Intrigue

A charming French maid elopes with a professional burglar (much to his mother's dismay) with hopes of turning him honest. However, the burglar's fence (Karl) has his own plans for his favorite thief.

David Chesterman is kissing his family's French maid when his mother returns to their mansion. His mother immediately fires Marie, so young David counters he's leaving with her to be married. Snorting that she won't be at the wedding, mother trickles 60 cents from her purse to the floor for a wedding gift. Marie loves hot-tempered David, so she embraces the off-the-cuff proposal - and the immediate problems which come with it. David's friend Karl is charmed by Marie and eager to fill in jobless David's resume gaps for her: David is a professional jewel thief who served a year in prison. Karl, a Beverly Hills wigmaker, omits his role in David's profession: Karl cases his customers, then sics David on them. The older Karl's been divorced four times, so Marie's self-sacrificing love for David turns Karl's bitterness into a consuming jealousy.—David Stevens

A married man with a life of crime stands trial for murder. David Chesterman (Robert Redford) robs and knocks unconscious a woman, Mrs. Spaulding (Cordell), in her home. He is later caught by his mother Ethel (Flynn) romantically embracing French maid Marie Petit (Lampert), and when Ethel tries to fire Marie, David announces he is going to marry Marie. David and Marie visit his stylist and fence friend Karl Gault (Morse) and offers the stolen jewelry in exchange for $500 cash, though Karl flirts with Marie constantly. When they go to a circus, David gets into a fight with a college student (Rondell Jr.) over Marie spilling her drink on a girl (Thompson) and they flee back to Karl's. David sells the jewelry for a tidy sum and buys an expensive care, as well as paying back Karl. When they get back to David's home, his mother has left the country for Rome and had the electricity cut off, so David breaks in and they reside by candlelight. After a few days, Marie complains to Karl about David's frequent and prolonged absences and constantly shifting demeanor. Karl admits to Marie that David is a professional thief who served 12 months in prison. Marie comes home to David tending a gunshot wound, and she tells David about Karl's input and that she is leaving him while David tends to the wound. David convinces her to stay, and they get an apartment just in time to celebrate David's birthday, but David fails to keep a straight job when he gets into a fight with the foreman. Karl turns David on to a job of a corpse that is to be buried covered in jewelry, but David is caught trying to steal the jewelry. The body of the guard is found beaten to death, with David's scarf found nearby, but he proclaims innocence to Marie. Marie works at Karl's shop, and her hair is greatly admired by customer Mrs. Flingston (Houseman), but Karl tries to refuse Marie selling her hair. However, Marie takes the $200 offer as David needs the money. While cutting her hair, Karl confesses to Marie that he doesn't know what real love feels like. David and Marie start off for Mexico, but Karl calls the police on them, and David is arrested for the murder of the mortuary caretaker (Germane). Karl drugs Marie and, at David's trial, Karl testifies against David, which ensures a guilty verdict. Marie gets Karl to admit that he hates David and insinuates that he may have killed the caretaker. When Karl attacks Marie, she stabs him and flees with the help of a taxicab driver (Pope) to the courthouse. A reporter (Bokar) and photographer (Lamont) inform her that David has been sentenced to death, and Marie threatens to jump off a ledge to her death. David is brought to calm her, and he admits to accidentally killing the caretaker. He tells her to live for both of them, and she comes back inside so that they can embrace.