, as he wants to impress the other prisoners and assembled reporters (Wilkins, DeNormand), but he slowly cracks under the interrogation by the chief of detectives (Teal) and learns that the man he robbed has died of a skull fracture.

Supporting Cast: Ray Teal as Chief of Detectives, James Nolan as Detective Kelly, Paul Picerni as Assissi #19, Mike Ross as Officer Madden the Jailer, Charles Watts as Police Officer Franklin, Robert C. Ross (credited as Bob Ross) as Police Officer Dolan, Hugh Sanders as Booking Officer, Peter Leeds as Custodial Officer Charlie, Martin Wilkins as Reporter, Harry Wilson as Prisoner Tyrone (uncredited), George DeNormand as Reporter (uncredited)

Insurance investigator Joe Rogers (Forrest) is ordered by his boss, Sam Henderson (Coolidge), to re-examine multiple old $50,000 claims made by Mrs. Margarite Gillespie (Cooper), whose previous two husbands died under mysterious circumstances, and who is now engaged to a third. Joe is ordered to take his wife (Maguire) with him to aid him being undercover. Upon arriving at the hotel, his wife notices that they are being watched by another investigator, Saunders (Wever), after overhearing the man speak with the desk clerk (Curry). The Rogers go to speak with real estate man Graham (Dawson) about the Gillespie house. After going to the Gillespie home and speaking with both Mrs. Gillespie and her new fiancé Howard Fieldstone (Gleason), Joe receives a telegram from the bellhop (Kuhn) detailing Gillespie's new insurance policy on Fieldstone. The Rogers have a meal with Fieldstone, who wants to sell the Gillespie house and who admits that both he and Gillespie have new insurance policies. Joe receives a telephone call from Graham that Gillespie quickly sold the home, so he quickly drives over to the home, with only the maid (Summers) and Graham present. Just after Gillespie and Fieldstone leave for their wedding, Joe discovers that Fieldstone is also being investigated by Saunders and another insurance company, as he had made claims following the deaths of his four previous wives, all drowned in the bathtub after the honeymoon.

Marsha Hendricks (Platt) learns that her husband Charles (Baragrey) is cheating on her while traveling on business trips when she finds a lighter with the other woman's initials, BA, in Charles' grey suit and calls a supposed business number, only to reach the home of the other woman, Beryl Abbott (Johnson). The other woman, Beryl, wants Charles to leave Marsha, which he refuses to do. When Marsha confronts Charles, he dismisses her feelings and says that it his right to see another woman if he wants, but he promises to end the extramarital relationship. Marsha tracks down the home of the other woman in the city of Lockton and pretends to be collecting old clothes for a welfare association. While at Beryl's apartment, Marsha puts poison in her sugar and spies a framed picture of Charles. Back at home, Marsha receives a call from Charles' secretary that he has gone to Lockton, so she frantically drives back there. When Marsha arrives at Beryl's, she confesses to Beryl about the poison, but Beryl falsely states that Charles left after drinking poisoned coffee. After Marsha leaves, Charles suddenly emerges from the bedroom, where he was hiding. Beryl gives Charles one final cup of coffee, with the poisoned sugar, when he refuses to divorce Marsha for her.

Alcoholic has-been actor Charles Gresham (Rains) visits his favorite bar, where bartender Jerry (Silver) can't serve him a drink due to his sizeable bar tab. Gresham tries to blackmail producer Wayne Campbell (Gregory) into casting him in a new play but must wait with secretary Lee (Banks) for Campbell to conclude business. Gresham begs him for work, as he drinks when he has no role to play, and he cannot find his identity other than his roles. As he has been threatened with extortion for embezzlement in Philadelphia, Campbell gives Gresham the script for a high-paying role as a blackmailing gangster and advises him to perform it for one of the play's financial backers, Nick Roper (Picerni), in order to prove that he can play a "heavy". Gresham goes to Roper and performs the monologue, but it turns out to contain details of one of Roper's real crimes, and Roper shoots Gresham. As two of Roper's henchmen (Garrett and Martin) take away Gresham's body, Roper learns that Gresham learned about the crime from Wayne Campbell by a sheet of paper with the monologue typed on it and the letterhead of Campbell, and it is implied that Roper later killed Campbell.

Supporting Cast: Paul Picerni as Nick Roper, Johnny Silver as Jerry the Bartender, Joan Banks as Lee, Don Garrett as Pete, Carol Shannon as Mrs. Campbell, Thomas Martin as Hoodlum, Lillian O'Malley as Library Patron (uncredited)

Inspector Davidson (Williams) and his assistant Detective Raines (Davis) investigate the murder of Count Victor Mattoni (Dawson) in his London flat after he is found dead by assistant Polly Stephens (Hitchcock). Davidson speaks with fellow officer Clifton (Gould-Porter) and requests all relevant records from landlord Mr. Martin (Huxham) before questioning Stephens, who is quite acclimated to police questioning. Martin suggests speaking with "nightliftmen" Johnson (Pelling) and Mullet (Cooper), as Johnson was working the previous night's shift. They find a great deal of evidence in the flat, and the investigation uncovers Mattoni's links to Lord Sorrington (Napier) and a written letter by Mattoni directly claiming the guilt of American businessman Bernard K. Froy (Cooper). Davidson speaks with fingerprints officer Peters (Barclay) before summoning Mullet, whom he believes that he knows but cannot identify precisely how. Upon questioning, both Froy (due to the letter) and Sorrington (due to Mullet's identification of him as Mattoni's secret neighbor) separately confess to the murder, confusing Davidson.

Continuing from the previous episode, Inspector Davidson (Williams) is alarmed when the flat's elevator operator, Mullet (Cooper), becomes the third person to confess to the murder of Count Mattoni (Dawson). All three men (Froy, Sorrington, Mullet) are linked to the crime scene by physical evidence, have seemingly sound reasons for killing Mattoni, and are able to describe the murder convincingly, yet all three have evidence that somewhat contradicts their potential guilt. Sorrington admits that his daughter married Mattoni in Italy and that the Count abused her terribly, refusing even to give her a divorce when she left him, which is why he rented the adjacent apartment and killed him; it was Sorrington's gun that was found in the Mattoni apartment. Froy claims to be in love with Mattoni's wife and hated him for threatening to take full custody of their child, as well as his abusive behavior; it was Froy's threatening letter that was found in Mattoni's desk. Davidson interviews neighbor Louise Rogers (Harris) and dancer neighbor Miss LaLune (Arlen) to determine if they heard anything that night. LaLune reveals that Johnson (Barclay) wasn't working the lifts that night, and Johnson confesses to switching with Mullet. Davidson questions Mullet again, realizing only after a phone call that Mullet is actually career criminal Pat Lummock, as it was his fingerprints found on the scene. Mullet/Lummock then confesses to the murder, angering Davidson that there is yet another contender.

Concluding the three-episode story, Inspector Davidson (Williams) interviews Mullet/Lummock, who says that he was borrowing money for gambling debts from Count Mattoni (Dawson) without his knowledge or consent and was caught in the act, leading to a struggle in which Mattoni was killed. Detective Raines (Davis) tries to lighten the mood for Davidson, but it only aggravates him further. When the trio are escorted to the police station by a policewoman (Marlowe), Davidson arranges so that Sorrington (Napier), Froy (Cooper), and Mullet/Lummock (Cooper) meet each other, and the three quietly about who actually committed the murder. Sorrington, Froy and Mullet are secretly friends and conspired to kill Mattoni together and set up the evidence accordingly. They are eventually joined by Louise Rogers (Harris), who is actually Count Mattoni's widow and Sorrington's daughter Helen Sorrington-Mattoni, and who also confesses to the murder, with scratches on her that match Mattoni's fingernails. Upon discussion by the four detained, it is revealed that Helen killed Mattoni before the others got the chance, even though Davidson is adamant that Helen is the only truly innocent one. Davidson and Raines realize that they will never be able to pinpoint the actual murderer out of the conspirators, so all four will likely end up getting away with it.

After murdering his spouse (Larabee), Sam Jacoby (Wayne) has trouble disposing of the body. He wraps up the body and places it in his car's trunk and drives to dispose of it in a nearby lake. However, he is stopped by a motorcycle cop (Brodie) because of his faulty taillight, and the cop helpfully points Jacoby to a local gas station, where the attendant Ed (Leavitt) replaces the bulb, but even it won't work initially. The bulb finally works just as the cop is about to pry open the trunk with a crowbar, and Jacoby heads onward. The cop pulls Jacoby over once more as Jacoby forgot to get change while at the gas station, and upon seeing that the light is out again, detours him to the nearby police headquarters so that their mechanic can open the trunk and fix it.

Young gangster Manny Coe (York) kills a man, Gallegher (Lambert), by order of his boss, Vince Williams (Macready), after Gallegher receives a phone call from girlfriend Dora (Morgan). Gallegher had messed up a robbery and was killed as a result. Manny briefly talks with another thug, Turk (Johnson), who doesn't like being displaced as Williams premier henchman. Williams promises to take Manny as his protege if he kills his girlfriend Betty (Maguire), who despises the work Manny does and wants him to quit. She has also been speaking negatively about Williams' activities around town and eventually goes to the police, which crosses the line for Williams. Manny is unable to do it, but Betty dies in an accident and Manny claims it as a hit. Sometime later, Manny has become rich and successful, with a new girlfriend named Ann Nash (Hughes). However, he botches a robbery and is killed by Williams' next young protege, Georgie (Brenlin).

Ernest Findlater (Williams), who has suffered years of verbal abuse by his wife Minnie (Elsom), fantasizes about her death. He invents Lalage (Baxley), an imaginary exotic lover from the South Seas taken from a caricature on a vacation advertisement. He tells her of another fantasy he frequently has in which he arrives home to find his maid Bridget (Glessing) in tears and Dr. Manley (Kingsford) informing him of Minnie's death. At his club, after speaking with attendant Rogers (Gould-Porter), Lalage appears and encourages him to murder his wife, and Ernest spends weeks preparing every detail to ensure success without discovery, including climbing a rope for sneaking practice and convincing Minnie to write a will and leave everything to other people so that there would be no motive. When Ernest finally returns home to commit the deed while dressed in a disguise, he finds that Minnie has died of natural causes via a stroke.

Practical joker newspaperman Halloran (Stone) tells stories of pranks with colleague Ned (R. Ross) at the local bar. Halloran, despite the protests of bartender Nick (Burns) and patrons Jim (Howat), Timothy (M. Ross), and Joe (Wever) and with the help of a fellow reporter (Ellis), convinces homeless man and drunk widower Johnny (Collins) that the world will end at 11:45 that night. With nothing to lose, Johnny steals expensive imported cognac from friendly storeowner Mr. Stern (Brinegar), unwittingly frightens well-meaning spinster Felicia Green (Barrett), who was trying to help him and who screams for help to a boarder (Corden), breaks into a sporting goods store to give presents to homeless children (Shearer, Herbert, Miller), and then kills the security guard (Marr) who tries to apprehend him with a gun from the store. When Johnny realizes what Halloran did, he returns to the bar and shoots him at 11:45.

In 1919 London, a serial killer is stalking the streets, killing by strangulation a husband, Herbert Whybrow (Gould-Porter), and wife (Plowright), as well as an elderly flower seller (O'Mahoney). Whybrow's nephew (Harvey) questions the first officer to arrive on the scene, Sergeant Ottermole (Bikel), while neighbors (Welch, Roden) and pry. The city is filled with fear, and the police, led by Ottermole, are stumped, leaving reporters (Davis) to question police capabilities. Ottermole insures that bartender Ben (McCallion) closes on time due to the number of deaths occurring. Even a policeman, Peterson (Trayne), is brutally strangled with no witnesses. A blind man (Hamer) has heard the killer whistle but cannot identify him otherwise. Constable Johnson (Thatcher) believes that there is no motive for the killings and the murderer is not English, but The Guardian journalist Summers (Williams) suspects that the killer has to be someone that people take for granted, and he helps trap the true killer: Sergeant Ottermole, who claims that his hands are out of his control after trying to strangle Summers.

Precocious little girl Hildegard Fell (Rudie) attaches herself to the grumpy, reclusive newcomer in the town of Essington, John Anderson (Hardwicke), which she narrates for the audience. She discusses her minister father, Reverend Richard Fell (Marlowe), and lovely homemaker mother (Welles). Anderson is quite the hermit, desiring only to play chess with himself, but Hildegard refuses to give up on trying to befriend him, and she even beats him at chess. She also offers to set him up with neighbor and medium-aspirant Aggie Whiteford (Barrett). Hildegard's friend Clarence (Culp), whom she aspires to marry, is a Bostonian who uncovers John Anderson's identity as a retired Boston judge who had put many criminals away. Thanks to Hildegard's friendship, John opens up to the townspeople and is loved by all for his kindness and generosity, as he even allowed the church bazaar to be held in his garden and donated a stained-glass window to the church. He makes many new friends, including sportsmen (Christy) and those who make great desserts (Bennett), and he helps Hildegard and Aggie conduct a seance, which reveals Anderson's identity to the town. After Anderson's death, Clarence discovers that "John Anderson" was a fake name, and that the man he knew was one of the murderers that the real John Anderson had sentenced to prison, his name being John Louton, a man who strangled his wife.

Mabel McKay (Evelyn) is fascinated by a movie star named Martha Mason and sees her movies dutifully. Mabel believes that her husband Henry (Emhardt) is in the way of her dreams of glamour, so she kills him with a hammer and buries him in their garden while narrating herself as the true victim. When Henry's boss Mr. Abernathy (Hayworth) calls the next morning, she sets up a story that Henry left her for another woman. She even writes a fake goodbye letter from Henry that is all about supporting Mabel's own ego and vanity, and Abernathy refuses to believe that Henry wrote it. The police detective's (Lane) investigation reveals that there was indeed another woman named Cora (Norris), but Cora has no idea where Henry is. This prompts the police to check Mabel's house, and they discover Henry's body.

Taxidermist George Tiffany (Jones) sells a ram's head to a customer (Stone) when interested youth Charlie (Clark) arrives to inquire about the process of taxidermy, as he is interested in becoming an apprentice. George is distressed when his wife Louise (Dunnock) invites her good-for-nothing brother Waldren (Buffington) into their home, as the siblings have been apart for twenty-five years. Waldren constantly pretends to be sick, refuses to work, and has Louise waiting on him hand and foot. When Dr. Rhody (Thorson) declares that Louise has succumbed to exhaustion and admits her to the hospital, George kills Waldren and stuffs him inside the mayor's (Watts) recently deceased horse, Napoleon, that is being prepared for the West Worlock town memorial and associated time capsule in a celebration; the movers (Philbrook) note how much heavier the load is than they thought that it would be.

London, 1912. Shop owner Joe Saunders (Gwenn) refuses to give any more money to his spendthrift son, Sam (Davis). The two argue about Joe being an old lush and Sam being unable to hold down a job. Sam tries to borrow money from his supposed lady friend Mae (Light), a talented piano player, who threatens to leave him and go to Brighton. Sam tries to use Joe's shop to borrow money from lender Mr. Schiller, who also turns him away. Sam spies Joe hiding his friend of forty years, and wanted fugitive, Gus Harrison (Worlock) in the shop cellar. Hoping to collect a reward, Sam goes to the police and informs a sergeant (Trayne). Another sergeant (Sheridan) works to keep Sam patient while they wait. Gus, however, manages to escape after Mae calls Joe to warn him, and it is Joe that is brought to the station instead. Joe is hurt when he learns what Sam did, but Sam still takes the reward money of fifty quid from the police. While Joe is held by the police, Sam falls just outside the station and hurts his left knee.

Brothers of a Lodge have trouble getting people to buy plots in their Elysium Park cemetery project, which worries their leader, Brother Cato Stone (Middlestone). Brother Bronksy suggests turning the property into a park. Brother Harry Brown (Mantell) suggests they ask former member Clarence Weems (Collins), who is elderly and sick, to be their first customer, in return for $50 per week income. Brother Dr. Elkins (Keefer) confirms that Weems is sickly and ideal. They go to see Harry's fiancée Laura Weems, Clarence's daughter, before speaking to Mr. Weems himself. Mr. Weems accepts, but then gets better, having taken the contract as a challenge to rejuvenate his life, with him even falling romantically for house servant Sara Collins (Hurlbut), the widow of a former lodge member. Weems' doctor, Dr. Allen (Newton), agrees that Clarence has become a new man, rejuvenated by the Lodge brothers' friendship and lifetime annuity. After months of Weems not dying, the brothers decide to buy him out of the contract for $500, but in the excitement of seeing Weems moving a piano, Brother Cato dies of a heart attack. After a funeral presided over by Reverend Newton, he becomes the first to be buried in their cemetery instead, in the plot donated by Mr. Weems.

Barbie Hallem (Cook) uses her beauty to play with men's hearts, especially in public before partygoers (Chandler). She enjoys teasing her boyfriend, Chris Kymer (Carlyle) to get her drinks, all the while sneaking off the make out with others, such as Austin (Kennedy). During a party one night, she suddenly decides to drive alone into the mountains to visit her cabin. She stops at a diner for coffee, where proprietor Ed Mungo (Karnes) warns her of a wanted fugitive, Ed's brother Benny Mungo (Morrow). A diner customer (Mullaney) provides her with the specifics before she heads onward. When she arrives at the cabin, Benny is hiding out at the cabin. They amicably share a beer and dance to music. Barbie is seemingly unaware that he is being hunted by townsfolk specifically for the murder of the woman he loves. Benny admits only to killing a dog, saying the woman, Marcella, was asleep when he left. Ed arrives and tries to separate Barbie and Benny, but Ed's behavior frightens Barbie. Ed and Benny fight, and Benny manages to knock out Ed. Although Barbie believes that Benny has been framed by his brother, Benny declares that the woman he murdered ("put to sleep") was just like Barbie, and he snaps her neck.

Lawyer Bellefontaine (Harris), from Milwaukee, and accountant Jones (Salmi), from Madison, are waiting for their train in the station's isolated waiting room. When they learn from the ticket agent (Tyler) that an inmate has escaped from a nearby criminal asylum, which is the reason for alarms sounding from five miles away, both men suspect the other of being said inmate, especially as Jones wears worn clothes and Bellefontaine possesses a gun. They are about to attack each other when the real inmate (Clark), dressed as a police officer, enters the waiting room. They try to send hints about each other to the "policeman", but he quickly tells them how he killed an officer and stole his uniform. They work together to subdue the inmate, taking just enough time before the orderlies (Armstrong) arrive to take him into custody. It turns out that Jones' clothes were muddy from falling while drunk, while Bellefontaine's gun is actually his client's war revolver.

Jim Whitely (Shatner) tells his cousin Dorothy (Harris) a story about how their late extended cousin Julia (Tandy) fell in love with ventriloquist Max Collodi (Conway) immediately after his introduction by the emcee (Welch). Julia was so devoted that she traveled all over the country to watch Collodi's act with his child-sized dummy, "George". At first, she traveled with a child that she lovingly babysat, Allan (Playdon), but then she began going herself. She even quits her job in order to follow Collodi around the country. After writing many letters, an old man (Campbell) gives Julia a letter from Collodi finally allowing her to meet Collodi in person, though she receives only five minutes and is retain some distance from him. She purchases a fancy hat from a saleslady (Hitchcock) to help her look closer to the age of herself in a picture sent to him, and she gets the meeting location details from the hotel manager (Gould-Porter). Upon meeting him, however, she discovers that "Collodi" was the dummy, and the puppet was the real man (Barty), wearing a mask. Julia took with her "Collodi"'s glass eye as a keepsake of her love and fled, never to return.

Ordinary clerk Ronald J. Grimes (Marshall) starts receiving letters from a mysterious Jay Christiani that seemingly predict the future. His boss (Christy) is quite annoyed at Grimes receiving letters marked 'personal', as the office prefers all correspondence to be opened before its destination. While at their favorite restaurant, the waiter Tony (Romito) serves them while they debate whether to follow the advice, as more letters have since arrived. Grimes' friend George Benedict (Klugman) advises caution based on the law of averages, but Grimes starts investing money to great success after watching a fight correctly predicted, especially as a customer (Watkins) helps him understand how the fight-game works. After making $1000 in bets on Christiani's tips, Grimes sends Christiani a check for $200, despite George's protests. For Christiani's last tip, Grimes steals office funds ($15,000) to invest in the stock market (100,000 shares) when the secretary (Townsend) isn't looking and earns enough ($140,000) to retire comfortably in The Bahamas, even after returning the office money and paying Christiani's share. Afterward, George investigates Christiani with the postal inspector (Pratt) and discovers that he is a con man, as the letters were sent out to thousands of people using different predictions; Grimes just happened to receive a correct series of predictions.

1912. Lawyer John Gregory (Gregory) meets with famous detective Charles Courtney (Price), who prides himself on never being wrong. Courtney has keepsakes from every case that he has solved, ranging from clocks to pistols. Gregory has evidence that Courtney convicted the wrong man, a Wall Street investor named Harrington (Dana), in a recent case and threatens to expose him. Courtney flashes back to the case in question, starting with the housekeeper (Lyon) finding Ernest West's (Gordon) dead body. After allowing Courtney to state his case and fluff his own ego, Gregory outlines how the murderer was Ernest's estranged younger wife, Alice (Stewart), as Gregory even witnessed her drop the gun on a trip in Davos. Alice and Harrington were having an affair, and Ernest refused to give her a divorce. Courtney strangles Gregory to death and uses his body to create a ceramic trophy in tribute of what he considers to be "the perfect crime", which he shows off to reporters (Webster, Nicholson) and a photographer (Zaremba) two years later (1914) after returning from a safari. However, as Hitchcock states in his closing monologue, Courtney was found out and arrested when a cleaning lady accidentally knocked over the trophy and broke it, and bits of gold from a filling in Gregory's teeth helped identify him.

When convicted nineteen-year-old robber Jackie Blake (Hickman) is released from prison, he is warmly accepted into the home of Martha Collins (Dunnock), mother of Jackie's former cellmate Allie. Martha treats Jackie motherly, makes him feel quite comfortable, and even invites him to stay in her house, but her other son, Ralph (Persoff) likes to put him down. Jackie's parole officer, Mr. Brown (Binns), holds hopes that Jackie will be successful, as he is an expert mechanic. Jackie has hopes of making a new honest life, but Jackie is attacked at his workplace by thugs (Lesser) who believe that he has the $150,000 in loot from a previous robbery hidden somewhere, and Jackie is found by a little girl (Callaway). Mr. Brown travels to the Collins home to tell Jackie and Martha that it is forbidden to have a parolee stay with the family of a prisoner, but Martha convinces Brown to look the other way. It is revealed that Martha and Ralph (Persoff) only took Jackie in because they want to force Jackie to reveal its whereabouts, as the thugs were sent with Ralph. When Ralph personally attempts to attack Jackie, Jackie stabs him to death in self-defense. When Jackie tries to defend his actions to Martha, she finally tells him the truth behind her kindness to him. We last see Martha run screaming for help, and we can presume Jackie was arrested again and returned to prison, whether the self-defense claim he most likely pleaded was accepted or not.

Professor Donald "Bob" Mason (Taylor) works to end his affair with his student and mistress, Claudia Powell (Hart), after his students leave at the end of class. Mason wants to work on being closer to his wife Nancy (Hitchcock). Claudia is babysitting next door and Nancy leaves for a social function. Claudia wants Mason to divorce his wife so that they can get married, and when he rejects her desire, she threatens to ruin him forever. Mason then strangles Claudia to death when she refuses to end their affair. The only witness is Linda, the baby that Claudia was babysitting at the time. Police Sergeant Waggoner (Bellaver) questions Mason about Claudia the next day. Mrs. Davidson (Shirley) talks with Mason about her inability to sleep and desire to have her husband, Captain Davidson (Boyett), home from West Germany. Afterward, every time Linda sees Mason, she starts crying, which makes Mason fear that she will identify him once she starts talking. He sneaks over to the Davidson home, as Linda is being left on the covered back porch to sleep, but she sees him and starts crying, making him run as Mrs. Davidson is alerted. The next morning, a policewoman (Warren) is watching Linda outside as Mason leaves for work. When asked for help by a student (Davitt) after class, Mason hallucinates and sees Claudia's face instead. Mason ends up confessing to Sergeant Waggoner, but it turns out that Linda cries whenever she sees any man, as shown when her father returns from the military.

After finding a cash-laden wallet filled with $5200, street cleaner Carl Gaminski (Homolka) and his wife Anna (Fleet) talk of what to do, as Anna pushes to call the police while Carl wants to keep it. When a police officer (Akins) visits them regarding the collecting of money for a fund, Anna asks the officer about the legality of finding money. Carl lies to Anna and says that there was no reward for the money, but he never actually returned it, instead hiding it in the attic. When Anna finds it two weeks later, they begin to constantly fight over Anna's lavish spending of the money. The conflict climaxes when Carl bludgeons Anna to death with a statuette before drinking the cup of poisoned coffee that Anna had prepared for him.

Ex-con Joe Kedzie (Hill) and his former partners Madge Griffin (Hagen) and Maxie (Brodie) drive to an abandoned mine in the middle of the Mohave Desert in order to collect hidden robbery loot totaling $100,000, as recently released Joe is the only one who knows where the money was placed ten years prior. Joe kept his mouth shut and protected banker Maxie and lover Madge, so he offers Maxie just ten years' worth of salary ($25,000) as his cut. On the way, they stop and Joe buys items, including a revolver, from a storekeeper (Hix) in Barstow. Maxie sees Joe buy the gun and worries that Joe knows that Madge and he turned Joe in to the police. Once there, the three turn on each other: Joe shoots and kills Maxie at the mine entrance, and Madge traps Joe down in the mine once she has obtained the money. This leaves Madge with the loot, but the keys to the car are in the mine with Joe, who is doomed with a broken leg suffered in the fall down the forty-foot mine shaft. Madge can only die slowly in the blistering sun while Joe dies in the cool, dark mine.

While awaiting his execution, inmate Gerry Daniels (Guardino) argues with the warden (Kruger) and chaplain about being condemned because of a lying witness. Gerry types a final letter to the local newspaper, the Star-Times, protesting the incompetence of District Attorney Bernard Butler (Marlowe). Gerry flashes back to meeting Butler and their mutual hostility. Gerry admits to manipulating women frequently, as he holds great contempt for them. He picked a special choice in Nancy Judson (Lea), wife of traveling businessman Harry (Carson). When they go to her residence for a night cap, Harry suddenly appears and slaps Nancy. Gerry shoots Harry and Nancy with Nancy's revolver, killing both instantly. Feeling lucky, Gerry bets on a horse with bookie Clark (Morse), but he loses and is threatened for $500 owed. He is then extorted by the waitress, Mona Carstairs (Williams), who saw him with Nancy the night before, so he kills her as well. Mona's abusive ex-husband Frank (Ross) received the death penalty for her murder. Gerry then begins a relationship with Sheila Raymond (Booth), but his good time is interrupted by bookie Clark. Gerry extorts Sheila for the money, which is his alibi for the time of the murder for which he was convicted, which was Clark's death. Sheila had denied any relationship, which destroyed Gerry's alibi. Gerry confesses that he had murdered a total of three people, but Butler had never suspected him for those incidents; instead Gerry was only prosecuted for the murder that he did not commit, that of Clark. The execution is canceled when Butler gets new evidence exonerating Gerry from the incorrect charge, but Gerry's letter has already been read for censorship in the warden's office.

Wild teenager Janice (Lynley) pushes her boyfriend Stan (Joyce) to get her alcohol from the bartender (Marlowe) and take her away from her caring guardian, Aunt Mae (Nolan). Janice wants to return to the mansion where she was born, as her parents were servants living in the servants' quarters. When eighteen-year-old Stan leaves, Janice befriends Tex (Edwards), a drifter through town, and tells him that she wants to leave town with him. The next night, she invites him to her aunt's house in order to frame him for the murder of Aunt Mae. However, Stan found Aunt Mae's body and knows that Jan committed the murder, so Sheriff Matt (Lane) arrests her instead.

Married couple Evan (Peppard) and Janet Wallace (Scott) drive to Tijuana with her English aunt Mrs. Tait (Elsom) at the elderly woman's insistence. Upon arriving, and even after all are visually approved by the border inspector (Cassel), architect Evan and Janet discover that Mrs. Tait has died of a heart attack. They inquire with a cantina proprietor (Navarro) about the availability of a doctor. While Evan and Janet are searching for a doctor, their car is stolen with Mrs. Tait's corpse in it. After finding no luck with local police Chief Herrera (Verros), they hire detective Thomas Salgado (Lorre) for 150 pesos ($20) to find the car and, later, the body (for 300 additional pesos). While waiting, Chief Herrera finds the car, but with no body inside. Salgado reports that his thief friend, Rafael (Rodriguez), knows the body's location, but he must be bailed out of jail for $10. Later Salgado reports to the annoyed couple that the body is at a funeral home, and he takes their last $22. When Evan and Janet finally return home, they find out from Dr. Elliott (Lewis) that Salgado has given them the wrong body, and they cannot inherit the estate of £30,000.

Margot Brenner (Thaxter) and friends Myra Herbert (McCay), Rhoda Forbes (Shaw), and Mildred (Muse) talk about the troubles of fellow friend Ann Warren (Mayo). Lee (Stevens), Margot's husband, says that the problems are with her new husband. When the Brenner's have plumbing problems in their new home in the city of North Park, they call plumber Jack Staley (Phillips), who secretly has been blackmailing housewives for fabricated dalliances throughout the suburban neighborhood. Staley sets his sights on new target Margot while Lee is away at work. He seems to take an interest in the house's design and decoration but is really building up a stockpile of information to use for extortion. When he tries to charge her $500 and reveals his successes with Myra and Ann, she tries to have him arrested by undercover Police Sergeant Thompson (Gerstle), but Staley smells out the attempt and plays dumb, and Thompson seems to believe long-time local resident Staley. In retaliation, Margot gathers all the wives (Hughes, Harrison, Hayes) of the neighborhood to confront Staley together. United, the women blackmail Staley into performing housework for them in the value of the money that he has extorted from them, and more.

While preparing dinner, Emma Paisley (Stickney) is surprised by the appearance of an orange tabby cat, which she names Stanley (Orangey). She offers to pay her landlord, Bob Jenkins (Tyler) to offset the no-pets policy, but he only wishes to warn her that Stanley has been seen coming out the brutish downstairs tenant Rinditch's (Graham) apartment. Stanley is such a tough survivor he even attacks a large dog, which impresses the dog's walker (Armstrong). One day, when she finds Stanley's collar in the alley, she becomes distressed when Jenkins informs her that Mr. Rinditch, a mean bookie, killed Stanley, as he had previously warned he would do if the cat kept breaking into his apartment. Emma blacks out and wakes up four hours later, only to find that Rinditch has been murdered. She is informed by a neighbor (Sheeler) that landlord Jenkins has been arrested for the murder. Emma confesses to Police Inspector Graun (Bailey) and a note-taking officer (Smith) that she did it, but she is unable to convince them as she cannot explain the exact circumstances or lack of evidence indicating her involvement. Jenkins was arrested while trying to hide Rinditch's bag of money, as Jenkins spoke often of Rinditch's money. She finally does remember the chain of events after six months, but Jenkins has already been executed.

Warren Selvy (Hingle), a prosecuting attorney with a long history of acquittals, is criticized by his father-in-law and boss, Sidney (Hayworth). Warren finally delivers a guilty verdict in a crucial murder case against a man named Rodman (Schaff) and famed defense attorney Hank Vance (Jackson), impressing the judge (Marlowe), bailiff (Julian), jurors (Murray), and spectators (Perrin). Sidney also tells Warren that Warren's wife Doreen (Johnson) seems unhappy and unfulfilled, as she wants Warren to be elected to higher political office. Afterward, Warren is confronted by a homeless man, Ed Barnes (Collins), who claims to be the actual murderer and presents knowledge of the case. Warren tries to scare him off, but when that fails, Warren tries to grab a clock that Ed attempts to smash, but accidentally hits Ed with it, killing him. Sidney and Doreen arrive immediately afterward, and Sidney tells Warren that Ed has a history of confessing to crimes that he did not commit, especially murder.

Successful businessman Eddie Slovak (Nicol) has a good life with his wife, Faye (Mathews), but is haunted by his past. He once acted cowardly in the Korean War and seeks out his old Army buddy Pete Williams (Keefer) under the pretense of fixing his television, as it is Pete who knows his secret. Pete repeatedly rebuffs Eddie's attempts to pay him back for covering for cowardice, much to Eddie's frustration. Eddie offers anything, but Pete only desires to take his wife Louise (Talbot) to a fancy restaurant and a night out on the town, so Eddie attempts to talk Louise into letting him help Pete. Louise agrees, as she is impressed by Eddie's notorious reputation. Upon returning home one night, Eddie is confronted by his mob boss (King) about his obsession with Pete and his lack of proper handling of financial accounts. Eddie places $20,000 in Pete's bank account, but Pete sends the money back. Eddie begins an affair with Louise, as she says that she only loved the uniform, not Pete. One night, Eddie is triggered by a picture of Pete in his Army uniform, he loses his mind, and he strangles her. When Pete comes home to screaming neighbors (O'Malley, Barnard), Eddie begs him to tell the police that a prowler was responsible, but Pete refuses, and when the officer (Ford) arrives, Pete tells them the truth. Eddie is arrested for murder, and this leaves Pete and Faye, who are lovers, the ability to be together.

At an office Christmas party, worker Shelley (White) asks boss John Courtney (Wynn) to use his phone to call her boyfriend, Tony Gould (Cotten), as she wants Tony to confront his wealthy wife Gloria (MacAfee) for a divorce. Tony gets advice from close friend Charlie (Buffington) before meeting with his mistress, Shelley, in his office after hours. When Shelley threatens to expose their relationship to Tony's wife over the phone then and there, he stabs her to death but is unable to leave because the office is locked and Shelley's key snaps while in the lock. He attempts to get the broken key to fall from the other side of the lock and slide it under the door, but the key fails to slide. Tony calls his friend Charlie to help, but Charlie drunkenly leaves the phone off the hook to go party with his neighbors (Gibbons and Green). The next day, Tony attempts to communicate with a person in an adjacent building and breaks her window, and the police (Eldredge and Logan) are called. They break into the office and Tony almost escapes, but his drunken friend Charlie arrives and discovers the body in his office restroom.

John Leeds (McIntire) is concerned when his daughter, Sylvia (Todd), purchases a revolver. As John is soon to travel to Europe, he has servant Bertha (Angold) watch over Sylvia, but Sylvia orders Bertha on three weeks mandatory vacation. John then seeks counsel with Sylvia's psychiatrist, Dr. Jason (Bailey). Sylvia's unscrupulous ex-husband, Peter (Reed), once left her because of forging a check of John's, and he has returned to town at Sylvia's request. John fears that Sylvia wants to kill Peter, so he pays Peter off with $25,000 so that he leaves again. Sylvia accuses John of never letting her have something of her own, including a husband, which is why she bought the gun. She then shoots and kills John for thwarting her attempt to reunite with Peter.

Crime-obsessed best friends Tommy (Homeier) and Richard (Redfield), along with Richard's girlfriend Sandra (Phillips), drunkenly discuss Tommy's theory that motiveless murders cannot be solved. In order to prove this theory, Tommy decides to murder a random person that Richard picks out from a Chicago phone book while a woman (West) impatiently waits. After sobering up, Richard calls the victim's home, telling the housekeeper (Stewart) that he is monitoring the watching of television programming by viewers. Richard visits when the two can be alone, having the victim, chemical engineer Jerome Stanton (Betz), answer various questions, before Richard kills him with a hammer. After the murder is done, the bellboy (Clarke) brings Richard a newspaper, and Tommy discovers that the Stanton is the man that Tommy's ex-wife Marian had left him for, thusly Tommy does have a motive; Richard picked him on purpose for revenge, as Tommy had once stolen the same woman from Richard. They end up in a fight that is interrupted by the police (Clark and Johnson), who arrest Tommy.

1907. Elderly Englishwoman and London native Millicent Bracegirdle (Natwick) talks with husband Dean Septimus (Muir) and friends Mrs. Crump (Denham) and Maude (Purdom) of her upcoming trip to Bordeaux, France to pick up her ailing sister, as she has not left England in forty-five years. Upon arriving at 2:00 in the morning, she is greatly relieved when the maid (Clark) speaks English to help calm her nerves. While traveling in France, she accidentally locks herself in the wrong Paris hotel room with a man, so she hides under the bed. After getting progressively colder, she eventually gathers the nerves to confront the man, only to learn that he is dead. She eventually manages to escape, but she returns when she realizes that she left her belongings in the room. The garçon (Carrier) finds the man, but she manages to hide herself. She learns from the maid that the dead man is an accused murderer who had died of a heart attack, and the garçon slyly returns her sock to her.

Accountant and treasurer Eldon Marsh (Balsam) talks with friend Charlie Harris (Manlove) after finishing a round of golf. Eldon then attends a party with his boss, Mr. Sloan (Riordan), who insist on playing bridge with Eldon and Ed Sobel (Maxwell). Eldon can't help but notice that new salesman Wayne Phillips (Erickson) is hitting it off with Eldon's wife Louise (Crane), and Wayne talks quite openly about his attraction to Louise and Jean Sobel (Cartwright), Ed's wife. Wayne has an affair with Louise to spite Eldon, who had confronted Wayne about his focus on Norma. After Charlie and another company employee (Gibbons) talk about Wayne's dalliances in the locker room in front of Eldon, Eldon publicly confronts Wayne in front of club patrons (Flowers, Carruthers, Harris, Deery, Miller, Haskett, Pollack) by throwing drinks on him, and Wayne knocks Eldon out cold. Eldon loses his wife and also his job when he refuses to leave it be. With nothing to lose, Eldon challenges the much stronger Wayne to a gun duel. Wayne agrees but shoots Eldon without warning. When the police (Watkins and McClure) investigate, they find that Eldon wasn't carrying a gun, and Wayne is charged with murder.

Gambling-addicted housewife Fran Holland (Sterling) rushes to raise $25 to pay a bookie, Mr. Cooney (Opatoshu), before her husband Ed (Swenson) comes home. Fran got addicted to gambling while hanging out with Lila Shank (Watkins), who often visits the racetracks, but she tells Ed that she is done gambling, as Ed has threatened to leave her if she doesn't stop. Fran uses various tactics to get the money, including pretending to be need bus money and asking various men (Hughes, Baucom) for change. She tries to entrap an elegant lady (Rogers) but is rejected. At a shop, she steals a compact when the saleslady, Miss Reid (West), goes to answer the telephone, but she is stopped by the store detective (Betz). He forces her to ride in his car so that he can take advantage of her, even giving her $20 for services to be rendered, but she manages to force an accident in order to escape. She nearly gets in trouble when the police (Ragan) arrive to her home, as she left her purse at the scene of the accident, but they merely return her purse, and she even returns the stolen compact to them. She just manages to pay off the debt in time to Mr. Cooney before Ed returns home. She promises to never gamble again, but after receiving a telephone call from Ed about taking a business trip to Washington, soon after succumbs to temptation and places a new bet on a horse named Washington Flyer.

France. Cafe owner Leon (Van Rooten) argues with local Fernaud (Sokoloff) about his state of drunkenness before talking with waitress and daughter Therese (Kohner) about showing favoritism to her "Uncle" Fernaud. Therese is upset about her wartime love interest Sergeant Andre Doniere (Bergerac) returning home without her, as Andre is a veteran traveling home with his friend Corporal Marcel Marchand (Dalio), who saved his life in the French-Algerian War. Therese speaks of her love for Andre, while he sees her as a mere wartime distraction. Marcel is courted by his love interest, Cherie (Scott), who wants to the two to stay. Andre despairs over his situation while cafe employee Jeanette (Lenay) plays the accordion for patrons (Barber). Marcel bets local butcher Francois (Granger) ten thousand francs that Andre is the son of a wealthy aristocratic countess, Countess d'Auberge (Castiglioni). Marcel gets Francois to make a phone call to Andre's aristocratic family, winning the bet but angering Andre. Andre finally agrees to speak to his family, asking if they will accommodate his friend, who lost his leg. Andre's mother, stepfather (Varconi), and fiancée Sybil Delamont (Chauvin) are wholly uninterested in welcoming a cripple to their home, with only sister Lili (Castillo) being friendly without any reservations. Andre decides to never return home, because he is the one who lost his leg. He tells Therese to marry Francois the butcher and leaves the cafe alone, but she runs after him. Leon momentarily stops her, but Fernaud threatens him to let her go, and Leon relents, allowing Therese to finally be with her love.

Mr. Waterbury (Emhardt) visits Ivy Corners real estate agent Aaron Hacker (Tyler) and his secretary Sally (O'Hara), who pretend to be busy in order to impress Waterbury. Waterbury wants to buy the house owned by elderly Sadie Grimes (Nolan), despite her demanding a price ($50,000) five times the house's worth. Grimes tells Waterbury how her son Michael (Drury) was killed by an unseen figure in that house over stolen loot from a robbery, and the loot was never found. She found out about Michael's criminal activity from Police Chief Joe Tyler (Watts) and Detective Sergeant Singer (Maxwell). Grimes put the house on the market to trap the killer, because only the killer would agree to the exorbitant price for the sake of the loot. Waterbury confirms her suspicion, but he soon dies because Grimes has poisoned his lemonade.

Twenty-six-year-old Lucia Clay (Bel Geddes) is haunted by the sound of a foghorn and cannot recall why, though she is comforted by a nun (Howard) and a doctor (Henry). She pieces together memories of dancing with fiancée John St. Rogers (Robinson) before falling in love with Allen Bliss (Rennie), a married man, over discussions of their shared interest in the fog. Only a butler's (Jackson) interruption concerning a phone call from Bliss' wife stopped their fantasy of escaping to a tropical island paradise. During a fog-filled evening later on, they ran into each other and decided to eat at local Wong's (Yip) Chinese restaurant, where they discussed Lucia leaving John. They shared poetry before Lucia told Allen that she is leaving him due to familial pressure, but Allen declared his love and asked for her hand in marriage. Allen was killed in a boat trip that they took together when a liner crashed into them in thick fog. To Lucia this happened only a few days ago, but in actuality 50 years have passed, and she falls dead when she sees herself in the mirror.

While traveling on a plane from Nairobi to Cairo, war correspondent Ted Franklin (Merrill) strikes up a conversation with fellow passenger Barbara Denim (Cutts). Franklin is under arrest and is traveling with Cairo Police Inspector Kafir (Welles) on the way home to be tried for a murder. He flashes back to the trial of Sasha Ismael (George) and the convincing arguments of prosecutor Sir Robert Walton (Clanton) regarding Sasha's supposed weapons smuggling. He tells Denim a story of being an innocent newsman who argued with his bureau manager (Stephens) over writing articles about Sasha's innocence and was fired and deported. He said that he was trying to get information from a misguided and angry father, Abdul Ismael (Shayne), who lost his son Sasha to execution by hanging over stolen jewels, and he accidentally killed Abdul in a struggle in front of a witness (Ruskin). Once he has told her his story, Franklin learns that Denim is a witness who is going to testify against him, as she expertly breaks down his story to reveal that he pursued the grief-stricken father over the jewels after promising to get the guilty son released, if paid a portion.

Supporting Cast: Anthony George as Sasha Ismael, Konstantin Shayne as Abdul Ismael, Mel Welles as Cairo Police Inspector Kafir, Ralph Clanton as Sir Robert Walton, Harvey Stephens as European Bureau Manager, Joseph Ruskin as Man Entering Shop (uncredited), Antic Melkior as Man (uncredited)

Homicide detective Dennis O'Finn (Morgan) lives next door to a group of elderly women (Winwood, Corby, Patterson, Moore) who are smitten with him. He is first introduced to them when responding to their call about a fifth elderly resident (Miss Elizabeth) who has died, but he only tells them to call a doctor for her "natural death". The lab technician (Maxwell) informs O'Finn that the cause of death is arsenic poisoning, so he must return to determine of the death was accidental. O'Finn figures out that Miss Hildy-Lou (Winwood) murdered the two other ladies solely so that O'Finn will visit them for the murder investigation. O'Finn, horrified to learn of their motive, transfers to the arson department, only for the remaining ladies to set their house on fire when Detective Kramer (Downing) informs them of his job change.

Insurance investigator Walter Richmond (Horton) develops a relationship with Laura Gild (von Furstenberg), the widow of former client Herbert Gild (Bailey). Tennis enthusiast Walter is summoned by his bookie boss Regis (Albertson) about Herbert's disappearance, as he is a well-liked client. Laura claims that Herbert died in a sailing accident but fails to mention that the body was never found. Walter goes to speak with a friendly newspaperman (Helton) about Herbert's supposed death, as Regis demands a more in-depth investigation. Walter and Laura begin dating, and they decide to take a trip to Tijuana. Walter talks with old friend Julio (Lopez) about Herbert possibly being in Tijuana. Walter discovers that Herbert faked his death to get away from Laura, and he and Herbert agree to $10,000 cash to forget finding Herbert. Upon leaving, Walter finds that Laura has been following him. Laura wants more money, however. When Herbert confronts Walter and Laura with a gun, Walter is shot non-fatally and Herbert is knocked out. A doctor (Wilde) and nurse (Lord) bandage up Walter while Laura absconds from both men with the money. Walter loses his new love and the ability to play tennis ever again.

Supporting Cast: Raymond Bailey as Herbert Gild, Frank Albertson as Regis, Perry Lopez as Julio, Percy Helton as Newspaperman, Joe Conley as Insurance Agent, Dorothea Lord as Nurse, Thomas Wilde (credited as Thomas Wild) as Doctor

Pregnant housewife Mary Maloney (Bel Geddes) bludgeons her police officer husband Patrick (Lane) to death with a frozen leg of lamb when he says that he is going leave her to marry another woman. Mary puts the leg of lamb in the oven to cook and calls her friend Molly to cancel plans. She then goes to the store before returning to stage the scene for the police. Police Lieutenant Jack Noonan (Stone) arrives to handle the investigation, questioning Mary. Assistant Mike (Clark) arrives with inspector Sam (Waldis), a police photographer (Wilde), and a fingerprint officer (Keene), just before a forensic doctor (Ross) shows. Jack and Mike believe the scene to be staged, as Patrick didn't pull his gun, there is only one blow on his body, and he was known to be fooling around with women. When the police investigate, they are unable to find the clublike murder weapon, and Mary gives them the cooked leg of lamb to eat for supper.

Supporting Cast: Allan Lane as Patrick Maloney, Harold J. Stone as Lieutenant Jack Noonan, Otto Waldis as Sam, Ken Clark as Mike the Policeman Assistant, William Keene as Fingerprint Policeman, Robert C. Ross as Forensic Doctor, Thomas Wilde (credited as Thomas Wild) as Police Photographer

Statistics-obsessed bookkeeper Harold Goames (McGiver) feels unimportant in the world and starts committing crimes in order to become "significant" after hearing from a shopkeeper (Booth) about the death of the local florist, whom he considered a friend despite having never spoken to him. After committing auto-theft of a city councilman's car and robbery of a shopkeeper for perfume, he murders his sister Margaret (Nathan) with rat poison and confesses his reasons to disbelieving Police Sergeant McBaine (Wood), who rules instead that Margaret died of natural causes due to food poisoning. For his last statistically significant act, Harold commits suicide.

Norman Frayne (Best) grew up in an orphanage and feels undeserving of his wife Paula (Bard), especially as he has underperformed jobwise since his father-in-law boss' death. Al Revnel (Brodie), a man from Norm's past, arrives and blackmails Norm for $50,000 over a crime that they committed 12 years earlier in Missouri, as Al killed a night watchman and covered for Norm's fingerprints. Norm believes that Al, a degenerate gambler, is having an affair with Paula after a comment made by Police Chief Walt Haney (Gerstle), so he plans to blow them up with dynamite. When Paula insists that it is untrue, Norm lets himself be blown up so that Paula will be free from Al's threats and Norm's past, as Haney confirms to Paula before arresting Al for parole violation, meaning Al will serve his full life sentence.

On Christmas Eve, attorney John (Ryan) visits the home of his estranged siblings Celia (Mathews) and Charlie Boerum (Waring). John criticizes Celia for keeping the house so dark and dreary. Charlie wants to kill Celia, whom he believes murdered his wife Jessie by tripping her down the stairs on Christmas Eve, but Celia protests her innocence and is determined to care for Charlie regardless of his feelings. John calls Celia out for despising Jessie and pleads with Celia to find a home elsewhere. Charlie has moved back into his childhood bedroom, desiring a place away from where his mother and sister would annoy him. He intimates that he will only leave after he kills Celia; he even threatens to kill Celia after she packs Jessie's belongings away. John leaves after making them promise not to hurt each other, but Celia trips down the stairs as a cord was strung by Charlie across the steps. Charlie blames Celia for being like his controlling and domineering mother, yet Celia claims that Charlie has always desired a strong maternal figure. John has been doing this every Christmas Eve since Charlie's wife's death 20 years ago. All he can do is have a drink with the local bartender Al (Baker) and hope for the best.

Herbert Johnson (Stehli) tries to convince Police Sergeant Oliver (Lummis) that the third and final murder of the Stockings Murders was committed by a copycat, but no one takes him seriously. He is referred by Oliver to another precinct and Lieutenant King (Williams), who also doesn't believe him. He goes to tell a journalist but can only find the receptionist (Westmoreland) at the press ads, who sends him to a bar. There, the bartender (Barron) points out a journalist, Beekman (Herrman), whom Herbert tries to tell his belief about the last murder, but he is dismissed once again and flees once he becomes intoxicated. He even sees a similar appearance in one of the women in the bar, Slats (Loughery), to one of the victims. He next travels to a church, where employee Miss Andrews (Kelly) guides him past a churchgoer (Baker) to a priest, Father Rafferty (Lane). Rafferty finally listens to Herbert's story about how the victim, Helen Jameson, left her controlling, religious parents for a life of "sin", and her death was a "punishment". Herbert is Helen's father, and his wife (Evanson) is the copycat who killed Helen, but Herbert is unable to accuse his wife openly.

After being surprised by reporters (Fresco, Peterson, Martin) because her deceased husband Harry Mead had picked a horserace winner, Judy Archer (Moore) gets permission from the cemetery clerk (Ates) to exhume her first husband Harry's body because a winning sweepstakes ticket was buried with him worth $133,000. Insurance investigator Wescott (Gregory), pretending to be a reporter, takes advantage of this to perform an autopsy on Harry, proving that he was poisoned. Judy's second husband, Steve (Forrest), murdered Harry before marrying Judy so that they could live on Harry's insurance money, which is why Steve didn't want Harry's body exhumed. Wescott helps Judy catch Steve in a failed act of trying to murder her (by throwing a room heater in the bathtub), and Steve is arrested by a waiting police sergeant (Robbins) for murder and attempted murder.

England. Jack Lyons (Elliott) and Phyllis Chaundry (Court) are married after Jack kills Phyllis' first husband Arthur (Gould-Porter), but Phyllis is unhappy because Jack is late to the party, which she explains to her sister Aileen (Hitchcock). Phyllis is also very upset when Jack tells her that he killed Arthur, but he explains that she would be an accomplice legally. She is finally upset that Jack left the crocodile dressing case that her late husband was returning to her on the night of his murder. The police arrive shortly afterward, with Inspector Karsiak (Alderson), Sergeant Rason (Sheridan), and a policeman (Conroy) handling the case. Jack and Phyllis spend time apart to avoid any suspicion by the authorities, but Phyllis continually contacts the police about the dressing case. When the police finally find the case in the possession of a thief named Dan Mintz (Worlock), a man who had worked for Jack once before and who Jack let's take the fall for the murder. However, Jack identifies the case based on the initials, but that gives away his guilt to Inspector Karsiak, because the initials were only placed on the case just before the murder.

While traveling on a cruise ship, William Botibol (Wynn) bets heavily in a betting pool on how many miles the ship travels every day, despite the facts that he perennially loses, that he cannot afford to match the stakes set by others such as the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Renshaw (Bourneuf and Wray), and that his wife Ethel (Platt) begs him to not gamble. Despite being on limited financial grounds, he shows off by tipping the waiters (Hadlow, Graham) well and ordering around the steward (Harvey). William consults the ship's purser (Clanton) about the rules and seeks an insider's edge regarding information. An auctioneer (Cunningham) controls the bidding for mileage and the captain (Cowan) takes notes, with William outbidding others (Hughes, Curtis, Brian, Sardo) for the shortest amount of mileage covered per day. The ship enters a heavy storm system and slows considerably, with William getting information that the ship will continue to precede at that rate consistently. When the storm clears and the ship then goes faster than William expected, he decides to jump off the ship to force it to stop. He makes sure that a young woman, Emily (Lang), is there to see him jump, assuming that she will call for help. However, Emily is intellectually disabled and does not react excitedly after he jumps over the railing, leaving her mother (Lloyd) to ignore her.

Head bank teller George Piper (Harris) flirts with his love interest, Millie Manners (Linville), after speaking with his boss, branch manager Henry C. Farnsworth (Holmes). Piper wants to get serious with Millie, but Millie has heard that George is never that serious. Later that night, George's brother Fred (Paris) stops by George's home to warn him about waiting too long to settle down. Fred offers George a get-rich-quick scheme that actually looks intriguing, but they must act quickly. George murders one of the bank's dubious clients, gambler Victor Mannett (Pine), at Mannett's home to steal his $15,000, which George then hides in plain sight inside his teller drawer. The next day, fellow teller Mr. Martinson (Mondeaux) notices George's good mood before George is dressed down by boss Farnsworth for keeping the Mannett account, as the murder will ruin the bank's reputation. Farnsworth had been informed of doings by Police Sergeant Henderson (Karnes), who found the checkbook for the bank in Mannett's home. George, who has worked at the bank for over thirty years, is fired on the spot by Farnsworth and ordered to give up his teller drawer keys immediately, so he can never retrieve the money.

Laura Bowlby (Tandy) travels to Hong Kong to join her husband, James (Matheson), who has been living there for business purposes. Laura has psychic abilities and often communicates with a Ouija board. The local bartender (Bernard) speaks with the steward (Harvey) about her abilities while a man (Strong) receives a reading from her. She is met by husband James upon the boat's arrival, and assistant Thompson (Muir) secures an automobile from dealer Mr. Nixon (Westwood). When she is inside her second-hand formerly canary yellow sedan, she can hear the disembodied voice of a French woman, a countess, talking to her lover "Jacques", although the driver, Chang (Levy), cannot. That night, Laura and James go to a party thrown by wealthy Mr. Adams (Cunningham) for James' business relations. Adams reveals background information about both the car and woman to Laura. Laura, envious of the woman's passionate affair and curious of her fate, further investigates her story after the countess states an address. She has Chang drive her there and speaks with an old man (Komai), who says that the lady has gone. When she peruses around the back garden, she finds an engraved stone and discovers that the countess was having an affair with Laura's husband, James.

England, 1916. Solicitor Henry Daw (Cronyn) greets his assistant Holsom (Frankham) before reviewing correspondence from a client, Miss Wilkinson (Lloyd), who is visiting shortly after nine years away. Henry and his sister Marjorie (Cossart) host Miss Wilkinson, who says that she needs to withdraw a substantial amount of money to invest in her brother's factory, which Henry cannot hope to accomplish as he has lost a good deal of the wealth. That night, Henry strangles Wilkinson and buries her under a slab of stone next to the river. He even dresses up in her clothing to stage leaving for the train station, which fools the inspector (Pelling), and speaks on the London-bound train with farmer Barclay (Worlock) to establish an alibi, as he has abandoned the clothing switch. Upon returning home, servant Lucy (Glessing) reports that Marjorie is ill and refuses to leave bed. Inspector Charles Tarrant (Douglas) investigates Wilkinson's disappearance by questioning Henry. A few days later, a public ceremony to honor the fallen in war is held, with special guests Colonel Sir Francis Garrold (Dvorak) and his wife (Watts). While Henry speaks, a body is found floating in the river, but Henry refuses to look at it or identify it properly, igniting Inspector Tarrant's suspicions. Tarrant demands that Marjorie be required to view the body as Henry failed to do so properly. Placed under pressure, Henry confesses to the murder, but it turns out that the body belongs to someone else.

Elderly actor Mr. Andrus (Jerome) bores casting directors Adam Longsworth (Helmore) and Mr. Robinson (Robinson) before the two catch drinks at the local bar with Mr. Koslow (Waldis). Out-of-work senior stage actor Colin Bragner (Marshall) invites playwright Longsworth and his wife Carol (Adams) for dinner. He tells them a story about the love of his life, Lila Gordon (Mayo), who turned him down for his stage partner and friend Terry O'Bain (Dean) and then died tragically while making a child's dress. Adam and Carol are deeply touched by the story, but it turns out to be complete fiction — as revealed when servant Marie (Kelly) enters and identifies the dress as her niece's. Colin was merely showing off his acting skills in the hope of getting work. Adam is impressed and offers him a job on the spot.

Malaya. Harry Pope (Donald) has been stuck in bed for hours because there is a venomous snake, a krait, on his stomach. His friend Timber Woods (Corey) calls a doctor but only reaches the assistant (Levy). Timber is flippant about the danger and makes fun of Harry. When Doctor Ganderbay (Moss) arrives, they administer various medicines to both Harry and the snake. They then help Harry stand up and there is no snake to be seen. Timber mocks Harry for his fear, but as soon as the doctor is gone, Timber lies on the bed and gets bitten and killed by the snake, which really did exist.

The Templetons (McGuire and Leachman) are on a train with their young son, Johnny (Lazer), who they have trouble controlling, and who was just expelled from his private school. Mary is especially exasperated by Johnny's actions, while Larry just tries to keep up. When they get settled in their car, a radio announcement mentions that a mental patient has escaped from an institution. The train generator goes out in a blizzard, and the train conductor (Mulhall) tells them that it will be fifteen minutes or so before they get moving again. The Templetons offer Johnny one 1922 silver dollar if he can be quiet for 10 minutes while elderly cowboy Mr. Kilmer (Wills) tells a story. While the train is stopped, Johnny sees a man outside the window, caught in the blizzard and begging for help, but Johnny cannot speak up, having promised not to. After Kilmer's story ends, Johnny receives the silver dollar, but he drops it, and attendant Timothy (Crothers) collects and keeps it, despite a slight protest from the bartender (Glenn).

Supporting Cast: Jack Mulhall as Conductor, Roy Glenn as Bartender, Geoffrey Lewis (believed to be the escaped mental patient)

Reporter and practical joker Bradley (Salmi) pulls a prank on easily-confused morgue attendant Pop Henderson (Ates) by pretending to be a corpse and "coming alive". When Pop goes to get a police sergeant to confirm his findings, Bradley sneaks out, leaving Pop embarrassed. Pop is threatened with forced retirement by the police captain (Watts) for falling for the pranks of reporters such as Bradley, Andrews (Coburn), Morgan (Jostyn), and Dave (Kirkwood, Jr.). Bradley goes out to celebrate by heavily drinking and angers a woman named Millie (Carleton), a man named Mike (Benedict), and a bartender (Barron) with his practical jokes, and he is knocked out in a physical dispute with Mike and dumped outside on the street. When Bradley is later brought to the morgue presumed dead (but only actually paralyzed), Pop refuses to believe that Bradley's moaning is real and puts him inside the freezer.

Harry Adams (Kiley) and his wife (Breslin) are traveling on a rural road near a small town called Robertsville when they are waylaid and arrested by crooked police officer named Officer Chandler (Matthau), who is running an extortion racket with the assistance of the local auto mechanic, Charlie Brown (Erdman), and the equally corrupt town Judge Stanton (Watts). Chandler and partner Officer Andrew 'Andy' Bleeker (Dane) arrest passing tourists and forcing them to pay large meaningless fines. The Adamses leave after paying the fees ($95.50 to the court and $75.40 to the mechanic), but it turns out that they are undercover agents of the State Highway Commission, Special Investigations Committee, and have recorded everything on tape for the state and federal authorities to investigate the corrupt town.

Lloyd Ashley (Nielsen) is accused of killing his wife Eve's (March) lover, Tom Ward, and is pressed at trial by prosecutor Mr. Merrick (Holmes), and Lloyd claims that the killing was accidentally caused by a safety flaw in the gun. Police weapons specialist John Keller (Anderson), the ballistics expert, testifies that the gun could not have been fired while the safety catch was engaged. Judge Cobb (Jerome) then adjourns the court, giving defense attorney Mark Robeson (Sullivan) time to challenge the expert statements. After pleading from Eve, Mark is offered two million dollars by Lloyd if he can get him an acquittal. Mark practices with the gun and succeeds in firing the weapon, but he shoots himself in the arm and has to call for a doctor (Lytton). Mark is then successful in refuting Keller's lack of experimentation and securing an acquittal, but as soon as Lloyd is released, he shoots Mark for also having an affair with Eve.

Carl Adams (Merill) climbs out a window onto the ledge of a high-rise Chicago hotel as people (Melton, Tayback, Rennie, and Field) gather and talk, some in horror, while others desire to see death. He is disconsolate over his wife Karen's (Montgomery) recent death; she committed suicide by overdosing on pills when her lover abandoned her. The hotel manager (Robinson) has the bellhop (Johnson) clear the floor and call the police while he attempts to convince Carl to come inside. They even call a psychiatrist doctor (Gerry) to try to talk Carl back inside. After some banter and finally with the permission of his lieutenant (Lynch), the patrolman on duty, Officer Steve Barrett (Richman), joins Carl on the ledge to rescue him, but this turns out to fulfill Carl's plot: Steve is Karen's lover; he had recently spurned her, precipitating her suicide. Once Carl is secured by a rope lasso, he tells Steve of the plot and who he really is, then pushes Steve off the ledge to his death.

Supporting Cast: Bartlett Robinson as Hotel Manager, Ken Lynch as Police Lieutenant, Sid Melton as Cab Driver, Vic Tayback as Man Talking to Cab Driver, Alex Gerry as Doctor, James Johnson as Bellhop, Jean Field as Screaming Lady, Guy Rennie as Cab Driver

1927. Mild-mannered gun shop owner Cyril T. Jones (Carney) sales a hunting rifle to a Mrs. Crawpit (Lloyd) before Police Lieutenant Flannery (Bray) enters and questions if Jones has recently sold a gun to gangster Dan Foley (Davis), who is currently associating himself with fellow gangster Joe Felix (Flavin). Later, Jones witnesses a murder committed by Foley and Felix, who then shoot him. Nurse Copeland (Scott) protectively watches over Jones, even forcing Police Commissioner Cummings (Westerfield) and Flannery out of his room. Even the hospital cashier (Lord) shows tender concern for him upon his discharge. Distrustful of the police's ability to protect him, Jones checks in with a hotel desk clerk (Fresco) for a room with a good vantage point and kills the gangsters with Mrs. Corbett's recently purchased rifle before mailing the gun to Topanga, California and turning himself in to the police. Cummings, Flannery, and the District Attorney (Greco), fearful that their reputation will be ruined by Jones' accomplishment, refuse to arrest him.

At a dinner party, hypnotist Miles Farnham (Helmore) demonstrates his skills on Lucy Pryor (Thaxter). She speaks in old-fashioned English, claims to be "Dora Evans", and kills her husband (Marshal) with a pair of scissors. During the inquest, Farnham insists that Lucy was inhabited by the spirit of Dora Evans, a real woman who killed her husband in 1853. Farnham hypnotizes Lucy to prove this, but during the testimony "Dora" stabs Farnham, killing him. Lucy is set free, and when a journalist questions her if she planned it all, she replies, "Wouldst not thee like to know."

Iris Teleton (Leighton) is threatened with blackmail by her husband Oliver's mistress, Blanche Herbert (Hunt), who wants them to divorce. In retaliation, Iris kills Blanche, hoping to frame Oliver for the murder. However, Iris was seen by a private detective hired by Oliver (Matheson), and he is still planning to divorce Iris for another younger mistress (Austin).

Elderly cowboys Tom Akins (Demarest) and Ben White (Ates) are in danger of being taken away from their desert property by the town council. One night, a criminal (Kellin) barges into their cabin and threatens them with a gun, but the cowboys manage to kill him. A month later, when Sheriff Jeff (Johnson) and Deputy Tex (Lau) arrive to inspect the property, Akins and White proudly show off a lush rosebush, secretly grown using the criminal's body as fertilizer, thus proving the fertility of their land and allowing them to stay.

Mrs. Herman (Merande) has a plan to kill her wealthy but paranoid and eternally cranky uncle Bill Finley (Collins), but she needs a conspirator. She picks former actress Mrs. Fenimore (Astor), who agrees to the plan for a fee. Mrs. Fenimore uses her acting skills to make herself desired by Finley and gains access to his room, where she opens a gas valve to poison him as he sleeps. The next day, after a police detective (Lau) declares the scene to be an accidental death, Mrs. Fenimore reveals to Mrs. Herman that she secretly married Finley before his death, and that she will inherit his fortune instead of Mrs. Herman.

Undertaker Arthur Motherwell (McGiver) is shocked when recently deceased businessman Stanton C. Barryvale (Smith) briefly wakes up in the funeral parlor to demand that his funeral be simple and cheap. After discussing the matter with his wife (Cass), Motherwell decides to follow the instructions of Barryvale's lawyer for a lavish funeral instead.

Mrs. Trotter (Nolan) is unhappy that her daughter Sharon (Provine) is having an affair with married businessman Ben Nelson (Alda). Mrs. Trotter appeals to Ben's wife, Mrs. Nelson (Wray), revealing the affair to her. That night Ben kills his wife and calls Sharon to set his alibi, but Mrs. Trotter takes the phone call and deliberately gives Sharon the wrong information so that Ben will go to jail.

Joe Philips (Maross) is lead engineer on a tunneling project in Mexico, and Bret Johnson (Morris) mysteriously arrives to be his assistant for the project's last six weeks. One night Philips hears a radio newscast about an ongoing manhunt of an engineer who murdered his colleague; this prompts Philips to search through Johnson's things to find his true identity, but he is stopped when Johnson pulls a gun on him. Since there is no way to leave the site for six weeks, the men work together to finish the job, despite their suspicions of each other. The tunnel is completed one day before the deadline, and it is revealed that Philips is the murderer, and Johnson is the police officer who traveled there to arrest him.

Elderly widow Miss Fox (Davis) mistakenly and emphatically accuses her dog walker, Eddie (Congdon), of having robbed her to Sergeant Kirby (Albertson) after Eddie had previously asked her for $500 for his fiancé's operation and she denied him. She learns of her error after a year, during which time Eddie served a wrongful prison sentence and his fiancé died in the hospital. Miss Fox tries to make it up to Eddie after he is released by getting him his job back and gifting him $500, but he strangles her as revenge.

When Jan Manning (Olson) hits financial problems with her dress shop and cannot borrow any more money from bank manager Michael Selwin (Bryan), her friend Mel Reeves (Meeker) offers to burn down the shop so that she can collect the insurance money from the fire. Later, Jan gets quite drunk, leading her sister (Lord) to be concerned for her. After the shop burns down that very night and employee Evelyn (Storey) suffers third-degree burns as a result, Jan confesses to insurance investigator Frank Voss (Willock) about the plan with her friend Reeves. However, the investigator has found that the fire source was actually Jan's overheated kettle, which was accidentally set for 1:00 AM instead of 1:00 PM. Jan realizes that it truly was an accident, but the investigator does not believe her.

Brad Taylor (Horton) wants to marry his new girlfriend Janice Wright (Meadows), but his other girlfriend, Leslie Lenox (Spain), refuses to let him go. Brad takes Leslie swimming and drowns her in the ocean, but when he returns home he is arrested by Detectives Breslin (Ellis) and Langley (Carlile) for the murder of Janice, whom Leslie had previously stabbed to death (and then returned the knife to Brad at the beach).

1956. Helen Brewster (Bel Geddes) is frustrated that her boyfriend Philip Pryor (Dubbins) has been stalling their wedding for almost five years on the excuses of his serving in the Korean War and that his mother's health is quite precarious. When they finally do get married, Helen learns that Philip's mother has been dead since 1949, but Philip believes that she is still alive due to his insanity.

Elderly Andrew Thurgood (Rains) is let go from a jewelry firm after 37 years of loyal service. On his last day, a very expensive diamond necklace is stolen by a thief (von Furstenberg) who claims to be the wife of noted Doctor Anton Rudell (Bekassy), which is only discovered after real wife Jessica (Lord) arrives. Andrew is "distressed" at the breaking of his perfect record of having no thefts throughout the duration of his employment, but the thief is secretly Andrew's daughter, Thelma, and they worked together to carry out the theft. Thurgood reveals to his daughter that the only other two thefts in the company's history were those committed by Thurgood's father and grandfather; one theft per generation is a family tradition. Thurgood is surprised at his home by his former boss George Maynard (Hewitt) with retirement gifts and, upon meeting Thurgood's daughter, Maynard rewards Thelma with a job to replace the outgoing Thurgood, not knowing that she is the thief in question.

John Manbridge (Elliott), a gambler and financial squanderer, plots to murder his cousin Felix (Thatcher) in the hopes of inheriting his fortune after Felix threatens John with the possible filing of criminal charges of forgery. Felix, who is secretly terminally ill with no more than three months to live, commits suicide by drinking poisoned whiskey. John, ignorant regarding Felix's illness, clubs him with a fire poker, not knowing that Felix was already dead. When John is informed of Felix's plan by the policeman who finds the suicide note, he faints. The police innocently give John some of the poisoned whiskey to revive and calm him, and John unwittingly drinks the poisoned whiskey as well, killing himself.

Burglar "the Cat" (Foy Jr.) breaks into the home of couple Mort (Joslyn) and Jocelyn (Dulo) Barnhardt, who are also business partners and constantly fight about money. Mort offers the Cat $3,500 to kill Jocelyn, but Jocelyn makes a counteroffer of $5,000, so the Cat kills Mort instead.

John Forbes (Meeker), a cheap car salesman, constantly complains about his wife Dorothy's (Fraser) spending habits to his employee and loyal assistant 'Dad' (Collins). One night John runs his wife over with his car and covers up the murder with the help of Dad. While John speaks with the police, Dad sells the car in question to college students for fifty dollars. Dad hopes that John will take care of him to return the favor and presses him for help monetarily while at the carnival, but John instead frames Dad for the murder by planting the headlight in Dad's house.

Inspector Benson (Moore) is tasked with preventing Lady Gwendolyn Avon (Court) from smuggling her emerald necklace out of the country, which would therefore cheat the estate tax requirement. Lady Avon thwarts Benson and his officers at every turn and manages to leave the country without the necklace on her, as the uninsured necklace was "stolen" from the hotel safe where it was kept at her orders (rather than be safely kept in the local bank). Benson and two other police officers follow and frequently search her to seek the necklace's whereabouts. However, Benson and Avon are secretly lovers, and Benson carried the necklace for her the entire time. In the end, Lady Avon is successful at selling the necklace for $250,000, tax-free of course.

Hotel waitress Thelma (Deering) learns that she is in the will of her wealthy regular customer, Sara Mannerheim (Lovsky), who has stopped taking her medicine in expectation of death. Thelma's boyfriend Arthur (Jason) suggests that they speed things up by slow-poisoning Sara with anatine, a leaf extract. After half a year of no change, Thelma strangles Sara to death one night in frustration. At the inquest, it is revealed that Sara's doctor prescribed anatine for her heart condition, and Thelma had been inadvertently keeping her alive.

Miserly Alexander Gifford (Day) decides to kill his wife, Jennifer (Backes), when she starts spending money on herself (after she finds over $33,000 is held in various bank accounts). Alex knows that he cannot commit a violent act of murder himself, so he explores various options, most of which he considers to be too expensive. He visits the county jail to solicit mobster Monk McGinnis (Richards), talks to a hitman (Lambert) (but considers $500 too much money), and talks to a scientist (Essler) regarding poisons (but considers $600 too much for poisoned perfume). He ends up giving her food poisoning (botulism) himself through her ham dinner, which a doctor (Clarke) confirms could be fatal in a large quantity. After she dies, he finds out that it would cost $160 to bury her with a funeral, so he sells her cadaver to a medical university for $75 instead.

London, 1954. Reporter Raymond Houston (Nelson) stays overnight in a London wax museum (in the Murderers' Den section) in order to write an important article ("A Night with Marriner's Murderers"). Raymond is desperate as he owes a sizeable gambling debt and is being threatened with prosecution. Mr. Marriner (Sloane), the chief sculptor of the wax figures, is depressed that the death penalty will soon be outlawed, and therefore he will have no new figures to introduce after that of the murderous barber Bourdette (Ophir). Raymond, who is claustrophobic, hallucinates that one of the wax figures (Bourdette) is alive (and who says that he is the actual murderer and escaped from custody), converses with him, and then has his throat cut by the figure. Raymond is found dead the next morning as the museum staff brings the actual Bourdette wax figure into the den.

Has-been actor Oliver Mathews (Tone) is being blackmailed weekly by Grace Dolan (Astor) for an affair he had with Grace's late daughter Janice. The blackmail scheme has broken Oliver financially, yet Grace continues to push him by threatening to reveal his seductive letters written to Janice. Having had enough, Oliver murders Grace with poisoned alcohol and dumps her body in deep water, an act that is hazily witnessed by a young woman (Lloyd). Oliver's assistant, Miss Hall (Mathews), who is in love with Oliver but has been rebuffed for years, uses her instincts to read Oliver's mood and follows him the night of the murder. Having been so in love with him as to write fan letters and pay others to do the same to boost his ego, she only requests him to have a relationship with her in order to keep her from going to the authorities.

Blackheath, 1903. Former Inspector Brent (Williams) conspires with friends, staff, and Police Major Cook-Finch (Gardiner) to stage a fake haunting in the hopes of scaring John Bedford (Haigh) into confessing to the murder of his aunt, Ms. Ferguson. Brent invites Bedford to attend dinner on the anniversary of the murder as there is supposedly new incriminating evidence to be revealed. Brent arranges for an actress, Mae Thorpe (Plowright), to sneak into the house dressed as Ms. Ferguson and walk past their dinner room when the main course is being served. The plan is successful, and Bedford explosively confesses when he sees the menacing figure of his aunt. After Bedford is arrested by police Sergeant Balton (Dillon), Brent is shocked when he learns that Mae Thorpe was late and missed the dinner entirely.

Irving Randall (Smith) loses his weekly work wages ($96) in a poker game to his unsympathetic boss Smalley (Buffington), whom he previously admired, and then lies to his pregnant wife Frances (Meadows) that he was mugged while going to collect vouchers from his boss' house. Irving reluctantly makes a police report at Frances' insistence and is surprised when the police arrest a teenage boy named Whitey (Martin) as a suspect. Irving hesitantly takes Whitey's money ($92) but feels guilty and conflicted, and he refuses to press charges. He and Whitey separate on amicable terms. The next day, Irving learns that Whitey had mugged Smalley, and the money that he had was Smalley's poker winnings (largely won from Irving). When Smalley requests a few dollars until payday, Irving declines with the excuse that he's a married man.

Arnold Shawn (Keith) is a ruthless defense lawyer (his wife notes that he has the skill to make the innocent seem guilty) who uses his arguing skills to put down his wife Naomi (Dana) and defend his cheating on her. He states that it is because of the vanity of the species, that the girl doesn't mean anything to him, that his wife is just old-fashioned, that his wife is not 25 years old any longer, and that their 10 years together should be enough collateral to overcome his continued dalliance. Naomi attends all of Arnold's court proceedings to watch him destroy and disqualify witnesses and their statements. When Arnold refuses to divorce Naomi as it "clumsy and professionally awkward" and suggests that she seek her own affair, she instead hits him with her car by the courthouse, killing him. The only witness of the "accident" is Henry Babcock (Hansen), a man whose credibility as an eyewitness in court Arnold had just destroyed. Babcock tells the police officer (Maxwell) to take the lady's word for it as it is a legal fact that he is not a competent witness.

Reporter Bill Everett (McQueen) receives a tip from his editor Cargan (McVey) about a man in a local bar with a wild tale. The bartender (Challee) sets up an unofficial interview with a couple of beers to entice the man to participate and loosen him up. Bill interviews the distressed man (Hill) who claims to be an 8-foot-tall incarcerated Martian named Yangan Dall (with 6-fingered hands) residing in the human body of 'Howard Wilcox' (as whom he retains the memories of both Yangan and Howard). Yangan tells Bill how all the other 100 million Martians just vanished one day and he was forced to break out of 'Scar' prison over a period of 3 days to avoid starvation. He took a Martian airplane ('targan') to the ceremonial field north of the capital city ('Ondenel') where he discovered the rotting remains of his people, yet he concluded that it was not caused by the incurable disease 'krill' that had wiped out over 400 million of his people (as that disease causes a Martian body to wither and not rot) or by mass suicide (considered a terrible crime). He then found a mental control machine on a copper platform that transported him to Earth, inside a human body walking down the street. Bill and Yangan travel to 'Howard's' home to pacify his worrying wife (Anderson) with a story about old friends meeting and losing track of time (Yangan is convinced by Bill to lie as 'Howard' as he cannot lie as a Martian). When the kind-hearted Yangan suggests telling everyone his story (starting with wife Elsie, with whom there are no secrets between Howard and she), they go for a walk and Bill kills him (not being able to trust Yangan with the truth, as his IQ of 20 is only roughly around that of an average human). Bill, editor Cargan, and even bartender Barney are also Martians, but part of an invasion force trying to take over Earth.^[4]

Norman Logan (York) has for months been pestering William Tritt (Coolidge), a banker, to return $200 that Tritt mistakenly took from Logan's account, but to no avail. Logan sends Tritt notes and hounds him at his residence. Frustrated, Logan carries out a series of pranks (he buys a toy gun and orders Tritt to get him $10,000 and then hides the gun in a drawer on multiple occasions) to make Tritt lose his credibility at the bank. He comes into the bank every day and whistles Christmas tunes to tear at Tritt's nerves. Logan's final act is to actually rob the bank of $10,000, which Tritt is blamed for. Afterward, Logan returns the money in Tritt's name, except for $200 to replace the money that Tritt took from him.

Mrs. Cannon-Hughes (Greer) visits a lawyer, Paul Brett (Webber), to tell him of her suspicions that her husband Gilbert Hughes (Smith) murdered his first wife. She had been nurse to his wife, who she felt disliked her and soon died under her care. Afterward, Gilbert asked her out and they began dating. After they married and went on honeymoon, Cannon-Hughes reported that Gilbert acted out giving his wife a fatal dose of medicine while sleepwalking. She states that he watches her at all times. Soon afterward, Gilbert dies, supposedly of suicide due to an unbalanced mind. Ms. Cannon-Hughes and Brett begin a relationship and get married, but when Brett accidentally discovers that Ms. Cannon-Hughes killed both Gilbert and his first wife (by her talking in her sleep about giving an extra dose of medicine), Mrs. Cannon-Hughes-Brett kills him as well after hearing recordings of her new husband's findings.

Bill Fleming (Douglas), former professional prizefighter, is upset that his wife, Laura, is cheating on him with a man named Baxter. Bill's new friend, Phil (Morse), points out a Californian law on duels that could work in his favor (as "an affair of honor"), and Phil offers to act as his attorney in order to obtain an acquittal. Bill challenges Baxter to a duel (on Phil's urging) and kills him in his home and in front of his wife. Bill goes to the police station and confesses to his police officer friend. Bill is acquitted but has to pay a hefty allowance ($100,000 up front plus extra per month for life) to Baxter's only child for life. Bill then learns that Phil is Baxter's son (Phillip Baxter, Jr.) and is also Laura's lover; Phil and Laura plotted together to gain Bill's money and get Baxter out of the way.

At a dinner party, Albert Martin (Hewitt) confronts his close friend Virginia Pond (Moore), who is having an affair with her ex Cam (Walker). Her suspicious husband, Joseph Pond (Merrill), offers to host any guest that his wife might desire to invite to dinner, so Virginia invites Albert. Albert fears that Virginia is going to be harmed or killed by her jealous husband Joseph due to her affair with her ex, and indeed Virginia is knocked out by a falling scaffolding plank that night while strolling with Albert. Joseph says it must have been an accident caused by the wind, but Albert realizes that there was no wind that night. A container of arsenic also mysteriously disappeared, with Joseph falling ill with symptoms of arsenic poisoning (which Albert believes was accidental in Joseph's planning to kill Virginia). Albert goes on a beach fishing trip with Joseph to warn him off, but Joseph confronts Albert first, revealing that he is an expert 'accident man' who meant for the plank to kill Albert. Joseph admits that Albert has been poisoned through his coffee (as Joseph has built up a tolerance to arsenic). As Albert is dying, he weeps and tells Joseph that he has the wrong man, admitting that it was Cam who made Joseph a cuckold instead.

Chicken farmer Arthur Williams (Harvey) delightfully narrates his personal tale of murder, both of chickens and his ex-fiancée Helen (Court). Helen desires to see the world, where as Arthur wants to stay close to his chicken farm. Helen once saw the farm as a haven but came to see it as restrictive to her desires. Arthur strangles Helen to death when she returns to him a year after leaving him for another wealthy man named Stanley Braithwaite. In her absence, Arthur had grown accustomed to his lifestyle (with no staff and no spouse) and desires no changes. Sergeant John Theron (Macnee) investigates Arthur but is unable to find the body because Arthur has ground it up in his hammer mill into chicken feed.

Mountaineer Mark Cavendish (Donald) and a man (Beregi, Jr.) argue about whether or not two men could have climbed the southern face of a dangerous mountain in horrendous weather, as the man claims to have seen them through a telescope. Mark takes the responsibility of telling the fallen mountaineer's wife, Stella Ballister (Owens), of his likely death and immediately falls in love with her. Stella is devoted to her late husband Michael, who died on the mountain (by falling into a glacier), and she refuses to move on until she personally sees his body. Michael's partner, Mr. Ranks (Klemperer), blames himself while telling the story of his death, saying that they brought too little food for such inexperienced climbers. Mark attempts to romance Stella, even purchasing a ring and professing his love, but Stella rebuffs him. After 40 years they finally find the body, but there is a locket on Michael's body with a picture of another woman, countering Stella's long held belief that they had the perfect marriage.

Seventeen-year-old David Logan (Kimbrough) wakes up from a nightmare and prepares to head out onto the town as his mother (Douglass) begs him to stay home. He spends a night on the town getting a shoeshine, drinking alcohol while underage, and talking to various sympathetic people: a blonde in a bar (Crane), a sailor (Gulager), and an Irish pub patron (McClory), all of whom are disconcerted by David's virulent hatred of his Irish piano-playing father from Dublin. He relates (to the blonde in the bar) coming home from school at the age of 12 to his perpetual cigar-smoking father being with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman. He then gets into a brief confrontation with the cigar-smoking sailor before they walk the town and share stories of those they hate. Finally, he stops to drink in an Irish bar, where a patron (McClory) convinces the bartender (Rhoads) to look the other way, as he lacks a draft card. However, David's father is a serial killer who killed his blonde girlfriend for cheating on him, and his execution is that night at 11:00 PM. David finally smashes a television in despair as news is aired revealing his father's death.

While driving across the desert from Texas to California, an associate professor (Carey) arrives at a service station with a baby coyote found injured on the highway. The mechanic (Lambert) laughs that he would want a veterinarian for a coyote but agrees to seek help, to no avail; the coyote escapes anyway. The professor agrees to take on a hitchhiker Julie (Wilcox). However, Julie brings along her father, Pops (Buchanan) and her "brother" Harry (Lau), but he quickly notices that Pops has sold off his 2 good tires, taken his cigarettes, and continually told lies (such as Julie being pregnant and Harry working at Sentinel Mesa). After attempting to leave the trio at an abandoned station, the three of them take the Professor's belongings and commandeer his vehicle. The Professor tricks them into abandoning him and his car by pretending it is out of gas and follows them (after they hitch another ride) to a Scorpion Springs gas station, where he calls the police and reports them. The Professor steals another car and picks them up, purposefully flooding the car's engine and pretending to be ill so they won't recognize him. An El Paso policeman (Henderson) arrives just in time to catch the trio in the stolen vehicle and arrest them. The professor then takes back his belongings and sneaks away unnoticed.

Millionaire Dave Rainey (Keith) is paralyzed from the neck down and needs a respirator (iron lung) to breathe. He reminisces about his pre-paralytic life and being around boats, which he loves to watch. He accuses his wife Cindy (Moore) of having an affair with her new friend, Arnold (Wexler), and that they are planning to kill him; Cindy admits that they are both true. They discuss how they both suffer from his circumstances and Cindy explains that she couldn't divorce him because of appearances. That night, Arnold drowns Cindy in the ocean, because he is a contract killer hired by Dave. Dave can then have some enjoyment of his $6,000,000 fortune.

Floridian Hermie Jenkins (Morgan) regrets marrying his animal-loving wife Myra (Baxley) and admires the bachelor life of his widow neighbor George (Coogan), who has spent the last 9 years fishing and drinking beer (since his wife's death from pneumonia in Kansas City). Even Myra's pet parrot insults him as a slob, and Myra only allows Hermie a small allowance and one beer. Hermie talks Myra into adopting a snake from herpetologist Hansel Eidelpfeiffer (Pollard) that he says would otherwise be killed, even though Myra dislikes snakes. Hermie pretends to be a professor to deceivingly buy a coral snake for Myra for $10, in the hopes that it will bite and kill her. He gives her the snake as a 15-year anniversary gift. The snake, which is actually a harmless kingsnake, bites Hermie instead and he collapses, with the doctor (Field) afterward saying that he died of a heart attack. Myra decides to sell all the animals and go on vacations, which Hermie always desired.

Young gangster Art (Vaughn) is ordered by his new boss Barberosa (White) to prove himself and earn a promotion by delivering $10,000 and then killing the recipient named Moran (Matthau). Art goes to do the deed, but Moran holds Art at gunpoint (in his cellar) in order to get his money. With Moran now relaxed, the two men share a drink as Moran denigrates Barberosa's methods and lauds Art's guts and ambition. Moran suggests that Art kill Barberosa instead and offers money (initially $5000, but Art presses for $10,000) to help Moran take over the organization, with Art then serving as a "right-hand man". When Art agrees, Moran kills him; the counteroffer was a test set by Barberosa and Art's gun was empty.

In the advanced future of July 1980, life expectancy has improved dramatically, with people regularly living to be 125 years old. J.J. Bunce (York) works for the Society of Gerology (the social problems arising from advanced age), which provides the discreet service of killing the healthy elderly (the Blessington Method, named after company founder Albert Blessington). He first kills a 92-year-old fisherman (Burns) by pushing him off a dock. He then visits Jersey resident John Treadwell (Jones), who works in an office so obsessed with health that the secretary (Edwards) doesn't even speak (rather she communicates through pre-recorded statements). Treadwell, a man in his 50s, agrees to have his tiresome and infirmed 82-year-old mother-in-law (Patterson) "dealt with" as she is likely to live to another forty-plus years. She constantly enjoys causing a ruckus and making noise (which annoys his wife (Windust) and children as well), saying that being quiet is for the grave. Bunce kills the old woman by pushing her wheelchair off a dock on a Sunday morning while the family attends church (as it is a law that all must attend church unless in possession of a health certificate, although John illegally goes fishing). Treadwell then realizes that it is only a matter of time before his own children, son Jack (Meadows) and daughter Jill (Kilgas), have him "dealt with" as well, as is implied by Bunce.

Advertising executive Courtney Masterson (Cotten) and his secret lover Peg (Adams) are robbed in Lover's Lane by a thug, Rudy Stickney (Gordon). When Peg flees, Courtney knocks Rudy to the ground, taking his gun and locking him in the trunk. Unwilling to go to the police, Courtney and Peg discuss what to do while driving around. Courtney drops Peg off to protect her and kills the thug so that he will not reveal their affair. Courtney then goes to the police and gives a false story of picking up a hitchhiker and then having a struggle in which he kills in self-defense. Police Inspector Silva (de Corsia) informs Courtney of the thug's name and violent background. When he goes to the office the next day, Courtney's personal assistant Mary (Bonney) informs him that a detective is waiting in his office. Instead of a police detective, it is a private detective (Stroud) that has been hired by Courtney's wife (Greene) to follow him for the previous 5 days. This detective saw everything, drops the thug's recovered knife on the table, and states that it would be mutually profitable if they discussed the matter before he files his report with the wife or police.

Tom Fortnam (Lazer), like many boys all over the country, is excitedly buying mail-order mushrooms to grow in his home's cellar. Bill Fortnam (Dunne) discusses with his neighbor Roger (Maxwell) the concept of intuition and how people are starting to disappear. Bill and his wife Cynthia Fortnam (Straight) are worried when Roger mysteriously disappears after warning them that something catastrophic is going to happen. Roger's wife Dorothy (Whitney) begs Bill to find Roger. Bill and Cynthia get a telegram (from Roger) urging them not to accept any special deliveries. Bill then gets a call from police, who says that Roger willfully and cheerfully was found taking a train to New Orleans. Bill posits an alien invasion by space spores that grow into mushrooms and possess human bodies after being eaten. This is confirmed when Tom acts strangely by ordering the lights to be kept off for the mushrooms and then demanding that Bill eat some of his mail-order mushrooms (which he then does, seemingly under mental manipulation by Tom).

Sam Pine (Massey) and his elder sons, Clay (Chamberlain) and Sam Jr. (Weston), rush to get his youngest son, Davey (Easton), to a doctor after being gored by a bull. They are deliberately blocked on the road by inconsiderate, selfish, uncaring salesman Ed Fratus (Emhardt), who had even previously smashed a child's (Hale) toy for the sheer joy of doing so. Fratus purposefully runs the Pine truck off the road and Davey dies as the truck gets stuck in the mud. A doctor (Wynn) even tells Sam that Davey would have lived if they had gotten him there in time. After getting information on the driver from local merchant Ben Tulip (Teal) and waiting a month for the return of Fratus, Sam and his sons sabotage Fratus' automobile to run out of gas so that they can force Fratus to seek their help. Sam escorts Fratus to his home to fill up Fratus' gas tank. While waiting, Sam confronts Fratus with the death of his son and Fratus' culpability. Sam insinuates that he has poisoned Fratus with tainted alcohol and Fratus rushes to the doctor. However, one of Sam's sons performs exactly as Fratus had acted on the day of Davey's death by blocking the road, and in his panic Fratus crashes his car and dies. As revealed, the drink was indeed just water, not poison.

Mr. Laffler (Morley) introduces his colleague Mr. Costain (Haigh) to Spirro's, an exclusive gentleman's club. He introduces him to various members, such as Lum Hung Fo (Komai) and Henlein (Wagenheim), but he is dismayed to discover that a member has resigned (leaving only 39 full members). The Specialty of the House is a rare but popular lamb dish, and all visitors eat the same meal as there are no menus. Laffler outlines the club obsessiveness with the lamb and states his determined intent to become a full member. The owner Spirro (Spivy), who also prepares the lamb, introduces herself and invites Costain to attend anytime. Laffler is jealous and attempts to keep Costain from joining him, but Spirro invites him in. Laffler loses his jealousy after being told he is being inducted as the newest full member and turns over control of the office to Costain when he is sent on a business trip. Costain happily tells the secretary, Mrs. Inkel (Ackerman), that he will be occupying the head office. Laffler returns for another meal only to discover a member, Paul (Keymas), being assaulted in the alleyway outside the entrance to the club. When Laffler is about to leave the country for a business trip, he is invited by Spirro, the owner, into the kitchen to meet the chef (Turnbull). Afterward, Spirro tells the other members that the Specialty of the House will be served soon while smiling at the picture of Laffler, now hung with the other "absent" members.

1862, during the American Civil War. Recently-widowed Confederate Peyton Farquhar (Howard) decides, after discussing current circumstances with his housekeeper slave Hattie (Goodwin) and friend Jeff (a Confederate officer) (Tobey), to blow up a bridge that the Yankees plan to use to cross, but he is caught by a Union sergeant (Coburn). Peyton is hanged, but the rope breaks and he seemingly escapes. With the help of slave Josh (Hernandez), who perpetually-sings despite Peyton's fearful mood, Peyton travels past various Union soldiers safely and returns home to his wife Melissa. Right before the two can embrace, however, Peyton collapses with a sharp pain to his neck. Peyton is actually dead; he never escaped from the hanging. The doomed man imagined the whole escape.

Laura Siddons (Hiller) is hired by her old friend Dorothy (Bromley) to be a European literature instructor and homeroom counselor at a girl's college after Siddons writes a letter to her out of desperation (from losing her remaining relatives). Laura becomes quite fond of her brightest student, Gloria Barnes (Perreau), while being annoyed by perpetually-late Vera Carson (Lloyd). While out with her talkative neighbor Ben Prowdy (Harris) and searching for a collection of the works of Mary Shelley, Siddons sees Barnes with a man outside of a nightclub. After dozing in class the next day, Barnes claims that she was up all night looking after her sick mother. Siddons sees the pair again the next night, a Friday, and assumes that they are having an affair, so she gets Prowdy to drive her around following them and then leaves a note under the man's door. The next day, Barnes goes to Siddon's home to protest her intrusion, while Siddons defends her involvement as protecting a bright student. Barnes tells Siddons that she is actually secretly married to the man and plans to tell her parents at the right time, and Siddons agrees to keep the secret. On Monday, however, Siddons gets an 'open note' in class from Barnes about Prowdy blackmailing Barnes' parents for $20,000, and her students walk out in protest. The blackmail caused her mother to collapse. Prowdy is arrested and accuses Siddons of masterminding the blackmail.

In Las Vegas, a gambler (McQueen) and a woman (Adams) are approached by Carlos (Lorre), who proposes a bet on whether Gambler's lighter can light up ten times in a row. If Gambler wins, he gets Carlos' convertible; if Gambler loses, Carlos will cut off Gambler's small finger. The lighter works seven times in a row when Carlos's wife interrupts, revealing that Carlos is penniless. Carlos's entire fortune belongs to his wife, who lost three fingers to win it from him.

Supporting Cast: Tyler McVey as Referee, Katherine Squire as Carlos' Wife, Marc Cavell as Bellhop, Phil Gordon as Bartender

Antiques dealer Carpius (Homolka) and assistant Paul (Janti) discuss business while he presents an antique sapphire necklace to a disinterested and bored younger love interest, Malvira (De Metz). Major Parslow (Gould-Porter) and Mr. Chiringirian (Longman) visit wanting a special icon for purchase. Malvira details her desire to leave and says she would rather accept death (than stay) when Carpius threatens her. A monk, Brother Theodorus (Greene), arrives at the shop to sell an item and explains how there is a nearby splinter monastery with valuables, such as the Ikon of Elijah. Carpius visits the monastery in order to steal the valuable icon. He pretends to desire to pray at the icon by lying to the Abbot (Jaffe) and Brother Constantin (Richards). Carpius kills the monk, Brother Damianos (Catania), who is guarding the icon when he is caught stealing it during the monk's rest, claiming it is an accident. The abbot forgives him but says that he must stay with the icon for the rest of his life, praying for absolution.

When Jeff Jensen (Persoff) is non-fatally attacked by his wife, Marie (Williams), he assumes that Marie is suffering from tropical fever that affects the brain. Native manservant Luiz (Strong) offers to stab and kill her, but Jeff says no. When he confronts Marie, she laughs instead of crying, so he requests servant Chita (Burton) to watch over her. Jeff arranges for his friend Mike (Richman), an oilman, and Luiz to take Marie downriver to a shrink. Mike and Marie are having an affair and attempt to kill Luiz while resting at night on the journey; Luiz kills Mike and follows Jeff's orders to the letter by sending Marie to a native "head doctor" who shrinks her head.

Phil Canby (Tully) is accused of murdering Matt Thompson during an argument over 59-year-old Canby's romantic relationship with Matt's 19-year-old daughter Sue (Love). Sheriff Andy Willetts (Baxter) and chemist Saul (Maxwell) discuss the likelihood of a fair trial while a local boy (Erickson) inquiries about a hanging. The murder weapon is a wrench, and both the weapon and murder scene were cleaned immaculately with laundry soap. Sheriff Andy confronts supposed witness Mrs. Lyons (Converse), a neighbor who heard crying but who Sheriff Andy believes is jealous from Canby's refusal to propose marriage. Canby's alibi is that he was babysitting his calm grandson, but Lyons insists that she heard the grandson hysterically crying around the time of the murder. Canby's daughter Betty (Welles) adamantly defends him, and Sue's story is that she fled when an argument with her father started. Canby details when he fell in love with Sue the previous Spring, as he finally saw her as a woman. Sheriff Andy and authority Mr. Harris (Bailey) argue over publicly releasing details of the case. After the funeral, presided over by the town minister (Jackson), Betty argues with both Sheriff Andy and her father Canby, as husband John (Carlile) attempts to hold her back. When Canby is arrested, Sue has a manic fit and begins crying, revealing that she in fact is the one who killed her father.

The episode opens detailing modern policing techniques, with a focus on fingerprint matching. Captain Ellison (Freed) reports a notable suspect on a new case, that of Milton Potter (Hartman), and describes a past case involving the man. Mr. Newton (Whitehead) discusses with his boss, John B. Halverson (Holmes), about how Potter's books don't match. Captain Ernest Fisher (Bray) is called in to investigate at the firm and inquire about Potter's personal details, which are lacking due to his mild-mannered discretion. Potter steals $200,000 from his place of work and surrenders to Police Sergeant Carmody (Alper). Potter tells Fisher and Lieutenant Hogan (Ellis) about how he had to steal the money after planning the theft for so long, but he refuses to disclose where the money is hidden. After 13 years working the prison library as a model prisoner who read every book on traveling, Potter is released and returns the money to Fisher, ending his parole. However, Potter has earned $154,862.25 from investing the stolen money, and he uses the profits to travel the world in luxury aboard cruise ships, while making new friends (Manson).

Young best friends Iggy (Gordon) and Clete (Walken) get into trouble looking into a mobster's car by owner Mr. Rose (Patrick) and his associate Joe (Landers). Iggy dreams of having the best golf clubs in New York, as his father (Elliot) enjoys playing after driving a bus. Clete's father works at a bank and reads all the time, and he is moving in a couple of days. While searching for golf balls to pawn (at a golf course), they witness Mr. Rose and Joe beating up a frightened man (Fresco) regarding bootlegging. Iggy insists on reporting the incident to a police Desk Sergeant (Hoyt) and patrolman (Gilman), but he is heartbroken when the police refuse to take him seriously and his father is too frightened to stand up for him. Rose gives Iggy $10 to give him a taste of the life, and he offers work running errands. Iggy changes his allegiance from his father to Rose. Thirty-five years later, Iggy has become a mobster himself, and Clete (Craven) sees a newspaper article of his death by gunshot (which was shown at the outset and end of the episode).

On a road trip to Allendale, Charles Underhill (McIntire) scolds his niece Anne (Pleshette) for willingly riding with a car thief whom she hardly knows. When Underhill stops for cigarettes, an old lady backs into his car and drives away. Teenage hitchhiker Len (Morse) unsticks his car horn, so they agree to give him a ride towards San Francisco. Underhill learns that Len is a juvenile delinquent (pickpocket) from an 'honor farm' and initially kicks him out, but then he agrees to keep his word. On the way, Len outlines the difference in thinking of an 'insider' versus that of an 'outsider' and talks about his 'insider' knifehandling friend who quotes Dylan Thomas. When they stop at a diner, the kids dance while Underhill attempts to use the proprietor's (Burns) phone to call the sheriff (Len interrupts him). Underhill eventually comes to believe that Len is going to hurt him (as Len defends Anne's right of choice regarding her future), so he speeds to get the attention of a police officer (Morgan). Underhill claims that Len threatened him with a knife, but Len is revealed to be unarmed, and Underhill receives a ticket instead (and is also threatened with 10 days in jail). Underhill is distressed at destroying his crime-free record, but Len pickpockets the officer's book, saving him. Underhill then invites Len to continue traveling with them.

Wealth seeker Judy (Stevens) narrates her desire to be rich, and she sees her path to that goal by marrying the heir to the Craig family fortune. Thomas Craig (Van Dyke) is disappointed when the estate attorney (Holland) says that his late uncle, Wilbur Orville Craig, leaves his fortune to his two-year-old dog Casper, although Craig did leave some money to his loyal housekeeper (Sessions). Thomas was left only $1 but stands to inherit everything after the dog dies. Loyal butler Sam Loomis (Tyler), rather than Thomas, is chosen to shepherd the wealth for Casper. Thomas' girlfriend Judy tries to have Casper killed but fails repeatedly. Thomas tries to shoot Casper in a "hunting accident" but is interrupted by a hunter (Manson) and Casper's adorable nature. Judy hires private detective Vincent Noonan (Stewart) to kill Casper for the fee of $1000, plus expenses, but the death must appear to be accidental. Noonan accidentally sickens himself after he pours poison on the filet steak that he thinks will go to Casper but that goes to him instead. Noonan tries to kill him in a boat, but the dog saves his life, leaving him a loyal defender of Casper. Judy concludes that the only way to get the Craig fortune is to marry Casper herself, so she confides in a psychiatrist (Roberts) that she has decided to become a dog herself.

Writer Steven (McGuire) is interrupted by a soaking-wet new actress, Lois (Welles), who fell into the nearby ocean and desires a blanket. Twenty-three-year-old Hollywood PR man Jimmy Dolan (Baker) enters raving over a conversation he had with a studio boss about exploiting the death of aged alcoholic movie star Betsy Blake (Totter) from a boat accident in order to create a massive publicity campaign (comparable to that of Rudolph Valentino's death) and advance his career. Jimmy pays Steven $300 to write a screenplay regarding the incident and her life. Alfredo (Ragan) stops by to share "love secrets from beyond the grave" to help the script. However, three months later (on the eve of the release), Betsy returns, alive and ready to take advantage of her new "legend". Betsy reveals that the incident was planned both to give her a vacation break and build up her image. Jimmy, distraught at having his success overshadowed, kills her by pushing her from a balcony down to the beach during an argument. Jimmy goes to Steven and offers $5000 to help him cover it up, but Steven calls the police. It is then revealed that Betsy was Jimmy's mother.

Miners Hutch (Hoyt) and Pete (Ragan) argue about paying for drinks while the saloonkeeper (Armstrong) works to keep the peace. Newcomers Jamie (Johnson) and Ben McMahon (Morgan) have civilized the unruly community of Copperpocket and gained everyone's respect, so they end up resolving the dispute with their "brotherly love". They even manage to help a slot machine player (Christi) strike it rich. Strong miners, such as Swede (Cooper), compete to lift an anvil, but Ben and Jaime are the only ones who can do it. One night a mysterious man (Lloyd) appears and is told the story of the brothers by the saloonkeeper. The man calls the brothers cowards due to their relying upon scripture and challenges them to fight him. He shows seemingly demonic powers to prevent the brothers from striking him and then takes everyone's money, including that of the saloonkeeper's, totaling $30,000. The saloonkeeper and piano player (Ates) believe that the man was the devil himself. However, it was all a confidence scheme performed by the man and the brothers together, and they each pocket $10,000. They then decide to go to Silverwheel, Nevada to continue their scam.

John Crane (Shatner) narrates from a courtroom how he ultimately committed a murder while a court clerk (Elson) outlines the details of the case. John flashes back to when he met his German lover Lottie (Scala) while buying a gift for his mother Claire (Landis). Lottie leads him on a walk to a secluded waterfall where she discusses her childhood and losing her parents, while John mentions how he lost his father but was left financially well off. The two of them dance (she cures his phobia regarding dancing) and discuss marriage, but John flees when he realizes that he has not contacted his mother (who is waiting for him). Claire goes to see Lottie at her job and questions whether Lottie is trying to wed to obtain American citizenship, but she does not reveal her identity as John's mother. He has an unnaturally close relationship with his mother (by calling her 'Claire' instead of mother and mentioning her constantly, for example), which worries Lottie when they later meet for tea. Lottie suggests taking Claire to their favorite spot by a waterfall to tell her of their intent to marry. However, John believes that this as Lottie's suggestion that they should kill Claire, and John pushes Lottie off the cliff instead. The inquest board chairman (Carson) rules that Lottie's death was accidental.

Ida Blythe (Straight) and her daughter Dorothy (Hitchcock) travel out to a family cottage one year after the death of Ida's husband from a heart attack. They stop at the local general store to speak with storekeeper Burt (Beddoe), who informs them of an escaped mental patient from the local institution. Ida is staying alone at her cottage, despite Dorothy protesting, to clean while waiting for an acquaintance to visit. While obtaining firewood during a storm, a woman named Madeleine (Spain) sneaks into Ida's cottage, claiming that she was followed by the patient while out hiking. Madeleine's rambling about psychologists and incessant desire to be alone to paint scares Ida, as well as Madeleine's comparison of Ida to her aunt, whom she says is filled with hate (which is triggered by the sounds of the cuckoo clock). When a man (Buka) knocks on the door to tell her about the female runaway patient, Ida opens the door and shoves Madeleine to the ground, knocking her unconscious. However, the man is the real patient, and he goes insane at the sound of the cuckoo clock, smashing it on the ground.

Private investigator William Tyre (Franciscus) narrates being hired (for $50 per day, plus expenses) by Munro Dean (Mitchell) to lure a bookstore worker named Otto (Weston) to a hotel room so that Dean can meet him and confirm his identity. Dean believes that Otto killed his wife in 1948, and he wants revenge. Tyre goes to the bookstore and spies as Otto fights with a disgruntled customer (Kelljan) over the quality of Paris postcards. Tyre then greets and convinces Otto to meet with him in private by discussing shared musical interests, but Otto invites Tyre to his home instead. When he meets afterward with Dean, Dean tries to give him a revolver and pleads with Tyre to kill Otto for thousands of dollars, but Tyre demurs. Tyre visits Otto's home and listens to music with Otto's girlfriend Gloria (McQuade), and then he convinces Otto to go to Dean's hotel room in order to purchase Otto's 200-plus record collection for $250. Tyre follows through but has a change of heart and goes to the room just as Dean and Otto shoot each other. While dying, Otto admits to Tyre that he killed Dean's wife, but that he was hired by Dean to do it. Dean has been trying to kill him ever since because of the nightmares he has had.

Sir Richard Musgrave (Portman) takes a cruise to South Africa with his wife (Tedrow) and daughter while being photographed and interviewed (Lupino). He believes that he sees a former business partner, Jan Vander Klaue (Homolka), and inquires with the bartender (Bernard) as to the man's identity. Sir Richard meets with fellow businesspeople Janet Boswell (Windust) and Henry Caldwell (Robinson), as well as the ship's purser (Clanton), while working to get closer to the man in question, for whom he leaves a note to meet him urgently. Sir Richard thought that he had killed Vander Klaue years ago, and he receives an October 1939 South African newspaper clipping of Vander Klaue's supposed death slid under his cabin door. Sir Richard inquires with the steward (Harvey) about Keyser's communications and finally confronts him on the deck alone. Sir Richard explains what happened from his viewpoint and offers to pay Keyser to keep him quiet (as he has made millions from their investments) so that he can earn a peerage the next year. Keyser goes to Sir Richard's cabin and tells him the story of a prospector (Vander Klaue) with 75 British pounds for his wife's operation. When the money was lost in the fight with an English partner (Sir Richard), the wife died. Upon learning that he was also responsible for the death of Jan's wife, Sir Richard jumps overboard. Jan seemingly tries to save Sir Richard, but in actuality drowns him, though he is afterward hailed as a hero for his "attempt" by the ship's captain (Livesey).

Supporting Cast: Irene Tedrow as Lady Musgrave, Bartlett Robinson as Henry Caldwell, Irene Windust as Janet Boswell, Ralph Clanton as Ship's Purser, Jack Livesey as Ship's Captain, Richard Lupino as Press Photographer, Barry Bernard as Bartender, Barry Harvey as Steward (uncredited)

Charles 'Charlie' Cavender (Weaver), a World War II air veteran, suffers from insomnia, caused by his fear of his brother-in-law and fellow veteran, John 'Jack' Fletcher (Ragin). Charlie's wife Linda was killed in a house fire and her brother, Jack, believes that Charlie let her die. Charlie visits Doctor Tebaldi (Millhollin) and chats with his receptionist (Lord) before discussing the nature of his problem, as he can only sleep for an hour or so at a time and has lost several jobs recently following his wife's death. He outlines the nightmare that he has repeatedly about the house fire, and then he details the events of the actual fire and how he escaped. He admits to his fear of Jack and how the insomnia actually began after Jack left Dover Veterans' Hospital. That night, Jack calls Charlie and implies threats. The next day, Charlie is fired by his boss Mr. Turney (Hodge). Charlie calls the veteran's hospital to get Jack's apartment address, and then he confronts Jack, who is in a wheelchair. Jack desires to be Charlie's "official nightmare", and after Charlie laughs at him, Jack pulls a gun. After a struggle, Jack is shot and killed. That night Charlie sleeps peacefully and does not wake up when his heater catches aflame and burns his apartment building down. The fire captain (Gilman) and a fireman (Clark) discuss how Charlie must have been a heavy sleeper to be the only fatality from the fire.

Bert Haber (McCormick) is a piano player in a club and is friends with singer Georgia (Lawson). He and owner Joey (Kuluva) discuss Georgia's problems with gangster "Little Dandy" Dorf (Darro) at the end of a show. Dorf harasses Georgia after she rejects flowers sent by his henchman (Sharon) and she pours a drink over Dorf's head, humiliating him. When he attempts to assault her, Haber intervenes. A man (Harrington) whom Bert takes to be an insurance man then approaches him and spills Bert's personal details, telling him that Little Dandy recommended it. The next day, a detective claiming the name "Jack Simpson" (Ryan) informs Bert that Georgia has been killed by showing him a crime-scene photograph of her face and then questions him about taking Georgia home the previous night. While they speak in private, Bert's friend and co-worker Amos (Weinrib) brings another singer in to audition. The detective discovers that Bert knows enough information to have Little Dandy arrested. However, the "detective" is one of Little Dandy's goons, and he takes Bert away as Amos plays the piano. The "insurance man" is sitting in the backseat with a gun and is revealed to be the goon's partner.

Married couple Irene (Adams) and Joe Helmer (Slate) are in dire financial straits, with their electricity being cut off for lack of payment (for three months) and Joe unable to collect more unemployment. Joe goes to get a $100 loan from a loan company, but he is turned down by the loan officer (McNear) as he has no collateral, no co-signer, and no consistent employment. That night Joe sees a man (Bradley) collapse on the sidewalk and, thinking him dead, steals his wallet filled with $275 and his identity listed as Marvin Horn. He tells Irene that he ran into an old army friend who owed him money and simply got repaid. When he goes to get dressed to go out to dinner for a celebration with Irene, Joe finds a card in the man's wallet stating that the man suffered from a cataleptic illness that only looks like death. Joe returns to the scene but is told by a patrolman (Carlile) that the man has indeed died. Joe calls the police to report that the man is not dead but refuses to give personal details. He ultimately goes to the police to confess to the desk sergeant (McVey) and save the man, only to learn from the Lieutenant Bates (Elliot) that the man was transported to the morgue. At the morgue, Joe learns that the dead man is a pickpocket named Sonny Boy Capper and that the wallet was stolen from someone else.

Helen Parch (Canova) enjoys abusing the party line and eavesdropping on other people's telephone calls. She especially is fond of listening to the gossip calls of her "friends" Emma (Corby) and Betty (Flynn). One day she is warned by police officer Mr. Atkins (Dano) that a man named Heywood Miller (Johnson) escaped prison after six years and may come after her. Years ago, Helen even listened in on Miller's gambling calls and confronted him in the neighborhood shop of Mr. Maynard (Knight). Afterward, Helen refused to let Heywood use the party line to call the doctor, staying on the line with her since-departed forgetful friend Gertrude (Grace), which led to the death of Miller's pregnant wife. Afterward, Miller began a career of burglaries, leading to his prison sentence. That night, after Atkins leaves, Heywood breaks into Helen's house basement, and when she tries to call the sheriff's office, the party line is busy with Emma and Betty, who refuse to get off the phone.

Prisoner De Baca (Ponti) is desperate for a stay of execution, with prisoners Hennessy (Best), Holt (Raybould), and others (Horan) seeking to give him hope, while former English literature Professor and fellow inmate Herbert 'Herbie' Morrison (Keith) braces him for reality. Guards Pops Lafferty (Westerfield) and Callahan (Mims) escort De Baca to the death chamber while Father McCann (Sullivan) gives him last rites. Morrison is on death row for murder and wants to die with dignity, refusing his lawyer Maury Berg's (Maxwell) attempt for a stay of execution and only desiring a full pardon. Morrison appreciates how those on the outside don't know their scheduled time, place, and manner of death. Guard Lafferty is helpful and optimistic, while guard Callahan constantly berates him. When Herbert is taken to the gas chamber, he kills guard Lafferty and is taken away. Afterward, Warden Elvery (Carson) tells Herbert that his lawyer Berg obtained a stay and found a witness to clear his name, but since Herbert killed Lafferty, he will never be pardoned.

Miss Hope (Gingold) arrives by train and intervenes with a man, Ben Huggins (Drayton), mistreating his horse Nobby; she purchases the horse for ten British pounds and renames him Ferdinand. Mrs. Wellington (March) picks up the new governess Miss Hope from the train station and is quickly thrown by Miss Hope's outspokenness. Mrs. Wellington expects Miss Hope to be more open and modern, but she herself is quite stuffy towards the nannie (Lloyd), driver Simpson, maid Rose (Hitchcock), and even Miss Hope. For the next few days Miss Hope teaches the Wellington children {Viola (V. Cartwright), Irenee (A. Cartwright), Claude, and Wilfred} biology (reproduction from studying frogs) and history (through the Schartz-Metterklume Method: to make children learn history by acting it out themselves) with enthusiasm. However, Mrs. Wellington, husband John (Conway), and even the vicar (Innocent) are appalled by her straightforward, unorthodox methods, and Mrs. Wellington fires her. Miss Hope leaves in good spirits though, because she is actually wealthy aristocrat Lady Charlotte; Mrs. Wellington mistook her for Miss Hope, and Lady Charlotte enjoyed the simple distraction and experience. Just as Lady Charlotte arrives at the train station after saying farewell to Huggins, she encounters the real Miss Hope and advises her to wait before traveling to the Wellington home. Lady Charlotte then travels by train to visit friend Jenny (Varden) and a lawn party hostess (Holm) in order to cheerfully play croquet.

Supporting Cast: Elspeth March as Mrs. Wellington, Pat Hitchcock as Rose, Noel Drayton as Ben Huggins, Doris Lloyd as Nannie, Tom Conway as John Wellington (uncredited), Veronica Cartwright as Viola Wellington (uncredited), Angela Cartwright as Irenee Wellington (uncredited), Norma Varden as Jenny (uncredited), Harold Innocent as Vicar (uncredited), Celeste Holm as Lawn Party Hostess (uncredited)

Henry Taylor Lowden (Bray) visits Kirkland and gets information from the station master (Hamilton) about the town, strangers, and the local bank. Henry visits Kirkland Mercantile Bank and gets bank information from Miss Foster (Holt) as elderly Josiah Wingate (Delevanti), the bank founder and father-in-law of the bank president, is wheeled from the bank. Henry wants to question its president, William Spengler (Sweeney), claiming that he is called Henry Taylor and is writing a book on bank crimes. Three years before a bank employee, Arnold Mathias (Nicholas), was convicted of stealing $200,000 from the bank, and Arnold recently died in a prison escape attempt, though his cellmate made it out. Only bank president Spengler and vice president Sam Kern (Newton) had keys to the strongbox, and both were supposedly gone when the theft occurred. Henry questions William aggressively, believing that Arnold was framed (as he didn't flee and had no place to stash the money) and that William stole the money (as William made it so that he was alone in the bank for several minutes). Henry details to William how he knows that William's marriage was unhappy, the phone call he had Kern make was an unnecessary ruse, and how his life was less ideal than presented. Henry firmly states that the money is in William's safety deposit box and then Henry pulls a revolver to pressure William. William, believing that Henry is Arnold's escaped cellmate Thomas Henry (a murderer), tries to make a deal with him and confesses, but Henry is actually the police officer who killed Arnold and is trying to make amends by arresting the true culprit.

Father Andy (Bell) and son Bill Davis (Reynolds) break down in the desert when their radiator overheats in their tanker truck that was converted to carry water instead of oil. Criminals Marsh (Hamilton) and Lemon (Stanton) try to pass by when their drive shaft breaks. They reveal a kidnapped woman, Stephanie Thomas (Stevenson), and $100,000 that they stole. Marsh, the brains of the operation, is focused on the money, while Lemon is obsessed with Thomas. They then steal the tanker to escape across the border to Sonoita and leave the others to die, unaware that Andy and Bill know how to survive in the desert and leaving Thomas to supposedly die with them. Andy knows that they can drink the gallons of water in the radiator and Bill knows how to start a signal fire and store water in the car tire's innertube. The next day police patrolmen (Karnes and Dockstader) find Lemon's body, with him having been shot in the head. They then find the tanker broken down, along with Marsh's body. The kidnappers turned on each other when their water ran out, not realizing that the Davises' tanker was carrying water (as it was still labelled as an oil tanker).

Ray (Horton) stops by a boat rental shop to pick up his wife and becomes enamored with Nyla Foster (Francis), a college student working over the summer for her father (Holland). Ray is married to an older woman, Gladys (Segal), but he has dalliances with younger women (of which Gladys is aware but keeps him close with a weekly allowance). Nyla resists his attentions, but she also gives him the slightest glimmer of hope, and this inspires Ray to kill Gladys so they can be together. Ray learns the basics of freshwater fishing (Gladys' favorite hobby), but he has to put up with Mr. Foster always joining them and must bide his time. One day Ray finally takes Gladys fishing alone, hoping to drown her as she drops the anchor (as she cannot swim), but Gladys knocks him out first with a leather sap (placed in a picnic basket by Nyla) and throws him overboard. It was all planned by Gladys, Nyla, and her father, because Gladys and Mr. Foster are lovers and want to get married.

New Yorker Mrs. Bixby (Meadows) travels to her dentist husband Dr. Bixby's (Tremayne) office to give him lunch, a bill, and state that she is traveling to see her aunt. Rather than travel to see her aunt, Mrs. Bixby goes to her lover's (Chase) home in Baltimore. However, the Colonel must immediately attend to some horse trading of a deceased neighbor, so his driver Dawson (Hamilton) chauffeurs him away while maid Eloise (Norman) looks after Mrs. Bixby. She receives an expensive mink coat from the Colonel and a breakup letter saying goodbye. She wants to keep the coat without arousing her husband's suspicion, so she visits a pawnbroker (Caine) and has the coat pawned for $50. She then pretends to randomly find the pawn ticket in a cab, which she gives to her husband to retrieve the item. Mrs. Bixby arrives to receive the item just as Mr. Gorman (Cheshire) walks in with a dental emergency. However, Mrs. Bixby is dismayed when her husband gives her a small mink stole; Dr. Bixby's nurse Miss Putney (Hughes) has the coat, thus implying that he is having an affair with her.

A psychiatrist (Zaremba) talks with his patient Ralph Jones (York) about his last argument with his wife of two years, Lucille (Rowlands), after a stressful day. They argue about drinking, having company, giving family money, and whether to get a new home and have more children. Then Ralph mysteriously travels two years back in time to when he was still a bachelor in December 1958. His landlord Mr. Treadwell (Julian) shows up to angrily demand two months' worth of rent money while Ralph tries to get his bearings. Ralph travels to find Lucille at her job at the soap company, but the circumstances are different than had previously occurred, as the boss is not present and Lucille turns him down. After he follows her and begs her to have lunch, what should have been their first date is a disaster as he tells her their alternate future and she believes him to be delusional. He even tries to get Jimmy the waiter (Smiley) to confirm his tale, but Jimmy doesn't know him. After Lucille leaves him, Ralph goes to the docks and talks with youngster Sidney (Burns), who sales him his baseball cards. Broken-hearted, Ralph jumps into the river and wakes up back in his regular "present" in the shower. He is infused with positivity and optimism and displays warm intentions to Lucille. Later, Ralph's psychiatrist tells him that the episode, like the one that occurred in his childhood, was just a daydream, but Ralph has a set of wet baseball cards that he brought back from his travel.

Spinster Helen (Field) is dating (and wants to marry) Harry Wade (Matthau), a rude lumber yard owner who relies on employee Carl (Ponti) to help finish jobs. Helen's brother John (Swenson) believes that Harry is a crook. John is about to get married and confronts Helen regarding her future in the house. Helen and Harry go out to their favorite place, where owner Charlie (Gilman) serves them, while Harry tells Helen that he is about to lose his business because he owes the mill $8,000, has not yet been paid for his last job, and cannot borrow from any bank. He tells Helen that he could pay back a loan within forty-eight hours easily, so Helen "borrows" the money from Mr. Ivers' (Lane) $9,000 account payment to her mortgage office in order to help Harry. She slyly takes a cashier's check while talking with Mr. Parker (Fresco) and the bank teller (Carlson). After visiting with Helen's boss Mr. Fescue (Newell), Harry goes to Helen's house for dinner and tells her that he could not get the money but promises to get it by the next day. He pays her back the money by borrowing from his "friends" on the value of his lumber. A week later, Helen goes to Charlie's and learns that Harry died to get the money for her.

As ceramics teacher Bernie Samuelson (Pollack) arrives to teach at a summer camp (Camp Lakeside), the camp's performance-driven owner Mr. Lyle Stern (Maxwell) yells at worker Angelo (Lewis) to finish the parking lot while also ordering swimming teacher Lefty James (Thourlby) to dive for Bernie. Bernie teaches the boys (Lloyd and Warga) with care, even appreciating Henry's (Phillips) snake, but he is particularly protective of Aaron Gold (Gordon), a boy who dislikes athletics but who loves sculpture. As Aaron has no other accomplishments, Mr. Stern orders that Bernie "finish" Aaron's sculpture of a one-armed knight to show off to Aaron's supermarket chain-owning father, under threat of being fired. Bernie adds the arm, which upsets Aaron deeply, because the statue is a tribute to Aaron's father Herbert (Craven), who only has one (left) arm. Bernie rips off the added arm just as Herbert walks in the door looking for Aaron.

Miss Dent (Thaxter) was secretary to married Mr. Blake (Scott) but was fired on the day after they had a liaison, so now Mr. Blake has a new secretary, Miss Smith (Edwards). Miss Dent constantly shadows and confronts Mr. Blake regarding her dismissal, once causing him to miss his train and settle for drinks from an amicable bartender (Gordon). On a train to Shady Hill, Mr. Watkins (Bailey) and Mrs. Compton (Windust) attempt to make polite discourse with Mr. Blake but are rebuffed. After weeks of being avoided, Miss Dent finally corners Mr. Blake at gunpoint and holds him hostage through his train commute in order to talk to him so that she can move on. A flashback details how she was quite appreciative of her job and willingly worked late hours, as she has no close relations in New York and felt comfortable after being in a mental hospital for eight months. One night, they entertained at her apartment and a romantic episode ensued. The next day, she was fired by Mr. Johnson (Davis) with management claiming her work to be unsatisfactory. Miss Dent makes Mr. Blake read out a letter that she wrote as the train conductor (Hamilton) announces the train's arrival at the destination, with her contemplating killing Blake for his rejection. She forces Blake to walk along the tracks with her and then place his face in the dirt, which gives her peace of mind, and she leaves him be.

Elderly Miss Lowen (Squire) learns from Detective Berger (Adams) that her niece Margie, who has been living with her for the nine years since her father's death in World War II, has been exchanging romantic letters (through a pen pal club) with 27-year-old convict Rod Collins (Gulager) for the past two years. Collins, facing life in prison for murder, has just escaped prison after nine years and may come to her for help and shelter. Margie is away staying with a friend, so the decision is made to not inform her of the circumstances. Collins breaks into Miss Lowen's house almost immediately after the detective leaves in desperation to find Margie, as he believes himself to be in love with her. Collins believes that he can work a lathe job in a machinist shop to support them while on the run. Miss Lowen promises to call her niece, but she instead calls Detective Berger. Miss Lowen knocks Collins out and the police capture him as a doctor (Montgomery) bandages his head. Unknown to all, Miss Lowen is the one who has been writing to Collins all along, using her niece's name. She immediately starts writing a new letter to Collins.

Tony Lorca (Montalbán), the Whistling Kid, is a Texas outlaw who arrives joyfully whistling at the Last Chance Saloon in a small town during a blizzard. He ruffles the feathers of the various bar patrons (Hoyt, Weaver, Pollard, Blackwell) by inquiring about how they enjoy the blizzard (while their cattle freeze) and by insulting their alcohol. He most notably upsets ranchers Bart McCormick (Johnson) and "Little Man" (Kates) by lying about how he reached the town. Elder Native American Minnie Redwing (Kelly) intervenes to state an Indian proverb and stop a gunfight, but Tony has already taken Bart's gun from its holster, leaving Bart to reconcile with Tony. He then belittles "Little Man", which attracts both Minnie and a notable woman named Shasta Cooney (Ford). Cooney buys him a beer and a pretzel, but he pours the beer down her back. Tony starts a poker game, using his six gun revolver for a stake in the game. Just as he loses his gun, belt with holster, and cartridges to Zack Martin's (Ates) four 3s, Little Man arrives back with a wanted poster outlining a plethora of charges. The townsfolk learn that there is a reward of $5,000 to turn Tony in, so various people bid for his custody. Shasta claims the reward is hers as Tony killed her husband, while Little Man claims it is his as he found the wanted poster. Shasta offers to fund Tony's stay in town if he will let her have the reward, but Tony opens the idea to the bidding of various townsfolk and sells himself to Zack Martin for $900, while Shasta throws champagne in Tony's face. Zack clears the "legality" of the act with the justice of the peace (Richards) but then sells Tony for $1000 worth of hay. The rights to Tony's reward continue to be sold for ever-increasing value when a neighboring town hears of it and sends in Trig Owens (Weston) and Pack Munce to bid. When Tony steps outside for air, Shasta kidnaps him at gunpoint. On the way, Shast admits that her husband was no good and left her and tells Tony that she is taking them to the border. Meanwhile, a marshal arrives and tells the townspeople that Tony died a year prior and the man they knew as "Tony" is actually Pepe, the real Tony's brother. Pepe has been pretending to be Tony and putting up the wanted posters in order to swindle people out of their money, although no one actually lost any money. Just then, Minnie leads Pepe and Shasta in through the front doors and up the stairs, where Pepe picks up Shasta and carries her over the threshold, with the justice of the peace saying that he married them the previous night.

Supporting Cast: Roscoe Ates as Zack Martin, Arch Johnson as Bart McCormick, Patsy Kelly as Minnie Redwing, Bernard Kates as Little Man, Brad Weston as Trig Owens, Addison Richards as Justice of the Peace, Clegg Hoyt as Bar Patron, Ray Weaver as Bar Patron in coonskin hat, Snub Pollard as Bar Patron (uncredited), Shirley Blackwell as Saloon Girl (uncredited)

Cash Bentley (Merrill) is a former champion hurdler who is bitter that his glory days have passed as he describes the "river as flowing backward" to friend Jim (Lewis) at a party. Despite his wife Louise's (Breslin) protests and Cash's physical limitations, Cash keeps racing whenever he is taunted by others, even friends such as Archie (Manson) and George (Manlove). They set up makeshift hurdles in a club evening room, and Cash runs the race to their delight. They then return home to relieve babysitter Cathy and boyfriend Eric, with Cash drunkenly setting up furniture to hurdle before breaking his leg. The doctor (Newton) tells Cash that he will never hurdle again. Cash attempts to hurdle at the next club party, but he is grabbed by Louise. One night, Cash gives Louise his gun and orders her to fire it so he can race one more time. Louise, unfamiliar with guns, accidentally shoots him.

Supporting Cast: Maurice Manson as Archie, David Lewis as Jim, Dudley Manlove as George, Theodore Newton as Physician, Bert Stevens as Club Member (uncredited), Dick Winslow as Club Member (uncredited), Steve Carruthers as Club Member (uncredited)

Small-time crook Larry (Loggia) and his girlfriend Angie (Dowling) argue about marriage and money after Larry quits as a bookie. Larry sees the secretary (May) of and gets a job with wealthy Stefan Bregornick (Kuluva), cousin to Larry's father but who saw him as naive and stupid for being straight. Bregornick is an importer of many things, including stolen goods. Bregornick introduces Larry to his friend Miklosh (Barzell) and they discuss the importation business, specifically vintage wine. Four months into the job, after constant hassling from Angie and promising her a move to dreamy Rio de Janeiro, Larry stages a phone call pretending to be Miklosh in order to sabotage a deal. Larry takes the $30,000 from Bregornick for the supposed deal and shows it to Angie, but he returns it a few hours later as Miklosh arrives for the actual deal, apologizing for his moment of weakness while invoking his father's honesty. Angie is angered at Larry's giving back the money, but Larry explains that he now has Bregornick's trust, and a better opportunity to steal more money will come his way soon.

Horace Meade (Scourby) narrates how he married and lived with his dead wife Sybilla (Bel Geddes) while examining his diary. He flashes back to moving into their new home after getting married, with a warm welcome by housekeepers Mrs. Carter (Kennedy) and Mr. Carter. Sybilla is perfectly obedient and agrees to all his unconventional demands, including his breakfast demands and having separate bedrooms. Horace keeps expecting and desiring to have to rebel against Sybilla's changes, but Sybilla seeks no changes whatsoever, which annoys Horace. Despite her absolute loyalty and obedience, Horace grows uncomfortable with her and tries to poison her with sleep medicine in her evening wine, but he is mysteriously thwarted after Sybilla spills the medicine while cleaning. After Horace notices that Sybilla has a key to Horace's desk (and therefore access to his diary stating his thoughts), he concludes that she knew about the poisoning and has made contingencies with her lawyer (Robinson) in case she dies, and his only choice is to keep her alive and healthy. Sybilla gets sick after eight years of marriage, so they visit the seashore and consult a doctor (Wynn). Finally, after ten years of marriage, Sybilla dies of natural causes. Horace learns that there was no contingency plan (she left everything she had to him), and he realizes that he truly loved her in the end.

Senior citizens Alice Wagner (Byington) and Mildred (Marden) split up after leaving the bowling alley and Alice is mugged. Alice gets dressed up fancily to go to the police, which her daughter Mabel questions (Leslie) and her son-in-law Leo (McGuire) flatters. While browsing mugshots with police Lieutenant Meade (Dunne), Alice finds a photo of a man named William Graves who looks like her son-in-law Leo. Meanwhile, Mabel and Leo fight over Leo's gambling habits, and Alice questions Mabel about Leo's financial past in California. When Alice sees Lt. Meade again, she is assured by Lt. Meade that the photo resemblance is merely a coincidence. However, when she brings in a photograph of Leo and Mabel to the police, she is shocked to learn both her daughter and son-in-law are revealed to be wanted criminals. Lt. Meade stops by her residence to arrest them and tells her they are wanted for five years-worth of criminal activity in California.

James Barrett (Gaines) busily plans for his absence so that he can go on a business trip to Toronto. He turns affairs over to Philip Weaver (Walker) and calls his wife Mrs. Barrett (Marshall) to cancel lunch. Scatterbrained Mrs. Barrett goes to lunch and conspires with Philip, her lover, to kill James while he is away on the Toronto business trip. Doorman Harry (Weinrib) carries James' bags while housekeeper Helen (Angold) is placed in charge of the household and Mrs. Barrett says goodbye, carrying out the first part of the plan. Mrs. Barrett receives a letter from Philip detailing her instructions to mail a letter to James in Toronto and host a party. However, she mistakenly mails the instruction letter incriminating Philip and her about the murder plan to James while distracted talking to friend Raymond (Stratton). She frantically tries to get it back by chasing after the mail carrier's truck and requesting it from the post office, but she fails as the letter was already mailed. At Helen's advice, she calls the telephone company while party guests (Richards, Carson) begin to arrive, with her friend Lotte (Carr) complaining about her vitamin pills. Mrs. Barrett receives a phone call indicating that James never arrived just as Harry shows up stating that the letter was returned due to insufficient postage; however, he thoughtfully put correct postage on the letter to help her reach her husband.

Supporting Cast: Richard Gaines as James Barrett, Peter Walker as Philip Weaver, Lennie Weinrib as Harry, Chet Stratton as Raymond, Edit Angold as Helen, Liz Carr as Lotte, Frank Richards as Party Guest,