The Trial of Mary Dugan (1941 film)

Plot

Released from a reformatory after two years there for stealing $500, Mary Dugan is advised by a friend there, Agatha Hall, to change her name. Mary decides to go by Mary Andrews and her friend Aggie becomes a showgirl, now called Irene.

Mary's father is hit by a car and killed. The car's owner, wealthy businessman Edgar Wayne, offers her a job. She eventually becomes his private secretary. She also meets the company's attorney, Jimmy Blake, and falls in love. But when Jimmy gets a job in South America, she can't marry him and go along because a birth certificate, required for a passport, would reveal Mary's true identity.

A year later, Jimmy returns because Wayne has been murdered and Mary charged with the crime. He dislikes the way attorney West is handling her case and volunteers to replace him. Wayne's widow testifies that Mary and her husband were having an affair. Jimmy proves that West and the widow schemed to kill her husband, who was leaving her, and make Mary the scapegoat. She is found not guilty.

Cast