Directed by Jo Graham and scripted by Fred Niblo Jr. and Hector Chevigny, You Can’t Escape Forever is melodrama, starring the ever-reliable George Brent.
The secondary cast includes Brenda Marshall, Gene Lockhart, Roscoe Karns, and Paul Harvey.
When reporter Laurie Abbott faints during an execution and phones in an invented story, as punishment, she is demoted to write the newspaper’s “advice to the lovelorn” column.
She objects and editor Steve Mitchell suggests that she quit and marry him instead. Laurie’s stint as a columnist does not last long, however, as she is soon replaced by Mitch when he fails in his attempt to link racketeer Boss Greer with the suspicious death of Matthew Crowder. Mitch turns the column into the most popular part of the paper.
Avid reader Kirsty Lundstrom demands to speak in person to the column’s writer. Pretending to be the writer, Laurie learns that Kirsty met a man at the Lonesome Club, who got into trouble with some “big shots” and died.
Mitch remembers that Crowder also met his wife at the Lonesome Club, and he and Laurie, alongside photographer “Mac” McTurk, decide to investigate.
The three arrive at the club, where a wedding takes place, after which Mitch gets a book with all the names of the people married at the club. Laurie observes some of Greer’s men loading a truck with tires. When Carl Robelink, the owner of the club and Greer’s brother-in-law, becomes suspicious, Mitch and Mac start a fight, and the three escape.
Laurie also learns that Robelink has a manuscript written by Crowder, which implicates Greer in graft. At Greer’s club, Mitch overhears Robelink and Greer quarrel. After Greer leaves the room, Mitch offers Robelink protection against, if he reveals the site of Crowder’s manuscript.
Learning that the manuscript is in Crowder’s coffin, Mitch, Mac and Laurie hurry to the cemetery, followed by Greer and his men.
At the cemetery, Mitch finds the manuscript minutes before Greer arrives and escapes with Laurie and Mac. The text offers the necessary evidence about Greer’s profiteering activities. Mitch breaks the story, and Greer is arrested by soldiers.
A new writer is assigned to the lovelorn column, and Laurie agrees to marry Mitch provided she doesn’t have to give up her career.
In the movie’s last shot, Mitch responds with a wink.
Roscoe Karns as ‘Mac’ McTur
Eduardo Ciannelli as Boss Gree
Paul Harvey as Maj. Turne
Edith Barrett as Madame Lucille
