Sidney Kingsley's smash-hit play about the ugliness of life as seen from the squad room of a drab police station loses none of its claustrophobic intensity on screen under William Wyler's resourceful direction in this crime drama. Kirk Douglas is memorable as the cop who despises weakness and wrongdoing, only to find that his intolerance comes back to haunt him. Lee Grant and Joseph Wiseman were imported from the Broadway production for their showy parts of simple-minded shoplifter and dope-addicted three-time loser. But many others are equally good, including William Bendix (fellow cop), Eleanor Parker (Douglas's wife) and George Macready (despicable abortionist). Only the wet young lovers (Cathy O'Donnell and Craig Hill) are a pain, but at least the Hollywood censors permitted abortion to be retained as an issue.

Tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. An embittered cop, Det. Jim McLeod, leads a precinct of characters in their grim daily battle with the city's lowlife. The characters who pass through the precinct over the course of the day include a young petty embezzler, a pair of burglars, and a naive shoplifter.