Mary Adams, played by Cleo Moore, is the buxom blond protagonist in this film about a girl who steals $25,000 from her boss at the seaside restaurant she works in. She thinks her boss is a crook and stole from her dad back in the day. It is flimsy motivation, but she does it. She immediately confessed to the police, but won't tell them where the money is...she tells them to ask her boss where the money came from. The district attorney tries to get her to tell where the money is, which she refuses and gets 1 to 10 years in a women's prison...this works out to five years in prison. She works hard in the prison, cleaning, doing laundry, and helping others. The guards appreciate her good attitude and hard work, eventually allowing her to pick her work and she chooses the garden with the gardener.
She gets let out on parole early for good behavior. The priest tells her that the money she stole is cursed. She is constantly looking over her shoulder and decides to go away and start a new life. In her new life she catches the eye of a small time fisherman hoping to buy a new boat. She takes a new waitress job for the handsy Dragomie Damitrof who has a gambling problem, but not until she puts him in his place and earns his respect...and the job.
"Quite a dish, yeah?"-dockside worker.
"Root beer for everyone!"-Mary.
When her new boss looses everything playing cards...Mary decides to help him cover his bad check so he doesn't go to jail. She tells him he was nice to her so she will help him, she trusts him. She draws him a map to where she buried the money. She tells him to bring it to her and she will give him the $5,000 he needs to stay out of jail. Meanwhile Mary chain-smokes waiting for him to get back. He comes back and tells her the money wasn't there...she then thinks he took all the money.
"Cursed money will never bring you good luck"-priest.
Her boss has moved to a fancy new apartment building and is partying with his friends...seemingly on the money Mary did time for. She confronts him and they struggle which ends with Mary hitting him over the head with a bottle. The girlfriend tells her that Dragomie won the money off of a Turk...it wasn't her money. Mary remembers what the old gardener at the prison told her about roots and is able to find the money she buried...Mary immediately takes it to the local Sacred Heart orphanage and donates it in its entirety.
Then Mary goes and confesses to killing her boss Damitrof. Turns out the boss isn't dead and Mary really gets a new lease on life without the money.
This was a very moral film noir with the lesson about not keeping tainted money. Decent acting and Cleo Moore really lights up the screen.
She gets let out on parole early for good behavior. The priest tells her that the money she stole is cursed. She is constantly looking over her shoulder and decides to go away and start a new life. In her new life she catches the eye of a small time fisherman hoping to buy a new boat. She takes a new waitress job for the handsy Dragomie Damitrof who has a gambling problem, but not until she puts him in his place and earns his respect...and the job.
"Quite a dish, yeah?"-dockside worker.
"Root beer for everyone!"-Mary.
When her new boss looses everything playing cards...Mary decides to help him cover his bad check so he doesn't go to jail. She tells him he was nice to her so she will help him, she trusts him. She draws him a map to where she buried the money. She tells him to bring it to her and she will give him the $5,000 he needs to stay out of jail. Meanwhile Mary chain-smokes waiting for him to get back. He comes back and tells her the money wasn't there...she then thinks he took all the money.
"Cursed money will never bring you good luck"-priest.
Her boss has moved to a fancy new apartment building and is partying with his friends...seemingly on the money Mary did time for. She confronts him and they struggle which ends with Mary hitting him over the head with a bottle. The girlfriend tells her that Dragomie won the money off of a Turk...it wasn't her money. Mary remembers what the old gardener at the prison told her about roots and is able to find the money she buried...Mary immediately takes it to the local Sacred Heart orphanage and donates it in its entirety.
Then Mary goes and confesses to killing her boss Damitrof. Turns out the boss isn't dead and Mary really gets a new lease on life without the money.
This was a very moral film noir with the lesson about not keeping tainted money. Decent acting and Cleo Moore really lights up the screen.