George Edward Grodman, a respected superintendent at Scotland Yard in 1890, makes a mistake in an investigation that causes the execution of an innocent man. He takes the blame for his error, is dismissed from his position as superintendent and replaced by the obnoxious and gloating John Buckley.
Dr. Richard Talbot, unhappy with the dull routine of his married life, begins an affair with nightclub singer Nora Prentiss. Feeling unable to ask his wife for a divorce, he fakes his own death by substituting a dead man's body for his own. He and Nora then move from San Francisco to New York, where Nora continues her singing career. Meanwhile, Talbot drinks heavily and becomes increasingly paranoid and reclusive as he learns that his death is under investigation. After a fight with Nora's nightclub boss, Talbot crashes his car and his face is badly scarred. The police, not realizing that the man is Talbot, arrest him for his own murder. Guilty about the suffering he caused his family and feeling he has no future, Talbot convinces Prentiss to keep his secret, allowing him to be convicted and executed.
A young man in sits in prison on the night before his execution, while his girlfriend waits for the inevitable in the prison governor's house. The governor and his wife sympathize with both of them. It is the first use of the electric chair in the state, and there are teething problems with its installation. Meanwhile a group of reporters discussing the case, realize that the M.O. of the crime bears a similar style to that of a criminal, "Parrot" Farucco, who was supposed to have died three years previously. As the execution takes place off camera, a prison orderly collecting mail in the cafe identifies a customer as Farucco. He confronts him and is shot by the criminal, who is subdued and tied by other customers who happen to be prison officers waiting to begin work.
René Le Guen (Marcel Mouloudji) is a former resistance fighter trained as a young man as a professional killer. After World War II, he has no qualms in applying these skills and is arrested for murder. Convicted and condemned to death, he is held in a prison cell with other murderers sentenced to death. Men to be guillotined are taken out at night, so they wait in fear and only sleep after dawn. While Le Guen's lawyer (Claude Laydu) tries to achieve a pardon for his client, three of Le Guen's fellow inmates are executed, one by one, in the course of the film.
In early 1950s North Africa, a man (Alec Guinness) is escorted through an angry, clamouring crowd by a platoon of soldiers. They enter a fort and it is clear that he is to be executed. The commander (Peter Bull) orders the men to line up in two rows and gives the order to fire. As the shots ring out, the scene changes to a ferry ship, the "Golden Fleece" in the docks as the passengers embark for the two days' journey to Gibraltar. Amongst the crew, there is much dismay, and the chief officer, Carlos Ricco (Charles Goldner) takes to his cabin with the clear intention of getting drunk. He is interrupted by an elderly gentleman, Lawrence St. James (Miles Malleson), who had come to speak his nephew, Captain Henry St. James on an unspecified, but urgent, matter. He is profoundly shocked to learn that the grief he had encountered on the ship is due to the death of the man he had travelled from England to see. He begs Ricco, to explain what has led to such an event. He learns that his nephew Henry was the prosperous owner and skipper of this small passenger ship which he captained as it ferried regularly to and fro between Gibraltar and Kalique, a port in North Africa.
Quand une prostituée dont il est le souteneur est retrouvée assassinée, c'est tout naturellement que Mario Bottecchia dit Mocassino, est suspecté. Accusé par Isolina Panto, témoin du crime, il est condamné à 20 ans de prison. Incarcéré, Marino reçoit des visites régulières d'Isolina qui va tout mettre en œuvre pour le faire libérer.
Le film est inspiré de faits réels; un photographe Gino Girolimoni est faussement accusé du viol et du meurtre de plusieurs fillettes entre 1924 et 1928 à Rome.
Après une longue séparation, le comte Bonmartini et sa femme Linda se remettent en couple pour le bien-être de leurs enfants. Mais la jeune femme conserve une profonde aversion envers son époux, que l'on retrouve bientôt assassiné.
The book and the film tell the story of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. The film starred Martin Sheen as Private Slovik, a performance for which he received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Drama. Sheen said he did not think actors should be compared, and made it clear he would refuse the award. Many critics and viewers consider this to be one of Sheen's finest performances. Among the other Emmy Award nominations, the film was named for "Outstanding Special". The film also won a Peabody Award.
In the 1700s, a beggar is tossed into London's Newgate jail, along with a pile of papers upon which his unfinished opera is scribbled. The beggar boasts to the other prisoners that his opera, unlike others of the day, is about a real person, the dashing highwayman Captain Macheath, who, dressed in a red coat, holds off the world with a pistol in each hand, seduces women with five notes of a tune, and generally leaps from misfortune. To the beggar's disappointment, the other prisoners point out that his hero Macheath is among them, in irons and behind bars, and Macheath, who is scheduled to be executed the next morning, admits that there is "no arguing with reality." Taking the first page of the opera, Macheath begins singing, and the beggar, encouraged by Macheath's good voice, urges him to continue, until the following story, the beggar's opera, is sung for the prison inmates: While riding to London, feeling merry and free, Macheath robs a carriage, and steals a kiss and a locket from a maiden. Later, in London, Macheath's wife, Polly Peachum, pines for him. Polly's parents, shopkeepers Mr. Peachum and his wife, are scandalized to learn from their employee Filch that Polly has secretly married the highwayman. To make the best of the situation, as they are always eager to make money, they urge her to lure Macheath into a trap and collect the reward for his capture. Meanwhile, outside of town, Macheath encounters a carriage ridden by Newgate's jailor Mr. Lockit, Lockit's daughter Lucy and Mrs. Trapes, whom Lockit is wooing. Lucy, who met Macheath when he was once imprisoned, scolds him for taking her virtue without making good on his promise to wed. When Macheath rides off, Mrs. Trapes suggests that Lucy betray him for the reward and give the money to her father. Later, during a tryst in a hayloft, Polly warns Macheath that her parents are mounting an ambush. Macheath escapes with Polly's help after a swashbuckling fight, then hides in a back room of a tavern, where he is unable to resist socializing with the prostitutes, whom he considers friends. However, prostitute Jenny Diver has been bribed by Peachum and Lockit to betray him, and with the help of her colleagues, Macheath is soon captured. From his jail cell, Macheath urges Lucy to steal the jail keys and set him free, promising to marry her in return, but then Polly shows up and he is forced to introduce the women to each other. During the night, Lucy steals the keys and releases him, but later Polly sneaks back and, finding Macheath gone from the cell, screams in anguish without thinking, thus drawing attention to his escape. Meanwhile, Macheath disguises himself in the stolen cape and gloves of a lord and slips into a gaming house to avoid making good his promise to unite with Lucy. However, the proprietor recognizes the cape and alerts Lockit and Peachum about the impostor wearing it. Back at the jail, Polly is accused of freeing Macheath and is locked in Lucy's room, where Lucy, after losing track of Macheath, attempts to drug her. When they hear the recaptured Macheath being returned to prison, Lucy and Polly proceed to Macheath's cell and demand that he choose between them. He refuses, as he will soon be hanged and sees no reason to disappoint either of them. The next morning, riding atop his coffin as it is carted through the streets to the gallows, Macheath waves farewell to the friendly crowd that has gathered to see him off. At the gallows, after kissing both Lucy and Polly goodbye, Macheath is blindfolded and awaits his fate, and the opera comes to its incomplete end. The real Macheath, who is still in the jail, protests that he should not have to hang twice. After pondering the complaint, the beggar agrees and yells for Macheath's reprieve. The rest of the prisoners join in the chant and mob the turnkey, who comes to investigate the ruckus, allowing Macheath to escape. The highwayman steals a horse from the cart containing his coffin and when safely out of London, sings that his freedom has been returned because of a beggar's opera.
Just-married taxi driver Thomas Lesley ‘Tom’ Manning is led to an abandoned bomb-site by an eight-year-old girl who says that she has lost her dog. The kind-hearted Manning gives her his handkerchief to dry her tears. She then runs off taunting Manning as an April-fool prank. He stumbles and raises a fist at her – and this is witnessed by Mrs Zunz.
En 1893, Joseph Bouvier, ancien sergent d'infanterie réformé en raison de ses crises de violence, tire sur sa fiancée qui veut le quitter avant de retourner son arme contre lui. Elle survit et lui aussi, malgré les deux balles restées logées dans la tête. Esprit simple et exalté, nourri de slogans anarchistes, il devient vagabond à la suite de sa libération de l'asile où son geste l'avait conduit. Dès lors, parcourant la France à pied, il égorge et viole sur son chemin de jeunes bergers ou bergères.
Le président des Chemins de fer nationaux japonais est retrouvé mort pendant une période où le service ferroviaire est perturbé par de nombreux licenciements, grèves et fermetures. Le gouvernement affirme que le président a été assassiné ; la police prétend qu'il s'agit d'un suicide. Un journaliste perplexe suit l'affaire pendant des années, mais la question fondamentale reste sans réponse : la victime a-t-elle été tuée par des membres du mouvement communiste naissant au Japon, ou la mort a-t-elle été mise en scène par les autorités dans l'espoir de discréditer les communistes ?