Wide Boy

Benny, a black marketeer, and his girlfriend Molly decide to go somewhere new after his latest arrest, ending up at a bar called The Flamingo. The quiet bar becomes the setting for the night's activities and Benny's next scheme. This moment marks the introduction of the key players and the social backdrop for what follows.

Benny notices Caroline Blaine’s smart handbag and steals her wallet from the bar. He realises Mannering is the famous surgeon accompanying her. The theft plants the seed for the later blackmail plot.

Mannering and Caroline leave the bar after the wallet theft, with Benny and Molly following. They return when they realise the wallet was stolen. The barman George claims he has never seen Benny before, adding to the tension.

Back in his room, Benny finds £32 in the wallet and a letter from Mannering to Caroline revealing the affair. He decides to blackmail the couple to avoid a scandal. The discovery gives Benny leverage over Mannering and Caroline.

Mannering agrees to meet Benny and pay £200 for the letter, hoping to settle the matter quietly. Benny spends part of the money on a watch for Molly, a £60 gift that signals his opportunistic mindset. The arrangement sets up the next round of demands.

Benny calls Mannering again, asking for £300 as the leverage grows. As he heads to the meeting, he buys a gun, arming himself for what could come next. The escalating demands push the plan toward violence.

At the arranged meeting they swap the money for the letter. Benny falsely claims that he took a photographic negative of the letter and can use it to continue blackmail. Mannering tries to grab Benny during the tense exchange.

In the struggle that follows, Benny shoots Mannering, killing him. The blackmail scheme collapses into murder, and the immediate investigation begins. The body becomes the focal point for the police to start tracking Benny.

The police investigation quickly focuses on Caroline and then George the barman as witnesses. They locate Benny at his address, but he manages to escape and flee. He seeks help from a crook named Rocco to leave the country.

Benny goes to crook Rocco to get out of the country, but Rocco wants £400 for his services. Benny considers asking Molly to return the watch to raise the funds. The plan to disappear becomes a desperate race against time.

Caroline arranges an appointment at the hairdressers where Molly works, and Molly realises that Benny was the man with Caroline at The Flamingo. Caroline overhears a phone conversation between Molly and Benny about meeting at a railway bridge. The connections tighten the noose around Benny.

Caroline informs the police, who set a trap at a railway bridge. Benny arrives and tries to escape, but the net closes as law enforcement awaits him. The tension peaks as he moves toward the doomed crossing.

Benny attempts to cross the bridge to avoid capture, but he is pursued by the police. He slips and falls to his death on the tracks below. The pursuit ends with his demise as the backdrop to the final tragedy.