Klondike Kate (1943)

Molly and her troupe of dancing girls and "entertainers", sent for by saloon owner "Sometime" Smith, arrive in a Klondike mining town by train. Smith is out of town and rival saloon owner Jefferson Braddock signs the girls up to work in his saloon. Also arriving is Katherine (Kate) O'Day, with a deed of ownership, willed her by her father, to Braddock's saloon. She hires attorney and self-appointed Judge Horace Crawford to handle her ownership claim, but she soon sees that the deck has been stacked against her when Crawford works the trial as the judge and also the lawyer for both sides. She takes a job as singer in the saloon, replacing Lita both as star and Braddock's "favorite." Lita helps Smith win a crooked-and-staged game of "High Card" giving Smith ownership of Braddock's saloon. But Smith double-crosses her and she shoots him somewhat dead, and Braddock is accused of the killing, and is about to be lynched.