Souls of Sin

One day, William Button, a smartly dressed but down on his luck black promoter who is known to his friends as "Dollar Bill," enters his Harlem basement apartment and awakens his roommate Roberts, a writer, with a kick. Roberts barely comes to life as Mrs. Sands, Bill and Roberts' landlady, introduces the two men to their new roommate, Isiah "Alabama" Lee, a musician newly arrived from the South. Bill and Roberts complain to Mrs. Sands about crowding another person into their small room, but she tells them that he will not be there long because he is destined for success. Bill and Alabama nearly get into a brawl when Alabama starts tinkering with Roberts' typewriter, but Bill manages to diffuse the tension by asking the new roommate to play a song on his guitar. Soon after Alabama leaves the apartment to look for a job, Bill calls Roberts an "imbecile" for suggesting another one of his dumb ideas for a story. Bill then goes to a bar, where he throws a beer at a drunken patron who laughs openly at him for being so poor. When the bartender refuses to serve Bill until he shows that he can pay his tab, Bill starts a fight. The fight is soon broken up by Etta Mason, who offers to pay for Bill's drink. Later, when Etta visits Bill in his room, he is rude to her, and she leaves, her eyes filled with tears. Returning with a gift of food for everyone, Etta explains to Roberts that she has idolized Bill ever since she was young girl, when he used to give her dollar bills. Roberts knows that Bill has changed and is heading for a fall, and urges Etta to forget him. In his desperate attempt to achieve success, Bill takes a job hawking stolen jewelry for Bad Boy George, but the scheme goes bad when Bill botches a fur heist and falls in love with George's girl friend Regina. When George finds Bill and Regina kissing in a bar, a fight ensues and George winds up getting a severe beating. Following the fight, Bill takes Regina back to his apartment, where they listen to Alabama play his guitar. Regina is so impressed with Alabama's musical talent that she later takes him to an audition at the nightclub where she sings. Bill becomes increasingly hostile and, one day, tries to rape Etta. He then has an angry encounter with one of the men to whom he tried to sell a stolen ring. During the argument, Bill is shot, and as he falls to the ground, he shoots and kills the other man. Badly wounded, Bill returns to his apartment, where Alabama and the others are celebrating Alabama's new television show contract. Bill dies moments after he arrives, and Roberts is later asked to write a series of articles about his longtime friend.