Alias Nick Beal (1949) on Netflix

Plot summary

Joseph Foster, a district attorney, wants to put the crime boss Frankie Faulkner behind bars but cannot touch him. When a case against Faulkner's underling Hanson falls apart, Foster tells Rev. Garfield, who runs the boys' club he sponsors, that he would sell his soul for a conviction. A stranger named Nick Beal then summons him to the China Coast, a café by the wharf, and hands over Hanson's account books, believed burned. Foster, who thinks himself incorruptible, takes them. His wife Martha learns how he got them and urges him to stay honest. A committee of friends that includes Judge Hobson, Garfield and Paul Norton proposes that Foster run for governor, and Nick turns up in his library with a check for the campaign.