Richard Arlen rolls into town. He stays at the boarding house of Dorothy Vaughan, mother of his old college pal, Andy Devine. Andy gets him a job making steel on the line he works on, while Devine's sister, Peggy Moran makes calf eyes at him and married Anne Nagel is more direct. This her husband resents. Arlen works hard and notices Devine's trick of throwing some buckshot into the metal. Devine says it's something he picked up from his father. Arlen runs some tests and convinces the head of the factory to let him run some tests to prove it improves the proportion of top-grade steel in the melt. But hiss assistant, Donald Briggs (who is the actual man stepping out with Miss Nagle) thinks he can take the formula to a competitor and sell it for a lot of money. To do this he lures out Miss Nagle's husband, bumps him off, and then gets Arlen to search for him while he steals the formula from Arlen's room. With the frame firmly set around Arlen, Briggs thinks he's going to walk away with a lot of money.

The Arlen-Devine Bs from Columbia and Universal are generally no great shakes, but this one is pretty good, with some nice comic bits, some shots of a steel mill in operation, and a plot complicated enough that you can't blame cops Thomas Jackson and Robert Emmett O'Connor for failing to figure it out. With Joe Besser, Wade Boteler, and Mira McKinney.

The comedy genre refers to a category of entertainment that aims to amuse and entertain audiences by using humor, wit, and comedic situations. Comedies are created with the primary intention of eliciting laughter and providing lighthearted enjoyment. They encompass a wide range of styles, tones, and themes, appealing to various tastes and audiences.

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The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

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The mystery genre features the investigation and solving of a puzzle, typically a crime or an enigmatic event. Mysteries are known for their suspenseful narratives, intricate plots, and the challenge they present to readers or viewers to piece together clues and solve the central mystery alongside the characters.

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Matt Morrison gets his old college chum Frank Stewart a job at the steel foundry where he works. Trouble quickly ensues.

Richard Arlen, Donald Briggs, Andy Devine, and Peggy Moran in Hot Steel (1940)

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Richard Arlen and Peggy Moran in Hot Steel (1940)

Richard Arlen and Anne Nagel in Hot Steel (1940)

Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, and Peggy Moran in Hot Steel (1940)

Joe Besser and Andy Devine in Hot Steel (1940)

Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, and Anne Nagel in Hot Steel (1940)

Andy Devine and Anne Nagel in Hot Steel (1940)

Hot Steel

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