is about a hotshot reporter who solves high-profile murders before the police can. When two crooked financiers ruin his loved ones, the reporter vengefully plots to destroy the crooks. After framing one crook for killing the other, the reporter struggles to write stories about this seemingly open-and-shut murder case. A gossip columnist secretly in love with the reporter types up the story from the reporter’s recorded dictation. She then learns the truth.
is about a workingman who moonlights as a bootlegger. Police raid his property while he’s distilling moonshine, and a federal officer dies in the shootout. The workingman goes to jail for second-degree murder, then spends his time in the prison’s tool shop. He can repair anything with pieces of scrap metal. Eventually, he invents a repeating rifle with a short piston, the foundation of the M1 Carbine used during WWII.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is about a politician whose popularity rests on the myth that he shot a feared gunman. The politician returns to his hometown to attend an old friend’s funeral. Interviewed by a local reporter, the politician tells the true story – that his deceased friend hid in the bushes and actually fired the fatal shot during the politician’s dual with the gunman.
