Set during the 15th century, the sorcerer Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) has been mourning the death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court) for over two years, much to the chagrin of his daughter Estelle (Olive Sturgess). One night he is visited by a raven, who happens to be a transformed wizard, Dr. Bedlo (Peter Lorre). Together they brew a potion that restores Bedlo to his old self. Bedlo explains he had been transformed by the evil Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff) in an unfair duel, and both decide to see Scarabus, Bedlo to exact revenge and Craven to look for his wife's ghost, which Bedlo reportedly saw at Scarabus' castle. After fighting off the attack of Craven's coachman, who apparently acted under the influence of Scarabus, they set out to the castle, joined by Craven's daughter Estelle and Bedlo's son Rexford (Jack Nicholson).
Pelias (Douglas Wilmer), misinterpreting the prophecy given to him by the god Zeus (Niall MacGinnis), usurps the throne of Thessaly by killing King Aristo and most of his family. The infant Jason is spirited out by one of Aristo's soldiers. Pelias encounters one of the king's daughters, Briseis (Davinia Taylor), seeking sanctuary in the temple of the goddess Hera (Honor Blackman) and slays her. Because the murder has profaned her temple, the angry Hera becomes Jason's protector. She, disguised as the high Priestess, warns Pelias to beware of a man wearing one sandal.
L'action se déroule à Medicine Bend, une bourgade sur les hauteurs montagneuses du Dakota. Attaquée par des Indiens, la personne chargée du télégraphe a le temps, avant sa mort, d'envoyer un message au fort McClelland. Le colonel Collingwood, le commandant du fort, envoie sur place une escouage dirigée par trois amis : les sergents Merry, Deal et Barrett. Un ancien esclave noir, qui souhaite s'engager dans l'U.S. Cavalry, les suit malgré l'interdiction qui lui en a été signifiée. Une fois arrivés à Medicine Bend, l'équipe ne trouve aucune trace des habitants et sont attaqués par les guerriers de Mountain Hawk.
La guerre règne entre Charlemagne et Agramante, chef des Sarrazins. Une trêve est décidée entre les deux adversaires afin de trouver un règlement pacifique du conflit. Agramante envoie Angélique, dans le camp des Francs pour semer la discorde parmi les hommes …
Italie, 1284. Durant la guerre opposant la République de Gênes à celle de Pise, le comte Ugolino della Gherardesca, qui commande les troupes pisanes, est battu à la bataille de la Meloria, victime des intrigues du perfide cardinal Ruggieri. Accusé injustement de trahison, le comte est condamné à être emmuré vivant avec ses fils….
In a small rural village with an African American population, a church group is holding a riverside baptismal service, and one of the faithful being immersed is the recently married Martha (Cathryn Caviness). However, Martha’s husband Ras (Spencer Williams) is absent from the service – he claims he was hunting, but he actually poached a neighbor’s boar. At home, Ras accidentally shoots Martha when his rifle drops on the floor and discharges. The church congregation gathers at Martha’s bedside to pray for her recovery, and during this period an angel (Rogenia Goldthwaite) arrives to take Martha’s spirit from her body. She is brought to the Crossroads between Heaven and Hell, and initially she is tempted by the slick Judas Green (Frank H. McClennan), who is an agent for Satan (James B. Jones). Judas takes Martha to a nightclub, where the floor show includes an acrobat and a jazz singer. Judas arranges to have Martha employed by the roadhouse owner Rufus Brown, but the angel returns and advises Martha to flee. As she is escaping, a nightclub patron mistakenly believes Martha is a pickpocket who robbed him. A chase ensues and Martha races back to the Crossroads, where Satan (along with a jazz band on a flatbed truck) is waiting for her arrival. The angel appears to protect Martha from the mob, who are driven away. The sign at the Crossroad is transformed into the vision of Jesus Christ being crucified, and Christ’s blood drips down on Martha’s face. She awakens to discover she is home and her health is restored. Martha is reunited with her husband, who has now embraced religion. The angel who took Martha on her journey returns to bless the marriage.
On the Northwest Frontier of India, circa 1880, contact has been lost with a British outpost at Tantrapur in the midst of a telegraph message. Colonel Weed (Montagu Love) dispatches a detachment of 25 British Indian Army troops to investigate, led by three sergeants of the Royal Engineers, MacChesney (Victor McLaglen), Cutter (Cary Grant), and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), long-time friends and veteran campaigners. Although they are a disciplinary headache for their colonel, they are the right men to send on a dangerous mission. Accompanying the detail are six Indian camp workers, including regimental bhisti (water carrier) Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), who longs to throw off his lowly status and become a soldier of the Queen.
In Victorian England, Florence Nightingale (Kay Francis) decides to become a nurse, puzzling her upper-class family. She travels to Germany to the only nursing school. The training is arduous, but she endures and graduates. When she returns home, however, no one is willing to employ her.
Jim Carter, a former stoker, takes over a fairground show, run by 'Pop' McWade, which depicts scenes from Dante's Inferno. He marries Pop's niece Betty and they have a son, Alexander. Meanwhile the show becomes a great success, with Carter making it larger and more lurid. An inspector declares the fair unsafe but Carter bribes him into silence. There is a partial collapse at the fair which injures Pop. Recovering in hospital, he admonishes Carter and we see a lengthy vision of the Inferno. Undeterred, Carter establishes a new venture with an unsafe floating casino, only for disaster to strike again at sea.
Les amours juvéniles d'un jeune séminariste, Jocelyn, et de la jeune et douce aristocrate Laurence, refugiés dans la montagne pour échapper aux révolutionnaires.