Film noir, a classic film style of the '40s and '50s, is noted for its dark themes, stark camera angles and high-contrast lighting. Comprising many of Hollywood's finest films, film noir tells realistic stories about crime, mystery, femme fatales and moral conflict.

When a classified ad grabs the attention of Chicago Times editor Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb), he sends ace reporter P.J. McNeal (James Stewart) to dig up new evidence in the 11-year-old case of a cop killer: It appears that Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte) has taken a fall, and been wrongly imprisoned for the murder. Although hard-nosed McNeal is initially skeptical, he eventually believes that Wiecek was, in fact, a patsy. And although McNeal hits one dead end after another, the avid newsman never gives up the search for justice for the innocent Wiecek.