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".

Charles Laughton
as Soapy (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")

Marilyn Monroe
as Streetwalker (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")

David Wayne
as Horace (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")

Dale Robertson
as Barney Woods (segment "The Clarion Call")

Richard Widmark
as Johnny Kernan (segment "The Clarion Call")

Anne Baxter
as Joanna Goodwin (segment "The Last Leaf")

Jean Peters
as Susan Goodwin (segment "The Last Leaf")

Gregory Ratoff
as Behrman (segment "The Last Leaf")

Fred Allen
as Sam "Slick" Brown (segment "The Ransom of Red Chief")

Oscar Levant
as William Smith (segment "The Ransom of Red Chief")
CinemaSerf
A compendium of five stories from the acclaimed US writer that are all quite entertaining. It starts off with a story about "Soapy" - a wily vagrant who decides that with winter coming, it's time to get himself snuggly incarcerated for the harsh weather. Who else but Charles Laughton could get that ...