| Director | Alfred Hitchcock |
|---|---|
| Budget | $1.2 million |
| Box office | $2 million |
Alfred Hitchcock (or a double; he is in silhouette) appears on screen to tell the audience that the film's "every word is true".
Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero, a down-on-his-luck musician at New York City's Stork Club, needs $300 for dental work for his wife Rose. When he visits the office of a life insurance company to borrow money against Rose's policy, he is mistaken by the staff for a man who had held them up twice.
He is questioned by the police, who call him "Chris" rather than Manny, and tell him that they are looking for a man who had robbed the insurance company and other businesses, and that he might be their man. Manny is instructed to walk in and out of a liquor store and a delicatessen that had also been robbed by the same man. He is asked to write the words from a stick-up note used by the robber in the insurance company robbery; he misspells the word "drawer" as "draw"—the same mistake made in the robber's note. After being picked out of a police lineup by an employee of the insurance company who had witnessed the robberies, he is arrested on charges of armed robbery.
Attorney Frank O'Connor sets out to prove that Manny cannot possibly be the right man. At the time of the first hold-up, he was on vacation with his family, and at the time of the second, his jaw was so swollen that witnesses would certainly have noticed. Of the three people with whom the couple played cards at the vacation hotel, two have died and the third cannot be found. This devastates Rose, whose resulting depression forces her to be hospitalized.
During Manny's trial, he prays the rosary after his mother urges him to pray for strength. A juror's remark forces a mistrial. While awaiting a second trial, Manny is exonerated when the true robber is arrested holding up a grocery store. Manny visits Rose at the hospital to share the good news, but she remains severely depressed. Still, it is said that she recovers two years later.