Don’t Bet on Blondes

Owen loses $50,000 on a horse owned by Everett Markham and investigates the loss. He discovers the horse was doped. This revelation drives him to pressure Everett to sell his horses and repay the debt.

Owen visits Everett and informs him that he will be selling his horses and must pay back the $50,000 loss. The confrontation establishes the leverage Owen now holds over Everett and foreshadows the financial game that will unfold.

Owen is inspired by the reputation of Lloyd's of London and decides to enter the business of underwriting unusual insurance policies. He envisions schemes that blend risk with personal lives, turning private decisions into profitable bets. This ambition launches the central premise of the story.

Everett persuades Marilyn's father, Colonel Youngblood, to take out a three-year policy against Marilyn getting married. Owen agrees to insure the policy, tying Marilyn's personal life to the insurance scheme. The policy's potential payout links love, money, and revenge.

Owen's men plot to dissuade Dwight Boardman by suggesting that marriage could harm someone with a weak heart. They orchestrate a plan to remove Dwight from Marilyn's circle and complicate the love triangle. The maneuver demonstrates how the underwriting operation weaponizes romance.

Marilyn begins seeing David Van Dusen, a development that unsettles Owen's plans. His operation monitors her relationships as part of the larger scheme. The romantic rival increases the stakes for everyone involved.

Owen's men go to the restaurant where Marilyn and Van Dusen are dining and pose as shady figures who know Van Dusen. One hands Van Dusen an envelope with money, another places a gun wrapped in a handkerchief. The intimidation makes Marilyn suspect Van Dusen and pushes her to break off the relationship.

Marilyn, convinced Van Dusen is a gangster after the frightening encounter, ends the relationship. She also notices Owen nearby, which deepens the tension between love and manipulation. The incident sharpens the collision between Marilyn's feelings and Owen's agenda.

Marilyn decides to make Owen fall for her and he does. She also becomes engaged to Everett as part of her plan to get back at Owen. The overlapping romances thrust Owen further into a moral and financial bind.

Marilyn's engagement to Everett proceeds, threatening Owen's $50,000 bet and highlighting his growing love for Marilyn. He tells Everett that he will not welch on the deal, even as he doubts Everett will marry Marilyn. The conflict pits heart against wallet as the plot tightens.

Marilyn's father begs Owen to halt the wedding and spare his daughter from harm. The plea adds pressure on Owen as he confronts the consequences of mixing love with insurance fraud. The moment heightens the emotional stakes of the scheme.

On the day of the church wedding, Everett does not show up. Owen steps in as the groom and Marilyn marries him in place of Everett. The switch completes the romantic reversal that the plan sought to engineer.

Owen's men pay off cabbies who had caused a traffic jam, clearing the way for the wedding to proceed. The last-minute hustle demonstrates how the financial scheme manipulates ordinary life to secure a desired outcome. The film closes on a wedding that literalizes the clash between money and romance.