Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Monday, June 29 - The Untouchables: The Tri-State Gang

The Untouchables: Season 1, Episode 9 The Tri-State Gang (10 Dec. 1959)

Eliot Ness and his team are brought in on special duty to deal with the Tri-State Gang operating in the Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania areas. They have been hijacking trucks and its leader, Wally Legenza, is quite vicious leaving no witnesses at the crime scenes. Legenza has a bad temper and he isn't too pleased when he learns that his top man, 'Big' Bill Phillips has a new girlfriend. This leads to a chain of events that eventually has Legenza broke and on the run. Desperation leads him to try and quickly get some cash and right into the arms of Ness and the Untouchables.

Monday, June 29, 2015

Sunday, June 28 - The Wrecking Crew

The Wrecking Crew (1968)

The count has stolen enough gold to cause a financial crisis in the world markets so I.C.E. sends in ace spy Matt Helm to stop him. As Matt works alone, the British send in Freya to aid Matt, but it seems that Freya causes more problems than she solves.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Saturday, June 27 - Lilies of the Field

Lilies of the Field (1963)

A traveling handyman becomes the answer to the prayers of nuns who wish to build a chapel in the desert.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Friday, June 26 - The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Greater Love Hath No Man

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Season 1, Episode 7 Greater Love Hath No Man (17 Nov. 1959)

When Maynard returns from a short hitch in the service and falls for Dobie's girl Pearl, Dobie decides to be Maynard's "Cyrano de Bergerac" and help Maynard get the girl.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Thursday, June 25 - King of Burlesque

King of Burlesque (1936)

A former burlesque producer moves into legitimate theatre and does well until he marries a socialite. After his divorce his former top singer returns from London to help out.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Wednesday, June 24 - The Unsuspected

The Unsuspected (1947)

"Genial host, renowned writer, art collector and teller of strange tales" Victor Grandison (Claude Rains) is the host of a very popular real life mystery/crime radio show. He is very charming, suave, highly intelligent and lives in a large mansion. He's kind enough to have 2 of his nieces live in the mansion with him, Matilda Frazier (Joan Caulfield) who is presumed dead at the start of the movie and who was to inherit a fortune, and Althea Keane (Audrey Totter) who lives there with her alcoholic husband Oliver Keane (Hurd Hatfield) and who is pretty much broke. A week after the secretary's suicide/murder an uninvited guest to Grandison's surprise birthday party arrives, Steven Howard (Michael 'Ted' North) who claims to have married Matilda a few days before she died at sea. At the same time Matilda shows up again, who isn't dead at all but survived the accident at sea and needed time to recuperate and get herself together again. This triggers a chain of events that leads to a couple more murders, and the truth behind Steven Howard's motives and of course, the identity of the murderer.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Tuesday, June 23 - Bachelor Mother

Bachelor Mother (1939)

Polly Parrish, a clerk at Merlin's Department Store, is mistakenly presumed to be the mother of a foundling. Outraged at Polly's unmotherly conduct, David Merlin becomes determined to keep the single woman and "her" baby together.

Monday, June 22 - The Clay Pigeon

The Clay Pigeon (1949)

Jim Fletcher, waking up from a coma, finds he is to be given a court martial for treason and charged with informing on fellow inmates in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Escaping from the hospital he tries to clear himself by enlisting the aid of Martha Gregory, widow of a service buddy he was accused of informing on. Helped also by Ted Niles, a surviving fellow prisoner, he gets closer to finding the answers he needs, and becomes ensnared in a grandiose scheme involving his Japanese ex-prison guard, $10,000,000 of US currency forged by the Japanese and a burgeoning crime network poised to wreak havoc throughout southern California.

Friday, June 19 - The Spider Woman Strikes Back

The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946)

A young girl goes to work as a live-in caretaker for a spooky old woman. She doesn't know that every night, the woman drains some blood from her to feed her strange plant.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Thursday, June 18 - Mandalay

Mandalay (1934)

Abandoned by her lover, a woman becomes the main "hostess" in a decadent nightclub, but tries to put her past behind her on a steamer to Mandalay.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Wednesday, June 17 - Route 66: A Long Way from St. Louie

Route 66: Season 4, Episode 10 A Long Way from St. Louie (6 Dec. 1963)

Tod and Linc, sightseeing in Toronto, Canada,make the acquaintance of a female jazz band. The attractive women are from St. Louis and are stranded without funds. Linc attempts to help them find work so they can afford passage to return home. Tod is not enthusiastic about getting involved.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Tuesday, June 16 - Crashing Hollywood

Crashing Hollywood (1938)

An ex-con, just out of prison, and his wife meet a screen writer on the train and decide that, since he's writing about crime without knowing much about it, collaborating with him would be better than starting a duck farm. Things get a bit sticky when the real gangsters show up and want to know how Hollywood knows so much about them.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Monday, June 15 - Thriller: Girl With a Secret

Thriller: Season 1, Episode 9 Girl with a Secret (15 Nov. 1960)

A newlywed bride must hide a secret about her husband's whereabouts. She is blackmailed by an eavesdropping maid and pressured by others to tell her secret.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Sunday, June 14 - Woman Hater

Woman Hater (1948)

Edwige Feuillere plays a famous actress, Colette Marly, who wants her privacy and is tired of men, in particular. On a bet, the "woman hating" Lord Terence Datchett sets out to prove that Colette isn't really tired of men. Although they've never met, Datchett sends a letter inviting Colette to vacation on his estate while he's away; when she accepts the invitation, Datchett then impersonates his estate manager and woos her. Colette finds out Datchett's true identity and sets out to turn the tables on him.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Saturday, June 13 - The Strawberry Blonde & Philo Vance's Gamble

The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

Biff Grimes is pugnacious but likable young man during the Gay 90's living with his ne'er-do-well father, noted for their scrappy personalities and quick tempers. Like every other young man in town, Biff has a crush on gorgeous and flirtatious 'strawberry blonde' Virginia Brush, who gets catcalls every time she walks past the all-male clientèle of the neighborhood barber shop. Biff is joined in his admiration by his friends, Nick Pappalis, an immigrant Greek barber, and Hugo Barnsfeld, an unscrupulously ambitious young man who doesn't let anything stand in the way of what he wants, including Virginia. Utilizing both fair means and foul Hugo sweeps Vrginia off her feet and frames Biff as the fall guy in a political graft schemee. However, every dog has his day, and eight years later Biff stands poised to take his revenge.

Philo Vance's Gamble (1947)

Private Detective Philo Vance (Alan Curtis) gets involved with a succession of murders and a mystery concerning the disappearance of an emerald that has been smuggled into the United States. The first victim is the smuggler, Jeffrey Connor, who intended to double-cross his partners, one of which doesn't appreciate Connor's intentions.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Friday, June 12 - Mantrap

Man in Hiding (1953) "Mantrap" (original title)

The mystery begins when Speight escapes after being found guilty of murder, and his wife, Thelma, believes he is after her because she is in love with another man and has changed her name. Lawyer Bishop and friend, playing a hunch, finds Speight at the scene of the crime and learns he is after the real murderer and not his wife. They shift through several men as suspects, all of whom seem to know his wife rather well.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Wednesday, June 10 - Limehouse Blues

Limehouse Blues (1934)

Fresh from Chinatown in New York, Harry Young has taken over the illegal import business in the seamy Limehouse district of London, where he cold-bloodedly disposes of rivals and runs a smoky nightclub. He falls for a low-class, white pickpocket, diminishing his pride in the Chinese half of his heritage and sparking the jealousy of the nightclub's moody star performer.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Tuesday, June 9 - Philo Vance's Secret Mission

Philo Vance's Secret Mission (1947)

Publisher Martin Jamison sends for Philo Vance as he wants to hire him as a technical advisor on the crime stories he publishes. Paul Morgan, Jamison's partner, regards the plan as foolish. Jamison tells his secretary Mona Bannister to bring Vance to his home that night and he will reveal the solution to the seven-year mystery of the killing of Sam Philips, former partner in the firm. Philips ex-wife, now a receptionist for the company, is alarmed when she overhears. As Vance and Mona drive up, two shots are heard and Jamison's body is later found in the trunk of Vance's car. And then I fell asleep. I don't know what happened next.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Monday, June 8 - The Port of Forty Thieves

Port of 40 Thieves (1944)

In this suspenser, Muriel is the scheming widow of the fabulously-wealthy Hartford Chaney III. Muriel's husband has disappearance under mysterious circumstances, freeing her to marry her playboy paramour Frederick St. Clair. However, Chaney's daughter from a previous marriage, suspects that her father has been murdered.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Sunday, June 7 - I've Always Loved You

I've Always Loved You (1946)

A beautiful young concert pianist is torn between her attraction to her arrogant but brilliant maestro and her love for a farm boy she left back home.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Saturday, June 6 - Supernatural

Supernatural (1933)

In New York city, Ruth Rogen is convicted of killing 3 of her lovers and sentenced to be executed. Meanwhile, lovely Roma Courtenay becomes a millionaire heiress when her brother dies. A spiritualist approaches Roma with an urgent message from her dead brother. He runs a rigged seance that doesn't convince Roma's boyfriend Grant but has Roma confused. Then unexpectedly, the executed Ruth Rogen's spirit takes control of Roma's body. Roma runs off with the fake spiritualist under Ruth Rogen's control. Grant desperately tries to track Roma down and return her soul.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Friday, June 5 - Wicked as They Come

Wicked as They Come (1956)

Poor girl from the slums Katherine Allenbourg trades on her looks. She enters a beauty contest, then charms the elderly gentleman running it, Sam Lewis, into fixing it so she will win first prize, a trip to Europe. She promptly abandons Sam. Changing her name to Kathy Allen, she is attracted to Tim O'Bannion, a passenger on the plane to London who works for an ad agency. But she's determined to land someone wealthier and photographer Larry Buckham fills the bill. Invited to use his charge account at a department store for a wedding dress, Kathy makes many purchases, pawns the merchandise and leaves Larry without a word. She gets a job at Tim's advertising firm and seduces the married Stephen Collins, who runs it. Tim arouses more passion in her, but Kathy's strictly out for herself. She demands Collins divorce his wife Virginia, whose father John Dowling owns the agency. Virginia tries to pay her off, but Kathy requests a transfer to the agency's Paris headquarters, where she immediately uses her wiles to get Dowling to marry her. Anonymous threats begin by mail and phone. Someone in the shadows begins stalking her. Kathy picks up a gun and shoots, killing her husband instead. No one believes her tale of a prowler and Kathy is tried, convicted and sentenced to die. Tim realizes that it is Larry who is behind all this. He reveals an explanation for Kathy's cruel treatment of men, the fact that she was brutally assaulted as a girl. Larry has a change of heart and confesses to stalking her. Kathy's prison sentence is reduced, and she hopes Tim will give her another chance once she gets out.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Thursday, June 4 - The Secret Partner

The Secret Partner (1961)

John Brent (Stewart Granger) may be a successful married businessman, but he's far from carefree. Blackmailed by someone who knows about his criminal past, Brent gets into even more trouble when a thief takes off with a fortune from the vault of his company. Now a key suspect in the robbery, Brent has Detective Frank Hanbury (Bernard Lee) on his tail, and is on terrible terms with his wife, Nicole (Haya Harareet). As the mystery of who robbed the vault unfolds, surprising revelations arise.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Wednesday, June 3 - Fiesta

Fiesta (1947)

Retired matador Antonio Morales is anxious when his wife gives birth, disappointed when the baby turns out to be a girl, then thrilled when a twin brother is born. He names them Mario and Maria. As the children grow up, Antonio's wife dreads the idea of her son facing the danger of becoming a bullfighter, particularly inasmuch as Mario has an artistic side to his nature, an affinity for music. Maria, meanwhile, becomes quite expert in the ring, taught by her father's right-hand man, Chato Vasquez. As a gift on their 21st birthday, Maria honors her brother by getting a copy of Mario's new music composition to Maximino Contreras, a famed orchestra conductor. Maximino, thoroughly impressed, pays a call on the Morales family just before Mario's first bullfight. Antonio prefers not to distract his son prior to entering the ring, so he promises to pass along Maximino's personal regards later. But he does not. Before a second bullfight, Mario is approached by Maximino, who wonders why he never responded to his previous invitation to meet. Realizing that his father ignored it, Mario angrily walks out of the ring, disappointing spectators and infuriating his father, who feels the family's honor has been disgraced. Maria attempts a ruse, disguising herself as Mario and confronting the bull. Her life is in danger before Mario intervenes, restoring the Morales family's good name. Mario is permitted by his father to pursue a life in music instead.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Tuesday, June 2 - School For Scoundrels & Washington Merry-Go-Round

School for Scoundrels (1960)

Humilliated in sport,losing his girl to a cad, and always taken advantage of - Henry Palfrey decides enough is enough and enrolls himself at the College Of Lifemanship to learn self improvement strategies.

Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932)

Button Gwinett Brown is a freshman congressman on a mission to rid Washington of corruption. He quickly runs afoul of the powerful Senator Norton, while falling for the granddaughter of the kindly senator Wylie. He then teams up with some members of the Bonus Army to foil the villains' plans.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Monday, June 1 - The Wild World of Batwoman & Ransom!

The Wild World of Batwoman (1966)

In this zero budget cheapie a busty Batwoman enlists her beauteous bevy of Batgirls (when they are not dancing the jerk) to help her regain a mad scientist's invention (an atom bomb made out of a hearing aid) before a costumed ne'er-do-well, Rat Fink, can glom onto it for his own purposes.


Ransom! (1956)

When his son Andy is kidnapped and held for ransom, David Stannard liquidates his assets to meet the half-million dollar demand. A casual remark by newspaper reporter Charlie Telfer makes him change his mind. Despite the pleas from his wife Edith and brother Al, and the resultant condemnation of the press and public, Stannard goes on a nation-wide television program, displays the money and warns the kidnapper that not one cent will be paid for ransom; instead the money will be used to track down the kidnapper if Andy isn't returned unharmed. The police then find the boy's blood-stained shirt.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Sunday, May 31 - Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1952)

At the fiftieth anniversary of his town's founding, the town's first barber recalls his long-dead, spirited bride and the flaw in his own character that helped bring about her loss and others.