... that being a gangster film and a satire of the film industry in this odd little film from director Christy Cabanne and RKO.
Brian Donlevy plays Broken Nose Dawson, a desperate criminal on the run. He goes to a plastic surgeon to get his appearance altered so that he can quit the rackets and retire with his ill gotten gains. After he recovers, he sends his associate to kill the plastic surgeon and his nurse and then kills the associate afterwards. Thus nobody alive can tie his new face to his old identity - BUT. The nurse who actually assisted the doctor quit when she learned who Broken Nose was and left town. Because he didn't actually kill the doctor and nurse himself Dawson doesn't know that this witness is floating around out there.
Thinking he is in the clear, Dawson takes the identity of Spencer Dutro III, goes to Hollywood, and claims to be a wealthy guy who is interested in breaking into acting. This actually gets him a job since the studio heads thinks that a rich playboy such as Dutro in the cast will drum up interest in the film.
But then some bad luck for Dutro/Dawson. The nurse he thought he had murdered is in Hollywood too, the girlfriend of a western star, and she recognizes him on the set. Her error is telling the studio PR man (Wallace Ford as Joe Haynes) rather than the police. Joe locks her in his office closet to keep her quiet, and arranges to have Dawson arrested on the set later that evening as part of a big PR stunt.
The part of the film between Joe finding out who Dutro really is and the arrival of the police that night rather sags, but where it succeeds is in establishing PR guy Joe Haynes and his girlfriend/actress as hideous self-involved human beings. Think about it - Joe is completely OK with leaving his girlfriend close to danger all day in the person of Broken Nose Dawson if it will help his career. So when the big finale comes and these two end up being taken hostage by Dawson, I really don't care or not if they make it out alive.
I mainly watched this for Wallace Ford, because Eddie Muller has always praised the guy's talent and this was the biggest part I've seen him have, with him normally playing supporting roles.