Manhandled 1949

Struggling writer Alton Bennet sits with psychiatrist Dr. Redman, Harold Vermilyea, and reveals a troubling pattern: he is tormented by nightmares in which he murders his wealthy wife. His fear intensifies as he describes Ruth Bennet Irene Hervey, the woman he married, who owns very valuable jewels and seems to be the center of a dangerous secret.

Merl Kramer, Bennet’s private secretary, Dorothy Lamour casually mentions Bennet’s problems to her boyfriend, private eye Karl Benson. She also notes that Ruth Bennet is due to drop into Dr. Redman’s office that evening for a session concerning her husband. Seizing an opportunity, Benson steals Merl’s keys and makes duplicates, then waits outside Redman’s office to learn Ruth’s address from clues posted in the car. He later visits his pawnbroker contact, Charlie, and shows him the jewels, hoping for a quick valuation. The pawnbroker, having overheard police radio chatter, warns that there’s a “murder rap hanging over this junk” and pays only a small amount, advising Benson to dispose of the rest. Benson spies a chance to secure the rest later and hides the jewels in the water cooler of his office.

Ruth Bennet is found murdered, precisely in the manner Bennet has been dreaming. The case is assigned to Detective Lt. Bill Dawson and Insurance Investigator Joe Cooper, who begin interviewing Redman while searching for the missing transcripts of Bennet’s nightmare conversations. Redman reveals a bump on his head from a park fall, suggesting he might be hiding something. The detectives grow suspicious when they learn that Bennet’s transcript records have vanished, and Merl’s forged references for her job with Redman come under scrutiny.

Benson works to tilt suspicion toward Merl, showing Dawson and Cooper her bankbook and insinuating that the recent large deposit comes from the Bennet affair. He then re-enters Merl’s life, intending to plant evidence and implicate her for the crime. Redman, realizing Benson has the jewels, confronts him; Benson had previously knocked Redman unconscious, causing the head injury and stealing the gems.

A tense arrangement unfolds: Benson agrees to locate the jewels and hand them over to Dawson and Cooper, in exchange for sharing any insurance payout. He heads to Merl’s apartment and then to the station, where he tries to influence the investigation. In a dramatic turn, Redman appears at the scene, demanding the items, and Benson hands them over. But once Redman leaves, Benson uses Redman’s own car to kill him, stoking the gears of a deeper conspiracy.

Back at Merl’s place, Benson hides the jewels in Merl’s chair and phones Dawson with a confident claim that he has found the loot. When Merl returns, Benson reveals that she is going to pay for the murder she’s accused of committing. A struggle ensues; Benson knocks Merl out and transports her to the roof in a bid to stage a suicide. The arriving police, alerted by Cooper and Dawson, intervene just in time to save Merl from a fatal fall. In the aftermath, Charlie is arrested for possession of the stolen property, and the web of deception gradually unravels as the case closes with Merl cleared and the true culprits exposed.