The easy way for an ambitious district attorney to climb the legal ladder is to rack up convictions, and that's exactly what Bill Burton (Edmund Lowe) does when he sends an innocent man to the electric chair on circumstantial evidence. But when a confession after the execution casts doubt on the case, Burton has a crisis of conscience, vowing to undo what he's done to the dead man's widow (Dorothy Peterson) and son (Don Dillaway), only to find out how his unscrupulous girlfriend (Evelyn Brent) connects him to an underworld that could bring all his efforts down. A courtroom drama that's got the flavor of, if not all the ingredients, of an early film noir, this early legal drama from Columbia Studios encapsulates the talents of Edmund Lowe, an actor whose range veered from suave and continental to tough and gritty. Rarely did he get to work both sides of the fence as he does in this role. And speaking of noir, don't miss the dark and sultry Evelyn Brent doing what she does best as an amoral moll.

By Violet LeVoit