Angels over Broadway (1940)

Ben Hecht's melodrama stars John Qualen as Charles Engle, a small-time businessman threatened with exposure for embezzling $3,000 for his free-spending wife. Deciding on suicide, he scribbles a note, stuffs it in his pocket and goes for one last night on the town. Free with his money, he's pulled into a poker game by conman Bill O'Brien and singer Nina Barone with three tough gamblers. But when they discover the dropped note, they resolve, with the help of failed Broadway writer Eugene Gibbons to turn the tables on the gamblers, get Engle his $3,000 and save his life and reputation.