Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

After the death of a United States Senator, idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. Soon, the naive and earnest new senator has to battle political corruption.

Dagwood inadvertently gets cornered in to resigning. When his wife Blondie tries to ask Dagwoods boss Mr. Dithers for his job back, he ends up hiring her instead. This doesn't sit too well with Dagwood. Blondie's sister comes to visit, and Dagwood is put in a compromising situation with another woman.

A young man zigzags through the sordid vortex of downtown Los Angeles while seeking vengeance on the man that beat his father.

A girl keeps meeting Charley the wrong moments, including losing her dress in his car, and later he finds himself in her apartment. Her jealous boxer-husband is obsessed with killing Charley after seeing them together again and again.

When illegal casino owner Charley Kyng develops heart disease, he is advised by a doctor to spend more time with his family. However, he finds it difficult to keep his work separate from his life at home. His son, Paul, feels ashamed of Charley's career and gets into a fight at his prom because of it. Meanwhile, Charley's brother-in-law, Robbin, who works at the casino, begins fixing games due to his extreme gambling debts.

Walen plays Dan Sparling, a convicted embezzler who becomes editor of his prison newspaper. After serving out his sentence, he sets up an independent newspaper devoted to attacking corruption in public life, encountering various difficulties due to his being an ex-con and opposition from the incumbent administration.

Aboard ship, a spoiled woman (Susan Hayward) insults the brutish stoker (William Bendix) while watching him work.

The stooges are frontier guides leading a minstrel show west. When hostile Indians run the horses run off they are stranded. They must contend with a snow storm and a marauding bear as well the Indians. After almost killing each other ice fishing they solve their problems by rigging up a sail on the wagon and sailing west.

The crimes of a tabloid publisher are exposed by a reporter, his secret illegitimate son.