Man’s Castle 1933

Well-dressed Bill Spencer Tracy takes pity on Trina Loretta Young, a hungry young woman he meets in a city park, and treats her to a dinner at a fancy restaurant. After she finishes, he informs the manager he has no money, and his loud protest persuades the manager to let them go. When Bill learns that Trina is homeless, he offers her a place in his ramshackle home in a shabby shanty town. Among their neighbors and friends are Ira Walter Connolly, a widowed former preacher, and Flossie Marjorie Rambeau, an alcoholic older woman Ira is trying to reform.

Bill is something of a wanderer, unwilling to settle in one place for long. Trina falls in love with him but wisely makes no demands that would trap him in their developing relationship. When she longs for a new stove, Bill earns the down payment by serving a summons on Fay La Rue Glenda Farrell, the star of a show. Fay isn’t offended; she wants him for a playmate. He is tempted but ultimately turns her down. Just as Bill’s restlessness begins to feel overwhelming, Trina reveals she is pregnant, and Ira presides at Bill and Trina’s wedding.

Before he heads out on the road again to support his wife and future child, Bill agrees to help their slimy neighbor Bragg Arthur Hohl rob the payroll from a toy factory where Bragg used to work. Ira, the night watchman, shoots Bill, but it’s only a flesh wound. Bragg, hoping to catch them, triggers the burglar alarm, but Bill slips away with Ira’s help. Back home, Trina dresses the wound and tries to keep the family together. Flossie suggests that Bill take Trina away with him to start anew, a solution Bill welcomes. After they leave, Bragg threatens to alert the police, but Flossie silences him with Ira’s gun, bringing the tale to a tense close.