Jail Bait 1954

At a police station, Marilyn Gregor Dolores Fuller learns that her brother Don Gregor Clancy Malone has been arrested for carrying an unlicensed handgun. Inspector Johns Lyle Talbot and Lieutenant Bob Lawrence Steve Reeves scrutinize the situation, and while Don is released after posting bail, the officials deny his request to reclaim his gun. The detectives grow wary, wondering if the young man might be tied to the ruthless Vic Brady Timothy Farrell, a gangster whose name keeps surfacing in the background of the case. The scene shifts from the bustling precinct to the Gregor home, where Don discovers a hidden revolver in a book and clutches at the last thread of control he thought he had. At the front door, he encounters his father, Dr Boris Gregor Herbert Rawlinson, a celebrated plastic surgeon whose calm demeanor masks a sharper instinct for survival. Boris heads toward the book safe and realizes the revolver is missing, a clue that will ripple through the coming days.

The action then moves to a bar, where Don and Brady reunite and split the spoils from a recent robbery. Brady reminds Don of the plan to hit the Monterey Theatre payroll, even as Don’s doubts murmur in the back of his mind. They break into the theatre under the cover of darkness, forcing the nightwatchman to open the safe. The tension erupts when Miss Willis Mona McKinnon tries to leave for the night; Don fires, forcing the nightwatchman to fall, and Brady fires again, picking off the fleeing Miss Willis as she tries to escape. The robbery succeeds, the loot vanishes, and the wail of approaching police sirens crescendos as the two criminals slip away. Miss Willis survives the attack and later identifies Don as the killer of the nightwatchman, tightening the net around him.

Brady steers Don toward Loretta’s residence, hoping to keep Don under wraps while the search for them intensifies. Don slips away and returns to his father’s office, where he confesses the murder. Boris urges his son to surrender, and Don agrees to do so, aided by Boris’ calculated aid to help him escape the immediate danger. The plan falters when Brady, fearing capture, temporarily separates from his partner and then drives Don back to Loretta’s place. They hear on the radio that both are now suspects in the theatre robbery, though Don remains the prime suspect for the murder. Don’s resolve to face the consequences deepens, but fear drives Brady to a brutal choice: he kills his own partner to keep the hold on the situation.

As Brady tries to buy time, he stumbles on a daring, though morbid, plan: to undergo plastic surgery and swap his face with Don’s to dodge the law. Boris agrees to help, with Marilyn assisting as a nurse, despite Brady’s distrust of them. The operation is framed as a careful, almost clinical procedure, conducted in secrecy while the clock ticks toward a fragile deadline. In the chaotic aftermath, Boris maintains a steady facade, stashing away Don’s corpse behind a kitchen curtain to prevent any sudden discovery. The clock continues to run, and the stage is set for a dramatic reveal two weeks later.

Two weeks pass, and the tension spikes as the bandages finally come off. The man revealed to be under the bandages bears a striking resemblance to Don, and those present accept him as the wanted murderer. Boris claims the man is his son, attempting to shield his family from the consequences. But the ruse collapses when the other participants in the operation—Brady and Loretta—see through the veneer. Brady, exposed and cornered, attempts to flee but is cornered in a deadly shootout with the authorities, ending his bid for freedom with a fatal plunge into a swimming pool. In the end, the tangled web of crime, loyalty, and deception closes in around the Gregor family, leaving the truth to stand as a stark reminder of the costs of crime and the price of trying to rewrite fate.