Joe, inventor in an American Small town of 1895 has problems with his new invention, a car, driven with a gasoline motor.

The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune selling clothes made of the material, but may cause a crisis in the process.

In the back country of South Africa, black minister Stephen Kumalo journeys to the city to search for his missing son, only to find his people living in squalor and his son a criminal.

When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog will be turned out onto the street.

Research chemist Barnaby Fulton works on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. One of the labs chimps gets loose in the laboratory and mixes chemicals, but then pours the mix into the water cooler.

A washed-up movie queen finds romance, but continues to desire a comeback.

Afterfive people die in crumbling Naples housing run by Northerners, the Southern relatives trek to Milan to sue for damages.

Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village. Fausto, the group's leader, is a womanizer; Riccardo craves fame; Alberto is a hopeless dreamer; Moraldo fantasizes about life in the city; and Leopoldo is an aspiring playwright.

A charismatic peddler from the Bayous finds his true calling in politics. Is he a demagogue in the making?

At New Mexico's Empire Zinc mine, Mexican-American workers protest the unsafe work conditions and unequal wages compared to their Anglo counterparts.

A dim-witted yet kind-hearted boxer, Terry Malloy, who failed to succeed unintentionally lures a man to his death after being tricked by a criminal called Johnny Friendly whose men pick of every man who has the courage to speak up to their crimes.

Three short stories based on radio competitions, all linked by speaker Gabriel and his fiancee. Two inventors who want to patent a piston and need money, a thief who answers a phone call while robbing and a child who needs to go to Sweden for an operation are the protagonists of these stories around the radio.

A scientist invents a pill to cure smokers of their nicotine addiction. However, when he makes his discovery public, he encounters strong resistance from the tobacco industry.

Staples, a successful plant operator, is brought in from Ohio to take an executive position at Ramsey & Co. in New York.

Hyacinth, a former matador who lives miserably with his nephew Pepote, receives a letter reminding him that, as agreed a few days before, he must participate in a bullfight to be held that same afternoon.

Train operator Andrea Marcocci has to witness the suicide of a desperate man who jumps in front of his train.

Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent.