Looking for Trouble

A telephone line repairman in Los Angeles, Joe Graham, is offered a promotion but declines. He explains he enjoys solving problems on the road and prefers his current role. This sets the tone for his practical, hands-on approach throughout the film.

Joe and Casey, a new repairman with a knack for jokes, take over the night shift. They encounter odd things on their route, including discovering a corpse at their first assignment. The ominous discovery raises tension and hints at larger trouble ahead.

After their shift ends, Joe and Casey go for a drink and find Dan drunk at a casino. Casey learns of an imminent police raid and warns his colleagues and the casino owner, causing the raid to fail. The night ends with the criminals thwarted momentarily, but the tension remains high.

The following day, Joe and Casey are accused of tipping off the casino owner and letting the raid fail. To clear himself, Joe tells his boss about the earlier events and Dan's casino visit. As a consequence, Dan is fired from his job.

Joe has been involved with Ethel Greenwood, a switchboard operator. They split up after Joe suspects she is dating Dan. The rift highlights the personal stakes tangled with the crime plot.

They reconcile briefly, but the relationship hits another snag when Dan reveals how Joe was fired, leaving Ethel upset with Joe. The tension between respect for work and romance plays a major role in the plot's emotional arc.

Ethel starts working with Dan at a new company, which doubles as a front for a racketeering scheme run by George and Max. Their illegal plan relies on tapping into the investment company's lines for secret stock tips. Joe remains unaware of the full scope for now.

Joe and Casey are sent to investigate the investment company's malfunctioning lines and stumble upon the wiretap. Joe exposes Dan as he tries to break into the vault to steal money. They are captured by the criminals during the confrontation.

Bound and at risk, Joe uses a pocket knife to short the electric line to the local fire station to summon help. When that aid fails to arrive, Casey topples kerosene and a lamp, starting a fire. The second firefighters' arrival saves them in time, and Joe and Casey are hospitalized with severe burns.

After the failed robbery, Dan is shot dead in his apartment during a police visit. Ethel is there for their alleged Mexico trip, and is hysterical when the news breaks. A torn check with her fingerprints is found, tying her to the racketeering plot and leading to her arrest.

Doubting Ethel's guilt, Joe teams with Casey to locate Dan's other partner, Pearl Latour. They track her to Long Beach, where Pearl finally confesses that she killed Dan because of a money dispute and Dan's plan to double-cross Ethel. Her story implicates the wider scheme.

During the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, the building collapses around them and Pearl is partially buried. Joe and Casey manage to relay Pearl's final confession to the Los Angeles Chief of Police via an emergency line. The confession is recorded on a dictaphone, and Ethel is released.

With the case resolved, Ethel is released, and she and Joe attend Casey and Maizie's city hall wedding. Ethel encourages Joe to obtain a marriage license of his own, ending the story on a note of hopeful commitment.