Monday, Jan. 30 - Route 66: The Cruelest Sea of All

Route 66 (1960–1964): The Cruelest Sea of All (Season 3 Episode 25 - aired 5 April 1963)

Tod and Linc are in Crystal River, Florida working at Weeki Wachee "the Spring of Live Mermaids". Tod is the only "merman" amongst 30 "mermaids" entertaining tourists. He meets an odd newcomer. She is a tireless swimmer with abnormal lung capacity and a murky background. Tod wonders is it all a put-on or is she a real mermaid?

Sunday, Jan. 29 - Delightfully Dangerous

Delightfully Dangerous (1945)

Sherry is a student at a musical school who yearns for a career on the stage, like her elder sister Jo. But the fat is in the fire when Sherry travels to New York to see her sister on the stage, and finds out that she's not a top Broadway actress, but "Bubbles Barton" the burlesque queen. When the siblings meet theatrical impresario Arthur Hale, he makes them both stars, and falls for Josephine in the process.

Saturday, Jan. 28 - Skirts Ahoy

Skirts Ahoy! (1952)

Unlucky in love, three women (Esther Williams, Joan Evans, Vivian Blaine) join the WAVES to see the world and meet men.

Three friends have had too many man troubles. Society girl Whitney Young had planned to marry, but left her fiancé at the altar. On the other hand, timid small towner Mary Kate Yarbrough was jilted on her wedding day, while brassy Brooklynite Una Yancy hopes to find a husband. They decide to join the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the United States Naval Reserve. They spend ten weeks of training in boot camp, checking out every eligible male and eventually each decides on a sailor to pursue.

Friday, Jan. 27 - Wife, Husband and Friend

Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)

The title characters of Wife, Husband, and Friend are Loretta Young, Warner Baxter and Binnie Barnes. Although given Binnie's actions in the film the characterization is open to interpretation.

Loretta and Warner are the proverbial happily married upper middle class couple, he in the contracting business and she the socialite with a dream of being a concert singer. Seems to be a hereditary thing, Loretta's mother Helen Westley had similar ambitions to the chagrin of her father George Barbier.

Baxter tries to humor her, but that only encourages and his humoring becomes an expensive proposition. Enter real opera singer Binnie Barnes who accidentally discovers its Baxter who's got the voice in the family. Baxter also attracts her in other ways. In the meantime Loretta's got Cesar Romero, a pianist buzzing around her hive.

Thursday, Jan. 26 - Woman in the Shadows

Woman in the Dark (1934)

Released from prison on parole, John Bradley plans to live alone quietly in a cabin in the country. He is visited there by the Sheriff's daughter Helen Grant, on whose account he had got into a fight and killed a man in the past. While he is trying to persuade her to leave, a beautiful disheveled woman in evening dress bursts in. This is Louise Loring, who has run away on foot from her rich protector, Tony Robson.

With a sidekick, Robson pursues her and the sidekick shoots Bradley's dog. Bradley knocks out the sidekick and Robson reports this to the local sheriff, who wants Bradley back in jail. Tipped off by Helen, Bradley and Louise flee to the New York flat of an old cellmate, Tommy Logan, and there fall in love.

Traced by the police, Bradley escapes with a bullet in his shoulder. Meanwhile Robson has charged Louise with theft in order to trace her and then tries to persuade her to go back to him. Since he is of a vindictive nature and she suspects him of trying to harm Bradley further, she agrees. Bradley arrives with Tommy Logan for a showdown just as Robson decides to murder his sidekick so as to worsen the case against Bradley. The two burst in and expose his plot at the last moment.

Wednesday, Jan. 25 - Calling Bulldog Drummond

Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951)

After three robberies are pulled off with military precision, Inspector McIver (Charles Victor) asks Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (Walter Pidgeon) to give Scotland Yard a hand. As an ex-officer, Drummond knows how the suspected military mastermind would think. He agrees, though he very reluctantly accepts Sergeant Helen Smith (Margaret Leighton) of Special Branch as his partner, believing that women are not cut out for that sort of undercover work.

Drummond arranges to get caught cheating at poker at his London club so he can drop out of sight. Smith causes a minor car accident involving Arthur Gunns (Robert Beatty), suspected of being in the gang. Gunns' attraction to Smith and carefully planted evidence showing "Joe Crandall" and "Lily Ross" to be criminals themselves enables the pair to infiltrate the gang.

Drummond's friend Algernon Longworth (David Tomlinson), who has been kept in the dark about the whole matter, becomes convinced that all is not what it seems. He telephones Colonel Webson (Bernard Lee), a member of Drummond's club, to get him to postpone Drummond's disciplinary meeting. By so doing, he inadvertently tips off the secret leader of the gang. Drummond and Smith are taken prisoner.

Gunns' girlfriend Molly (Peggy Evans) convinces him to go ahead with the latest planned robbery, enough to set them up for life, despite the police having been put on alert by Drummond. She masquerades as Smith to give phony information to Longworth to pass along to the police regarding the target of the theft. Afterward, Longworth is tied up as well.

The gang steals £500,000 in gold being delivered by airplane. Drummond is able to overpower the guard and his friends before the gang returns. He knocks out Gunns (who has locked up and gassed his unsuspecting confederates nearly to death to avoid sharing the loot). Webson shows up and holds Drummond at gunpoint; he explains he got into the racket because civilian life turned out to be unbearably boring. The police arrive just in time and take him into custody.

Tuesday, Jan. 24 - The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre: The Man at the Carlton Tower

The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1960–1965): The Man at the Carlton Tower (Season 2 Episode 2 - aired July 1961)

This one opens with noir photography as Nigel Green drills out a safe and makes a jewel haul; but he kills a policeman making his getaway. Green has left no clues except his modus operandi. The frustrated Detective Superintendent (Allan Cuthbertson) calls in a retired cop (Lee Montague) who stays at the Carleton Tower because he too sought Green a year or so ago before leaving the force. Montague's character is rather high pressure at times or perhaps he was overacting. I didn't quite connect with all of his performance. At any rate, he takes up the reins of the investigation. He encounters Alfred Burke, who once was either a friend or enemy of Green, perhaps both. Then he encounters Green's wife, Maxine Audley, who knows who he is and says she hates her husband and wants to cooperate. Is this true, or is she some sort of femme fatale?

And so it goes with ambiguity pursuing Montague and he attempting to find Green. In fact, he starts getting more clues than Green has ever dropped before, leading him to wonder if he should invert all his logic.

Monday, Jan. 23 - The Defense Rests

The Defense Rests (1934)

Lawyer Matthew Mitchell is a brilliant, egotistical criminal defender who uses a wide assortment of legal tricks and an uncanny awareness of human nature to get his clients acquitted. Even Mitchell's usual opponent, district attorney James Randolph, admits that his reputation is such that the newspapers print the extras announcing an acquittal before the verdict is in on his cases. Joan Hayes, Mitchell's assistant and a lawyer herself, is disgusted by his underhanded tactics, especially in the case of Mabel Wilson. Mabel was arrested for the shooting death of her lover, gambling ship owner Ballou, and even though she is not guilty, Mitchell has her testify that she killed Ballou in self-defense when he abused her while she was drunk. Mitchell instructs Mabel to cry and show the jury her legs, and the tricks succeed in winning her an acquittal. Joan sharply criticizes Mitchell, telling him that his legal maneuvering has resulted in the unknown murderer going free. He responds, however, that it is the police's business to capture criminals, but it is his job to free them. Determined to find the killer and prove Mitchell's wrongdoing, Joan begins her own investigation into Ballou's death and discovers that the murder weapon belongs to Ballou's partner, Gentry. When Joan presents the evidence to Mitchell and threatens to have him arrested for perjury if he does not end his practice, he scoffs at her and tells her to go to Randolph with her findings. Mitchell's underworld connections then pressure him to defend a notorious kidnapper named Cooney, and, enticed by Cooney's offer of a $50,000 fee, Mitchell agrees. Even the pleas of Mrs. Evans, whose four-year-old child was returned to her dead after she paid Cooney a ransom, do not dissuade Mitchell from taking the case. The trial goes well, and just as it appears that Mitchell will win, the desperate Mrs. Evans commits suicide in his office to protest his defense of her child's killer. Shaken to the core, Mitchell finally realizes how morally suspect his law practice has been. Joan discovers that the money with which Cooney paid Mitchell's retainer is the marked ransom money, and Mitchell secretly gives this evidence to the district attorney after he resigns as Cooney's lawyer. Cooney is then convicted without Mitchell's gangster connections knowing of his involvement. Back at his office, Mitchell tells Joan to prosecute him for perjury in Mabel's case, but the enterprising Joan, who has fallen in love with Mitchell despite her antipathy for his ethics, has a different plan in mind. She proposes that he marry her, and then, as his wife, she cannot be compelled to testify against him. Mitchell realizes that he loves her and, agreeing to change his ways, happily accepts her proposal. The case of Ballou's murder is also solved when Gentry's guilt is revealed and he is killed by Ballou's allies.

Sunday, Jan. 22 - The Divorce of Lady X

The Divorce of Lady X (1938)

Trapped in London due to the fog, lawyer Everard Logan (Laurence Olivier) grudgingly allows the use of his hotel sitting room by a stranded partygoer, Leslie Steele (Merle Oberon). Charmed by Leslie even after she tricks him into giving up his bedroom and pajamas, Everard becomes infatuated, despite his suspicion that she is married. When Lord Mere (Ralph Richardson) engages Everard to file for divorce against his wife, who met a man at the hotel, Everard fears he may be the "other" man (actually, he assumes he is the "other" man).

Saturday, Jan. 21 - The Little Foxes

The Little Foxes (1941)

Ben and Oscar devise an investment scheme to build a cotton mill in their small Southern town and exploit the poverty and cheap labor in the area. But in need of $75,000, they ask Regina to talk her estranged husband Horace into becoming a partner on the deal. Regina invites Horace to return home, and the conspiring, villainy and back-stabbing begin.

Friday, Jan. 20 - Thriller: Letter to a Lover

Thriller (1960–1962): Letter to a Lover (Season 2 Episode 8 - aired 13 November 1961)

After the murder of a London doctor, emotionally disturbed Sylvia Lawrence secretly sends a letter to her ex-lover Donald revealing that her husband Andrew is holding her a virtual prisoner at their remote vacation home; Andrew claims to be protecting her but what is he really hiding? And why is he being blackmailed by the late doctor's nurse? And why question marks? Why not just tell us what happens for crissakes!

Thursday, Jan. 19 - The Silent Call

The Silent Call (1961)

When young Guy Brancato's parents have to move from Elko, Nevada to Los Angeles, California, they are unable to take Guy's dog Pete. Guy is angry at his parents and even more distressed when he learns that Pete has run away from the neighbor who was tending him. But Pete has plans to travel to Los Angeles on his own.

Wednesday, Jan. 18 - Thriller: The Last of the Sommervilles

Thriller (1960–1962): The Last of the Sommervilles (Season 2 Episode 7 - aired 6 November 1961)

Phyllis Thaxter plays Ursula Sommerville, a seemingly dutiful servant to wealthy but eccentric Celia Sommerville (played by Martita Hunt), but in fact is a Sommerville herself, a few times removed, and the sole heir to Celia's fortune. When Celia's nephew Rutherford (played by Peter Walker) comes to visit trying to secure some money, his hopes are dashed, but this gives Ursula the idea to use him in a clever scheme to kill Celia in what will look like an accident. The plan works, but someone finds out about it, forcing them to plan another accident...

Tuesday, Jan. 17 - Party Wire

Party Wire (1935)

Party Wire is a quaint mixture of comedy and drama as small town gossip plays havoc with an innocent girl's life through a misunderstanding when her father exchanges a questionable phone conversation with her boyfriend. The boyfriend says he's leaving town, while the father threatens him with a gun and tells him he has to "straighten out the mess you left my daughter in." Naturally, the town gossips jump to the wrong conclusion and all hell breaks loose.

Heir to a dairy farm in a small farming community, Matthew Putnam (Victor Jory) returns home to care for his ailing aunt and is surprised to see how childhood friend Marge Oliver (Jean Arthur) has grown ("up and out", as they say). Jealous of Matt's wealth and success, Marge's boyfriend Roy goes to New York to make his career. When Marge has difficulties with Roy's accounting work, Matt (no, no, not Matt - the father phones. See above.) telephones him and demands he return, unaware that the town gossips are listening in on the party line and misinterpreting everything.

Monday, Jan. 16 - Urge to Kill

Urge to Kill (1960)

While making her way home from the cinema one night in a particularly grey and drab town, a young woman is murdered in an unusually brutal and sadistic manner. Local suspicion immediately falls on Hughie (Knapp), a strangely behaved and not very bright local youth who has a habit of wandering aimlessly around the town at all hours randomly collecting stray bits and pieces, with a particular fondness for broken glass – which unfortunately for Hughie happens to have been one of the weapons used in the fatal attack.

Hughie lives in the lodging house run by his aunt (Dunning), along with a selection of boarders including a kindly elderly gent with a penchant for Bible-bashing (Wilfrid Brambell) and a smooth-talking ladies man (Howard Pays). Hughie is questioned by the police, but Superintendent Allen (Barr) releases him as there is no firm evidence against him. A few days later another girl is killed in the town, and the locals make up their minds that Hughie is responsible and launch a witch-hunt against him. Believing the police are failing to do their job properly, they start issuing death threats against him after gathering in the pub to discuss the case, and the front window of the lodging house is put through by a large rock. Again, Allen's instincts tell him that Hughie is basically a harmless if odd soul, and is not responsible for the killings. He starts to look more closely at other individuals connected to Hughie, in the belief that somebody is going out of their way to set him up. While the townsfolk continue their vendetta, Allen quietly observes and finds his attention focussed on a likely suspect. He shadows the individual as he walks the streets of the town one night and catches the guilty party almost in the act, narrowly saving another young woman from a murderous attack.

Sunday, Jan. 15 - Blondie of the Follies

Blondie of the Follies (1932)

Lottie Callahan (Billie Dove) is a showgirl on the rise, and her new lifestyle -- complete with a dashing boyfriend, Larry Belmont (Robert Montgomery) -- impresses her close friend, Blondie McClune (Marion Davies). But when Larry, an influential man in town, gets Blondie a gig at Lottie's theater, the two women find themselves at odds. Things get more tense when it appears that Larry is falling for Blondie. Lottie and Blondie's friendship and careers hang in the balance.

Saturday, Jan. 14 - Haunted Honeymoon

Haunted Honeymoon (1940) - Busman's Honeymoon (original title)

After marrying, amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey (Robert Montgomery) and mystery novelist Harriet Vane (Constance Cummings) agree to retire from their sleuthing interests. Along with their devoted butler, Bunter (Seymour Hicks), the couple sets off on a honeymoon to Harriet's old family cottage in Devon, which Peter has purchased for Harriet. The day after their arrival, a dead body is found at the cottage and, despite their best efforts, Peter and Harriet are drawn into the investigation.

Haunted Honeymoon is based on Busman's Honeymoon, a Lord Peter Wimsey novel. Here, Peter (Robert Montgomery) has finally married Harriet (Constance Cummings), and as a wedding gift, Peter has bought Harriet's childhood home, Tall Boys, in Biddlecombe for her. Though they have both sworn off having anything to do with murders - him solving them, her writing about them -- they're faced with the murder of the former owner of the house, with plenty of suspects.

Friday, Jan. 13 - Mother Is a Freshman

Mother Is a Freshman (1949)

Widow Abby Abbott is having serious money problems and has to dip into the family trust in order to pay for her daughter Susan's college tuition. The catch: Abby must also become a co-ed or she can't touch the money. After passing her entrance exams, Abby goes to college and becomes very popular, especially with a handsome English professor whom Susan has a crush on.

In order to afford her daughter's college tuition, a woman enrolls herself at the same school aided by a rare large bursary but they both fall in love with the same cute English professor.

Exploiting a quirk in a scholarship fund, a woman pushing middle age ends up attending college. Widow Abby Abbott (Loretta Young) is stunned to learn that the cash set aside for her daughter's education is about to run dry, so she wrangles a setup that allows them both to enroll in classes. Abby soon takes the university by storm, as her budding relationship with school staffer Richard Michaels (Van Johnson) causes problems at home and in the halls of the school.

Thursday, Jan. 12 - Dateline Diamonds

Dateline Diamonds (1965)

Lester Benson manages one of the biggest rock bands in 1960s Britain, the Small Faces (as themselves - they're in the movie). He happens to be an ex-con who wants to return to the crime scene [actually, he's gone straight]. He summons the help [is blackmailed by] of Major Fairclough who safe-cracks diamonds to smuggle into the Netherlands via the Big L's ship. It seems a perfect crime as no-one served as a witness [a witness to... oh, yes... one of the jewel robberies], except for an intellectually-challenged bus conductress called Mrs. Edgecomb who saw Major Fairclough ("a military-looking man").

In this swinging romp through 1960s London, the frenzied manager of mod-rockers the Small Faces (made up of Steve Marriott, Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan and Ronnie Lane) gets into trouble when he agrees to use the band to smuggle diamonds out of the country. Songs include the Small Faces’ “I’ve Got Mine,” “It’s Too Late,” “Come On Children” and “Don’t Stop What You’re Doing” and The Chantelles’ “I Think of You” and “Please Don’t Kiss Me.”

Wednesday, Jan. 11 - Route 66: But What Do You Do in March?

Route 66 (1960–1964): But What Do You Do in March? (Season 3 Episode 28 - aired 3 May 1963)

Tod and Linc are in Tierra Verde, Florida working for a housing tract developer. Due to a boating incident they meet "two little rich girls". Competitors since childhood, they make full use of Tod and Linc in their latest contest - a powerboat (hydroplane) race. Linc takes "his girl" seriously and Tod can clearly see what it will lead to.

Tuesday, Jan. 10 - Thunder in the Night

Thunder in the Night (1935)

Count Peter Alvinczy (Paul Cavanaugh) has just been appointed to an important post, and normally this would make his wife, Madalaine (Karen Morley) happy. Unfortunately, Madalaine's dead husband (wait a minute... first husband, that is - ex-husband) is not a suicide, as has been believed for several years, after all. He is alive and blackmailing her, threatening her with the scandal of being a bigamist, which would be especially bad considering her husband's high social position. Meanwhile, Maddy's first husband is simultaneously packing and doing a vanishing act on his current vaudeville partner on both the business and romantic fronts. There are several other people who have reasons to dislike this guy, and is it any wonder he winds up dead? And whoafteralldunnit?

Monday, Jan. 9 - The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre: We Shall See

The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1960–1965): We Shall See (Season 5 Episode 6 - aired April 1964)

Alva Collins is the attractive wife of a captain in a civil airline. She is neurotic, vicious and unstable but only her brother knows that she is a hopeless psychopath whose condition can only deteriorate.

The controlling wife of a pilot wants her husband to quit flying.

She is deathly afraid of bees.

Sunday, Jan. 8 - Something for Everyone (1970)

Something for Everyone (1970)

Konrad, a handsome country boy in post-war Austria, charms his way into a butler position at the castle of a widowed countess that lost her fortune. Before long the opportunistic boy is running the entire household. As he starts affairs with both the countess's son and the daughter of a whealthy businessman, the idea grows to get his two lovers to marry each other and make the house rich again.

Charming, machiavellian drifter manipulates widowed aristocrat and her family to gain control of the estate.

Saturday, Jan. 7 - The Prizefighter and the Lady

The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)

Steve (real-life boxer Max Baer) is a brash bartender whose knock-out power is discovered by the Professor (Walter Huston), an alcoholic ex-fight trainer. Working together, they find success in the ring, and Steve begins a whirlwind romance with the sultry Belle (Myrna Loy), a gangster's moll who hastily leaves her man to marry him. Steve's infidelity brings discord to their marriage, but he'll have to overcome these distractions if he's going to succeed in his heavyweight title fight.

Friday, Jan. 6 - Thriller: The Hungry Glass

Thriller (1960–1962): The Hungry Glass - Season 1 Episode 16 (aired 3 January 1961)

William Shatner & Joanna Heyes play a young married couple named Gil and Marcia, who have just bought a seaside mansion that is reputedly haunted by the ghost of original inhabitant Laura Bellman(played by Donna Douglas) who spent her whole life staring at her reflection in her mirrors, until she grew old and died there. Russell Johnson & Elizabeth Allen play Adam & Liz Talmadge, recent friends. Adam in fact sold Gil the mansion, but now has second thoughts when they find out that ghosts have been seen, and that the attic filled with mirrors may mean their doom.

Thursday, Jan. 5 - Palmy Days

Palmy Days (1931)

Musical comedy antics in an art deco bakery (motto: "Glorifying the American Doughnut") with Eddie Cantor as an assistant to a phoney psychic, who is mistaken for an efficiency expert and placed in charge. Complications ensue when the psychic and his gang attempt to rub the payroll.

Wednesday, Jan. 4 - Prison Train

Prison Train (1938)

Underworld rivals try to kill a gangster (Fred Keating) going by rail to Alcatraz.

Tuesday, Jan. 3 - The Sin of Nora Moran

The Sin of Nora Moran (1933)

Nora Moran, a young woman with a difficult and tragic past, is sentenced to die for a murder that she did not commit. She could easily reveal the truth and save her own life, if only it would not damage the lives, careers and reputations of those whom she loves.

Monday, Jan. 2 - The Captain's Paradise

The Captain's Paradise (1953)

Mediterranean ferryboat captain Henry St James has things well organized - a loving and very English wife Maud in Gibraltar, and the loving if rather more hot-blooded Mistress, Nita in Tangiers. A perfect life. As long as neither woman decides to follow him to the other port.

Sunday, Jan. 1 - Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Charlotte 'Charlie' Newton is bored with her quiet life at home with her parents and her younger sister (and brother). She wishes something exciting would happen and knows exactly what they need: a visit from her sophisticated and much traveled uncle Charlie Oakley, her mother's younger brother. Imagine her delight when, out of the blue, they receive a telegram from uncle Charlie announcing that he is coming to visit them for awhile. Charlie Oakley creates quite a stir and charms the ladies club as well as the bank president where his brother-in-law works. Young Charlie begins to notice some odd behavior on his part, such as cutting out a story in the local paper about a man who marries and then murders rich widows. When two strangers appear asking questions about him, she begins to imagine the worst about her dearly beloved(!) uncle Charlie.

Saturday, Dec. 31 - The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre: Act of Murder

The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1960–1965): Act of Murder (Season 5 Episode 8 - aired September 1964)

A well-off couple who work in the theatre (she is a former actress) plan to temporarily swap their country manor for the city home of an elderly couple. When they arrive in city, there is no sign of the address they were given. At the same time, their home is being looted of its expensive antiques and furniture. However, a friend (former lover of the former actress) stumbles onto the thieves and chases them out. When the couple arrives home, they find themselves subjected to odd occurrences, like poisoned pets and livestock. Someone seems to be taking advantage of the situation to upset their lives.