A southern town is rocked by scandal when teenager Mary Clay is murdered on Confederate Decoration Day. Andrew Griffin, a small-time lawyer with political ambitions, sees the crime as his ticket to the Senate if he can find the right victim to finger for the crime. He sets out to convict Robert Hale, a transplanted northerner who was Mary's teacher at the business school where she was killed. Despite the fact that all the evidence against Hale is circumstantial, Griffin works with a ruthless reporter to create a media frenzy of prejudice and hate against the teacher.
Claude Rains
as District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin
Gloria Dickson
as Sybil Hale
Edward Norris
as Professor Robert Perry Hale
Otto Kruger
as Michael Gleason
Allyn Joslyn
as Bill Brock
Lana Turner
as Mary Clay
Linda Perry
as Imogene Mayfield
Elisha Cook Jr.
as Joe Turner
Cy Kendall
as Detective Laneart
Clinton Rosemond
as Tump Redwine
E. Alyn Warren
as Carlisle P. Buxton
Elisabeth Risdon
as Mrs. Hale (as Elizabeth Risdon)
