A poor boy rises to power in politics.

Rick is pledging a snooty fraternity at college. He feels out of place because he's a poor kid from the wrong side of town and picks up extra money by fighting in the ring. He doesn't want his potential fraternity brothers to find out about his background or how he makes his money. Trouble arises when the rich, spoiled girlfriend of one of his fraternity "bros" comes on to him.

Wildcatter Johnny Maverick and his pal go to a town in oil country offering $25,000 to the person who brings in the first well. They find oil on the outskirts but have to sell a share to a promoter who hires Johnny's old enemy.

Joe and Casey trouble-shoot for the phone company. They try to prove that Joes's girl Ethel's boss Dan is a crook but are trapped by criminals and left in a burning building.

A boatload of Westerners is trapped in Manchuria as bandits led by Russian renegade Voronsky ravage the area. Seeking refuge in a fortified inn, the group is led by the boat's Captain Carson, who becomes involved with a woman who "belongs" to Voronsky. Carson must contend with the bandits outside and the conflicting personalities of those trapped inside the inn, as well as dealing with spies among the inn's personnel.

College co-eds struggle with the moral, societal and human aspects of romance.

Nona Brooks, former member of a stranded theatrical troupe, earns a temporary living singing in a café in Duakwa, British Rhodesia, Africa. The café owner is secretly in league with two foreign agents with a goal of making the natives restless. American explorer Larry Mason leaves for the jungle with his servant, Jeff and a safari. Nona escapes the café into the jungle but is followed by the agents as, unknowing to her, she is carrying a report of the agent's activities. She joins the safari just as all hands are captured by a tribe of natives

Warner Baxter plays the ambitious producer of a burlesque show who rises to the big time on Broadway. Alice Faye is the loyal burleycue singer who helps make Baxter a success. His head turned by sudden fame, Baxter falls under the spell of a society woman (Mona Barrie) who has theatrical aspirations of her own. She marries Baxter, then convinces him to produce a string of "artistic" plays rather than his extravagant musical revues. The plays are flops, and the woman haughtily divorces Baxter. Faithful Alice Faye, who'd gone to London when her ex-beau was married, returns to the penniless Baxter. She and her burlesque buddies team up to pull Baxter out of his rut and put him on top again.

After an astronaut space capsule is detonated in orbit, with the astronaut begging to be killed, a teenager couple finds a severed arm on a remote beach. The boy takes the arm home, where it becomes animate and the alien force which animates it soon possesses his mind as well.