Wednesday, Dec. 30 - Uneasy Terms

Uneasy Terms (1948)

Before detective Slim Callaghan (Michael Rennie) can meet with prospective client Col. Stenhurst, he gets drugged, is ordered not to take the case by the colonel's step-daughter, and finds Stenhurst's dead body. So, of course, Callaghan investigates for himself, accurately predicting that several of the relatives will hire him. What he finds is a sordid history of murder and blackmail. Vernon Sewell's Uneasy Terms is a scrambled British attempt at American-style hard boil.

Tuesday, Dec. 29 - Checkmate: Lady on the Brink

Checkmate: Season 1, Episode 4 Lady on the Brink (15 Oct. 1960)

A woman with a troubled past is to testify as an eye-witness in a murder trial, only someone is attempting to make her appear mentally unstable so as to discredit her testimony.

Actually she already testified. The mental instability is theoretically to help with an appeal.

Monday, Dec. 28 - Murder in the Private Car

Murder in the Private Car (1934)

After Ruth Raymond (Mary Carlisle) discovers that her real father is railroad tycoon Luke Carson (Berton Churchill), she's kidnapped for her newfound fortune. Saved in the nick of time by oddball private eye Godfrey D. Scott (Charlie Ruggles), Ruth gets sent on a cross-country train trip from Los Angeles to New York City. With the help of Scott, her devoted boyfriend, John (Russell Hardie), and best friend, Georgia (Una Merkel), Ruth battles against an unknown murderer who's targeting her.

Sunday, Dec. 27 - Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

Baron Frankenstein is once again working with illegal medical experiments. Together with a young doctor, Karl and his fiancée Anna, they kidnap the mentally sick Dr. Brandt, to perform the first brain transplantation ever.

Saturday, Dec. 26 - Blindfold

Blindfold (1965)

When top-level scientist Arthur Vincenti (Alejandro Rey) suffers a nervous collapse, his military handlers fear he may be at risk of being kidnapped by a group of international terrorists who sell their victims to the governments of communist nations. Vincenti's psychiatrist, Dr. Bartholomew Snow (Rock Hudson), and fractious sister, Vicky (Claudia Cardinale), are drawn into a web of intrigue alongside the mysterious Fitzpatrick (Guy Stockwell), who claims Vincenti may already be an enemy agent.

Friday, Dec. 25 - Smart Girls Don't Talk

Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948)

The beautiful Linda (Virginia Mayo) strikes up a romance with no-good Marty (Bruce Bennett), the seemingly charming owner of a gambling joint. But it isn't long before she realizes that he has his hands in more sinister enterprises, including murder. When Linda's upstanding physician brother, Doc (Robert Hutton), finds out about the affair, he voices his disapproval. Marty gets suspicious of the ethical Doc and has him knocked off, prompting Linda to risk her neck by finally going to the cops.

Thursday, Dec. 24 - International Settlement

International Settlement (1938)

In Shanghai amidst Sino-Japanese warfare an adventurer (Sanders) collecting money from gun suppliers falls in loves with a French singer (Del Rio).

Wednesday, Dec. 23 - The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)

John Jasper, a brooding, moody choirmaster at a finishing school in Victorian England, maintains a secret life that includes frequenting an opium den. His tortured mind becomes obsessed with a young student, Rosa Bud, who is engaged to his nephew Edwin Drood. When she senses the intensity of Jasper's feelings, she becomes frightened of him and avoids his company. When the mixed-blooded Neville Landless and his twin sister Helena arrive at the school from Ceylon, Neville and Edwin take an immediate dislike to one another over Rosa's affections. Although they quarrel and make up, Edwin disappears, and suspicion logically falls on the quick-tempered Neville.

Tuesday, Dec. 22 - The Thirteenth Hour

The Thirteenth Hour (1947)

In the 7th of Columbia's "Whistler" series, truck-firm owner Steve Reynolds gets involved in a feud with a rival firm, and shortly thereafter is slugged by a masked assailant who steals the truck he is driving. The assailant runs down a policeman in the truck and leaves other clues pointing to Reynolds as the cop killer. With only a glove, with diamonds stuck in the thumb, as a clue, and while evading the police and other characters after him and the diamonds, Reynolds finally runs down the guilty party and clears himself.

Sunday, Dec. 20 - You Can't Take It With You

You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Sweet-natured Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur) falls for banker's son Tony Kirby (James Stewart). But when she invites her snooty prospective in-laws to dinner to give their blessing to the marriage, Alice's peculiar extended family -- including philosophical grandfather Martin Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore), hapless fledgling ballerina sister Essie (Ann Miller) and fireworks enthusiast father, Paul (Samuel S. Hinds) -- might be too eccentric for the staid Kirbys.

Saturday, Dec. 19 - Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Belligerent Ghost

Sherlock Holmes: Season 1, Episode 5 The Case of the Belligerent Ghost (15 Nov. 1954)

Dr. Watson returns to the Baker Street flat in a state of great agitation. He tells Sherlock Holmes that, earlier in the evening, he had attended a dying man in his final moments, only to see the same man in the street soon afterward, and be punched in the eye by him. Holmes is intrigued, and goes with Watson to check the dead man's lodgings and to view his corpse in the morgue. The detective learns that the man had been a watchman at an art museum, and that he had a previous conviction for counterfeiting. The next evening, when Watson returns to Baker Street convinced that he has seen the same dead man once again, Holmes puts the clues together and goes to warn Inspector Lestrade about an impending crime at the museum.

Friday, Dec. 18 - The Mystery of Marie Roget

Mystery of Marie Roget (1942)

Edgar Allan Poe's Paris sleuth, Dupin (Patric Knowles), ties a missing singer (Maria Montez) to a mutilated corpse.

...is that supposed to be funny?

Thursday, Dec. 17 - Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Texas Cowgirl

Sherlock Holmes: Season 1, Episode 4 The Case of the Texas Cowgirl (8 Nov. 1954)

A covered wagon from "Bison Jake's Wild West Rodeo" pulls up outside 221B Baker Street, and cowgirl Minnie O'Malley goes inside to see Sherlock Holmes. She tells the detective that she has found a dead man in her hotel room, apparently killed by a tomahawk that she uses in her act. At her request, Holmes and Dr. Watson move the body to a different room, so that Minnie can avoid a scandal that might cause trouble for her British fiancé. Then, when Inspector Lestrade arrives on the scene to investigate, Holmes proceeds to the business of solving the case. He has already uncovered the crucial clue that there is a second tomahawk at the murder scene.

Tuesday, Dec. 15 - The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: The Gaucho

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Season 1, Episode 14 The Gaucho (5 Jan. 1960)

Carlos, the suave son of an Argentinian general, boards with the Gillis family and immediately wins the fickle heart of Thalia. Dobie and Maynard plot to sabotage his success.

Monday, Dec. 14 - The Love Wanga

Ouanga (1936)

In Haiti, a black female plantation owner enacts a voodoo curse, and revives zombies for revenge on a white male neighbor, who has chosen a white woman over her for marriage.

Sunday, Dec. 13 - Lepke

Lepke (1975)

Tony Curtis stars as Lepke, head of Murder Inc., the syndicate that spattered the headlines of the day with blood.

Saturday, Dec. 12 - Springtime in the Rockies

Springtime in the Rockies (1942)

Broadway partners Vicky Lane and Dan Christy have a tiff over Christy's womanizing. Jealous Vicky takes up with her old flame and former dance partner, Victor Price, and Dan's career takes a nosedive. In hopes of rekindling their romance and getting Vicky back on the boards with him, Dan follows her to a ritzy resort in the Canadian Rockies, where she and Victor are about to open their new act. But things get complicated when Dan wakes after a bender to find that he's hired an outlandish Latin secretary, Rosita Murphy, which makes Vicky think he's just up to his old tricks again.

Friday, Dec. 11 - Dark Intruder

Dark Intruder (1965)

An amateur Victorian sleuth (Leslie Nielsen) meets a San Francisco socialite's (Mark Richman) monstrous twin.

Thursday, Dec. 10 - Nylon Noose

Nylon Noose (1963) "Die Nylonschlinge" (original title)

A group of stockholders holds a crucial meeting at an old manor house. Blackmail rears its ugly head when one of those present unearths a few corporate skeletons. Then the murders commence, as the stockholders are strangled one by one by an unknown assailant.

or...

A Scotland Yard inspector (Richard Goodman) tracks a killer of stockholders through the catacombs of a remote manor.

or maybe...

A company's stockholders hold their meeting at a lonely mansion. A mad doctor conducting experiments in the mansion starts to strangle them one at a time with a nylon noose. The survivors must figure out a way to stop him.

...none of the above?

Wednesday, Dec. 9 - Shadowed

Shadowed (1946)

Fred J. Johnson (Lloyd Corrigan) scores a hole-in-one but his next drive, using the lucky, initialed golf ball, soars out of bounds and lands near a spot where some counterfeiters are burying a murder victim. Then begins a series of events in which he is hounded and threatened by the killers. The consequences of his not reporting what he saw to the police lead to a climax in which is daughter is held hostage by the crooks.

Tuesday, Dec. 8 - I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948)

A husband and wife dancing team down on their luck finds some money that gets them into a lot of trouble - and the husband on death row for murder. His one pair of shoes condemns him. After an open-and-shut trial and conviction, the wife ends up taking on his case herself as the clock ticks toward his execution.

Monday, Dec. 7 - The Untouchables: Three Thousand Suspects

The Untouchables: Season 1, Episode 23 Three Thousand Suspects (24 Mar. 1960)

Just as a prisoner is about to turn stool pigeon, he is shot by someone on the inside. So Ness transfers a con from another prison to find the killer.

Sunday, Dec. 6 - Cavalcade

Cavalcade (1933)

A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic and the Great War.

Saturday, Dec. 5 - Esther Waters & The Ring

Sin of Esther Waters (1948) "Esther Waters" (original title)

Esther goes into service in Victorian England, only to be seduced by the sweet talking groom William, who then takes off with his employer's daughter. Left alone to bring up the child, Esther manages and after 7 years has a chance at happiness. Then William turns up again.

The Ring (1952)

Teenager Tommy Cantanios (Lalo Rios) is tired of being treated like a second-class citizen because he is Mexican-American. When one too many bigots takes a shot at him, Cantanios decides to fight back, finding in the process that he has a gift for boxing. Utilizing his newfound skill, Cantanios becomes a professional boxer with the help of his manager, Pete Ganusa (Gerald Mohr), and trainer, Freddy Jack (Robert Osterloh). However, Cantanios still struggles to find genuine respect as a person.

Friday, Dec. 4 - No Man's Woman

No Man's Woman (1955)

A greedy, scheming woman is found murdered in her art studio, and the police find that there is no shortage of suspects who wanted to see her dead--among them a rich husband she wouldn't divorce unless he paid her a huge settlement, a lover she caused to be fired from his job and an assistant whose fiancé she tried to seduce.

Thursday, Dec. 3 - Hell's Highway

Hell's Highway (1932)

Chain gang prisoners forced to construct a "liberty highway" for their overseer chasten under his brutal stewardship, causing Duke Ellis to mastermind a mass riot.

Wednesday, Dec. 2 - Martin Kane: The Comic Strip Killer

Martin Kane: Season 4, Episode 25 The Comic Strip Killer (23 Apr. 1953)

The artist of a comic strip bases his latest story on an unsolved murder mystery where he claims he will provide the identity of the killer in the last cartoon. Before he inks the denouement, the cartoonist is murdered and Kane, who had urged him to abandon the project and provide his evidence to the police, feels obliged to solve both crimes.

Tuesday, Dec. 1 - The Great Profile

The Great Profile (1940)

John Barrymore stars as Evans Garrick, a renowned thespian with a lust for the bottle. After disappearing on a three-day bender, Garrick finds himself dropped by his movie studio, his agent (Gregory Ratoff), and his wife (Mary Beth Hughes) on the same evening. Luckily, fortune shines on the aging actor in the form of an inexperienced playwright (Anne Baxter) who provides him with a play and, more importantly, the financing to put it on. The girl’s script stinks on ice, but Garrick turns the show into a sensation by getting blotto on opening night and terrorizing the rest of the cast with explosive ad-libs.

Monday, Nov. 30 - Route 66: 93 Percent in Smiling

Route 66: Season 4, Episode 12 93 Percent in Smiling (20 Dec. 1963)

Tod and Linc are in Erie Canal,New York working in construction and living in a "mobile home court". Their know-it-all neighbor, who has moved his family to various cities because he cannot hold a job, suffers when his baby son disappears. Linc, playing detective, finds out the man's other two children are the cause.