Five O. Henry stories, each separate. The primary one from the critics' acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells fellow bum Horace that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell. He fails. He can't even accost a woman; she turns out to be a streetwalker. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".
Director
Henry King
Fred Allen
Sam "Slick" Brown (segment "The Ransom of Red Chief")
Anne Baxter
Joanna Goodwin (segment "The Last Leaf")
Jeanne Crain
Della (segment "The Gift of the Magi")
Farley Granger
Jim (segment "The Gift of the Magi")
Charles Laughton
Soapy (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
Oscar Levant
William Smith (segment "The Ransom of Red Chief")
Marilyn Monroe
Streetwalker (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
Jean Peters
Susan Goodwin (segment "The Last Leaf")
Gregory Ratoff
Behrman (segment "The Last Leaf")
Dale Robertson
Barney Woods (segment "The Clarion Call")
David Wayne
Horace (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
Richard Widmark
Johnny Kernan (segment "The Clarion Call")
Joyce Mackenzie
Lee Aaker
J.B. Dorset (segment "The Ransom of Red Chief")
Richard Rober
Chief of Detectives (segment "The Clarion Call")
US
