A World War I veteran Sgt.James Allen (Paul Muni) is returning home from the war on a troop ship that docks in New York.The papers report heir heroic arrival: "SUNSET DIVISION RETURNING HOME TODAY." The soldiers are pleased to be at the end of bunk inspections.For his future, Allen is planning on using his military""s technical training to get "some kind of construction job.And Hitchcock also chose Oscar-winning Eva Marie Saint as the blonde heroine (to he studio""s and Grant""s surprise) - one of many such female characters in his film repertoire.On he day after Thanksgiving, while dressing up in his own authentic ""Santa Claus"" costume in the Macy""s employees locker room, Kris met another worker, impressionable 17 year-old Alfred (Alvin Greenman) from Brooklyn, who was a janitor at the store.He had directed two other circus-related films:The Show (1927)andThe Unknown (1927).After this grotesque film, Browning""s career was destroyed and would never be the same - he directed only a few more films through 1939 before retiring.