《无形的枷锁》是劳埃德·培根执导的电影。克里夫和查克一起从狱中释放回到社会，克里夫已经金盆洗手，此时他只想过上正常人的普通生活，但他无法抵挡查克的诱惑又重新回到犯罪团伙中，当他赚够了让弟弟结婚和买仓库做生意的钱后他这次打算永远从黑帮中隐退，但又一次他为了解救困境中的查克时，让他走上了不归路。克里夫·泰勒 (Cliff Taylor) 是一名前科犯，一心想要改邪归正，但自从假释出狱后，他发现由于自己的犯罪记录而很难找到并保住工作。克里夫的弟弟蒂姆很担心，而且越来越幻灭，因为他无力娶女友佩吉，并担心自己无法诚实地在世界上找到自己的位置。克里夫担心蒂姆最终会像自己一样过上犯罪的生活，决定帮助他找到钱安定下来。他告诉家人他找到了一份推销员的工作，但实际上他与前罪犯查尔斯·马丁和马丁的团伙团聚。他们组织了多起抢劫案。克里夫用从犯罪活动中获得的钱为他的兄弟买了一个车库，他的兄弟现在可以结婚了。任务完成后，克里夫决定退出帮派。一次抢劫失败，造成多人死亡后，受伤的马丁和他的朋友躲在蒂姆的车库里，强迫年轻人帮助他们，告诉他克里夫是这起拙劣抢劫的一部分。警方得知这伙人在车库里，并以同谋逮捕了蒂姆。克里夫设法为他的兄弟达成一项协议，使他免受所有指控，但他必须指认劫匪并作证指控他们。在警察到来之前，克里夫去见马丁，并告诉他必须逃跑，以避免被捕和可能被处决。然而，自从克里夫退出帮派以来，马丁的朋友们一直在跟踪他，看到这两个人在一起，就采取行动阻止他们逃跑。随后发生枪战，警方最终介入。克里夫和马丁双双被杀。随后，蒂姆和佩吉欣赏车库上方的新标志，宣传其为泰勒兄弟车库，并反思了克里夫的牺牲以及他将如何被视为“沉默的伙伴”。    

　　好莱坞在二次世界大战期间拍摄的最佳抗战宣传片之一。导演霍华德真实地拍摄了美国空军B-17轰炸机 “玛丽安”号及有关的轰炸药小组成员的故事，全片的“政治意识”十分鲜明，但并不影响故事的推展。编剧达德利撰写的对白精简有力，不少场面的安排反映出他对空军的敬意，战斗动作场面高精尖紧凑刺激。

Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson　　If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play La Morte in Vacanza by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.　　[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.　　To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.　　More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.　　(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)　　In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.　　(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)　　I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line The Weirdest Love Story ever told! (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.　　(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)　　See also the remake Death Takes A Holiday (1971)

二战刚刚结束，莉亚（英格丽·褒曼 Ingrid Bergman饰）作为战犯的女儿被美国联邦调查局相中，利用她对父亲罪恶的负疚和其父在纳粹阵营内的关系网络，深入调查纳粹首脑契巴斯（克劳德·雷恩斯Claude Rains饰），获得情报将其定罪。联邦调查员迪奥（加里·格兰特Cary Grant饰）在与莉亚合作的过程中，深深爱上这个迷人的姑娘。然而二人感情还是要服从国家利益，因此他将私情搁置一边，忍痛让莉亚成为契巴斯身边的女人。莉亚深深失望的同时，也在契巴斯的生活中充当了间谍的角色，处于危机四伏的环境当中。