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Plot
After Judge Roger Shaw finds a man guilty of murder and sentences him to ten years with no parole, a plan is hatched to get back at Shaw with murder by a gang of racketeers. John Ellman, recently released after being jailed by Shaw for ten years after striking a man that led to his death, is asked to take watch of Shaw for supposed infidelity. Shaw is shot and killed in his car with Ellman found at the scene of the crime (having heard the crash) and assumed to be the murderer; Nancy and Jimmy, a young couple working for Dr. Evan Beaumont, had seen the dead body being moved into a car, but are told by a mysterious man to keep quiet. Ellman is framed for the murder. He is unfairly tried (complete with mediocre work from Nolan for the defense) and despite the fact that his innocence has been proven, he is sent to the electric chair and executed. Beaumont (who had called Ellman's attorney about the couple) retrieves his dead body and revives it as part of his experiments to reanimate a dead body and discover what happens to the soul after death.
Although John Ellman has no direct knowledge of anyone wishing to frame him for the murder before he is executed, he gains an innate sense of knowing those who are responsible after he is revived; Nolan is appointed as guardian for Ellman, who is then given a settlement from the state of $500,000. Strangely, Ellman seems to sense that Nolan is his enemy. Ellman takes no direct action against his framers; however, he seeks them out, wishing to know why they had him killed. Each dies a horrible death, and in the end it is their own guilt that causes their deaths.
While confronting the last two villains, Ellman is mortally shot. Dr. Beaumont hurries to his death bed, and although pressed to reveal insights about death, Ellman admonishes, "Leave the dead to their maker. The Lord our God is a jealous God" (from Deuteronomy 6:15). As Ellman dies, the two remaining racketeers are killed when their car runs off the road, crashes into an electric pole, and explodes. The film ends with Dr. Beaumont repeating Ellman's warning about a jealous God.
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