Publisher Britt Reid employs his alter ego The Green Hornet to bail him out when a overzealous reporter, exposing a fake injury insurance scam, leaves Reid's newspaper vulnerable to a libel suit. A masked man in a black costume swoops down on a rope, strangling the reporter's source, and the reporter alleges the Green Hornet's behind the racket. Reid sweet-talks a luscious libel attorney, while The Hornet and sidekick Kato pretend to horn in on the racket. Al Hirt's blaring jazz trumpet backs the action.
—David Stevens