Horace Vendig shows himself to the world as a rich philanthropist. In fact, the history of his rise from his unhappy broken home shows this to be far from the case. After being taken in by richer neighbors he started to exhibit an obsessive and selfish urge to make more and more money, loving and leaving women at will to further this end. This film's working title was Prelude to Night . Although S. K. Lauren and Gordon Kahn were given credit for the screenplay when the film was initially released, the WGA restored blacklisted screenwriter Alvah Bessie's credit. WGA's official credits for the film now read: "Screenplay by Alvah Bessie and S. K. Lauren and Gordon Kahn. Based on the novel Prelude to Night by Dayton Stoddart."