Henry Wilcoxon is a Wall Street lawyer. Sidney Blackmer of National Can sends him down to Washington to kill a bill that will guarantee loans to local canneries. When he comes back, he goes fishing and finds Betty Furness in charge of a closed cannery in a dying town. He returns home, where wife Evelyn Brent is happy with their life, even though she's carrying on an affair with Blackmer.
So Wilcoxon turns his assets into cash and disappears. Brent is accidentally killed by Blackmer's chauffeur, who covers it up with an accident. Soon enough, the conclusion is that Wilcoxon went bust, killed his wife and committed suicide; in reality, he's helped to reopen the Furness' cannery as a cooperative. They're about to ship out the first batch, when Blackmer shows up in town put the squeeze on.
It's a good set-up for the situation, which was proposed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in an interview; he was known to be a mystery fan. He asked if a man could disappear with $5,000,000 with liquid assets. There's a scene with Wilcoxon reading the result in a slick magazine. the first half is an interesting piece of work, with some strong acting by all hands; the second half turns into a more standard work of New Deal fiction, the type of thing best left to Frank Capra.
So Wilcoxon turns his assets into cash and disappears. Brent is accidentally killed by Blackmer's chauffeur, who covers it up with an accident. Soon enough, the conclusion is that Wilcoxon went bust, killed his wife and committed suicide; in reality, he's helped to reopen the Furness' cannery as a cooperative. They're about to ship out the first batch, when Blackmer shows up in town put the squeeze on.
It's a good set-up for the situation, which was proposed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in an interview; he was known to be a mystery fan. He asked if a man could disappear with $5,000,000 with liquid assets. There's a scene with Wilcoxon reading the result in a slick magazine. the first half is an interesting piece of work, with some strong acting by all hands; the second half turns into a more standard work of New Deal fiction, the type of thing best left to Frank Capra.