Mahlon Hamilton

Circumstance, an old flame and a mother-in-law drive a happily married couple to the verge of divorce and insanity.

Duke Fergus falls for Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry in the Barbary Coast in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. He loses money to crooked gambler Boss Tito Morell, goes home, learns to gamble, and returns. After he makes a fortune, he opens his own place with Flaxen as the entertainer; but the 1906 quake destroys his place.

A former prisoner of war, Frank Enley is hailed as a hero in his California town. However, Frank has a shameful secret that comes back to haunt him when fellow survivor Joe Parkson emerges, intent on making Frank pay for his past deeds.

A woman's love for and devotion to a married man results in her being relegated to the "back streets" of his life.

This MGM John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short tells the story of how a Mauser pistol used on the battlefield by Germans during WWII makes its way into the hands of an American gangster.

PEG O MY HEART (Metro Studios, 1922), directed by King Vidor, under the supervision of J. Hartley Manners, introduces the legendary theatrical actress Laurette Taylor (1884-1946) to the screen reprising the role she made famous as a poor Irish farm girl who inherits a fortune but would rather have happiness instead. While a bit too old for the character supposedly in her late teens or early twenties, Laurette was tailor made for it.

While in Shanghai reporting on the Sino-Japanese war, Chris Hunter, a shrewd news reporter, meets pilot Alma Harding. She does not trust him, but he manages to hire her as his assistant. During an adventurous expedition through the jungles of South America, her opinion of him begins to change.

A soldier falls in love with a newly-married woman after her husband abandons her for a business meeting on their honeymoon.

A young pacifist, after refusing on principle to defend her sweetheart's honor and being banished in disgrace, joins a riverboat troupe as a singer, acquires a reputation as a crackshot after a saloon brawl in which the villain of the piece accidentally kills himself with his own gun, falls in love with his former fianceé's sister and finally bullies an apprehensive family into accepting him.

In Chicago, an unemployed actor aims to solve the mystery concerning a string of ax murders, apparently committed by a lunatic.

A World War II veteran wants to return to advertising on his own terms, but finds it difficult to be successful and maintain his integrity.

Frank Leon Smith's well-written story told of Carter's Creek, a bustling mining camp, and of how Beth Cameron (Rich) seeks to avenge the murder of her father (Frederick Vroom) by donning men's clothing and raiding the vicinity.

Pierre Felix, a couturier, makes a $25,000 bet with Ralph Courtland that he can take a girl from the streets, dress her appropriately, and within three months have her accepted into society.

Bold performer Tira works as dancing beauty and lion tamer at a fair. Out of an urgent financial need, she agrees to a risky new number: she'll put her head into the lion's mouth! With this attraction, the circus makes it to New York and Tira can pursue her dearest occupation — flirting with rich men and accepting expensive presents.

Raised in the lap of luxury, Norma Russell is ill-prepared for her father's financial reverses. In exchange for a $25,000 loan, Norma's dad promises her hand in marriage to bank president Howard Dundore.

Adele Bleneau is a young nurse who assists her father, a renowned surgeon/. While in Washington, DC, she meets and falls in love with a British army officer, Capt. Fraser. While traveling by ship to France with her father, she meets Count von Schulling, a German diplomat who is an acquaintance of her father. Von Schulling falls for the pretty young Adele. While in France, Adele organizes a rescue party to save Capt. Fraser, who has been on a secret mission behind enemy lines and has been wounded. In a twist of fate, Adele finds the wounded Fraser and takes him to a hospital, but Count von Schuling, who has also been wounded, is placed in the same room as Fraser. When the hospital is overrun by German forces, Adele is placed in a delicate position by von Sculling: either spy for the Germans or Fraser will be shot.

An alcoholic woman was charged and tried for murder and a young defense attorney, unaware that she is his mother, takes the assignment to defend her in court.

Small-town soda-jerk Peggy Evans quits her dead-end job and moves to New York where she invents a new identity.

Nightclub hostess Sophie Leonard educates her daughter Beth abroad and keeps her life secret for her. But suddenly the daughter shows up.

When Alden Van Dusen, a third-generation member of a prestigious old New York family, is faced with the alternatives of allowing his firm to go bankrupt or becoming involved in fraud, he decides on suicide. As he is about to drown himself, Alden is attacked by a thug and, in the ensuing struggle, his assailant is killed. Seizing upon the opportunity, Alden changes identities with the dead man and drifts West, where he becomes an employee in his firm's mine.

Hank Medhill, artificial silk manufacturer, has returned to the U.S. from Japan to learn that his former girlfriend, Eleanor Breen is about to marry. Hank convinces Eleanor to leave the groom-to-be and marry him. Shortly after the marriage, they discover that they have nothing in common. They separate. Hank decides to pick any name from the phone book and date them. That date results in a wild and frightful night for Hank, thanks to Eleanor's clever plan.

Respected Parisian banker Paul Lavond is framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to prison. Years later, he escapes with a friend, a scientist who was working on a method to reduce humans to a height of mere inches (all for the good of humanity, of course). Lavond, however, is consumed with hatred for those who betrayed him, and takes the scientist's methods back to Paris to exact painful revenge.

Rick Belrow Livingston, in love with Broadway star Lisa, is sentenced to 30 days in jail for speeding through a small town. He persuades the judge's daughter Cindy to let him leave for one night, so that he can visit Lisa on her birthday. After that he goes on the town with Cindy and she falls in love with him. But Dr. Schemmer wants his son to become her husband.

This MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short shows the role the crime laboratory plays in the solving of cases, and how even the smallest detail can become a major clue.