Plot

The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.

Mesmerised by the dark allure of the carnival world, rapaciously ambitious opportunist Stanton clings to supposed prophetess Mademoiselle Zeena to learn the tricks of the trade A catastrophic accident and pure chance favor Stanton and the unscrupulous, fake mind-reader starts using and abusing every woman who crosses paths with him, because he is bent on greasing his path to stardom as a spiritual advisor. In time, Chicago's gullible rich swear by the Great Stanton's unsurpassed psychic powers. However, when deceit, lies, and hubris pave the way to success, who can deny that there's no place to go but down?—Nick Riganas

Stanton Carlisle, having grown up without a family in a Christian orphanage; works in a traveling carnival. He finds himself fascinated by the geek, wondering how a person could end up so low, but he is most taken by Zeena's mind-reading show, and that she so easily dupes the crowd. When he learns that Zeena and her behind-the-scenes assistant; her alcoholic husband, Pete, once had one of the best acts on the nightclub circuit, in which they used a code to enable her "mind-reading", Stan believes that learning the code is his ticket to bigger and better things. As such, he tries to use his masculine charms on Zeena to ingratiate himself more fully into the act, while he, with an eye for young women, is actually more enamored with Molly; strongman Bruno's assistant; a fact which does not sit well with Bruno. In time, Stan not only learns the code from Zeena, but he also perfects the art of the "sell" i.e. the smooth talk used to pull the wool over people's eyes, largely using what he learned about religion while he was growing up. He and Molly then strike out, away from the carnival, with a new mentalist act; "The Great Stanton". In meeting Lilith Ritter, a psychologist, who is part of one evening's audience; he believes he has found a way to parlay the act into substantial money. But in Lilith, he has also found another of his ilk; someone not averse to larceny if it reaches her end goal.—Huggo

Stanton Carlisle is an ambitious carnie who plays scams alongside phony mentalist Zeena and her alcoholic husband Pete, working the crowd as Zeena pretends to read their minds. But Stan has no intention of staying with the carnival; he has his heart set on an upscale night club act.—ASCPL

Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power) was raised in an orphanage, after which he entered reform school, and then became a drifter, who works as a barker in a carnival. He is fascinated by the Geek; a crazy man, who performs by biting the heads off of live chickens, and who is paid to do so with a bottle of rotgut and a cot to sleep on. Charming and good-looking; Stanton spends much of his time casually romancing Zeena (Joan Blondell), who performs a mentalist act with her husband; alcoholic Pete (Ian Keith). Most of Stanton's other affections are directed toward Molly (Coleen Gray), whose boyfriend Bruno (Mike Mazurki) jealously tries to interrupt whenever Stanton is nearby. When Stanton learns of a former mind-reading act that Zeena and Pete had before they joined the carnival, he approaches them with the idea of reviving it, but he is rebuffed with the excuse that the couple intend selling the act to pay for their retirement. One night, Stanton accidentally gives Pete wood alcohol to drink, killing the older man, and leaving the younger man with a lingering sense of guilt. Needing to find a new act; Stanton convinces Zeena to restart the old act, and they do so with great success. Stanton and Molly fall in love, so they are reviled by Bruno and Zeena, leading to Stanton taking the mind-reading act on the road, with Molly as his assistant. Once in the limelight, Stanton remembers that Pete had once told him that the audience wants to be duped because it gives them a sense of hope, and this small truth empowers Stanton to develop his performance skills to even greater heights. With the aid of psychiatrist Dr. Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker), Stanton starts up an act in which he channels the dead relatives of high-class socialites. When one of his scams backfires, Stanton finds that his alliances have deserted him, so he instructs Molly to return to the carnival while he leaves alone, soon becoming a hobo with many other forgotten men, and then later becoming an anonymous lone bum, who wanders into a carnival requesting work. He accepts the only job offered to him; that of a Geek.