Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Tuesday, Feb. 27 - The Twilight Zone: King Nine Will Not Return

The Twilight Zone (1959–1964): King Nine Will Not Return (Season 2 | Episode 1 - aired 30 September 1960)

A USAF bomber pilot awakens in the desert, lying next to his downed B25 Mitchell. Capt. James Embry commanded the aircraft but has no memory of how he got there. More importantly to him, his crew is nowhere to be found. At one point, he even begins to wonder if he is hallucinating, especially after he sees one of his men momentarily sitting in the cockpit. When he awakens in a hospital bed he thinks it was all a dream but then wonders: did he really go back to the desert.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Monday, Feb. 26 - Murder in the Air

Murder in the Air (1940)

Enemy agents are everywhere and they are sabotaging all important war deliveries. The body of a hobo found in a train wreck had a money belt with $50,000 and a tattoo of a circle and arrow. This is a tattoo for saboteurs for hire and Brass must impersonate the dead man to find out what his orders are. As Steve Coe, he meets with the band of enemy agents in California and everything goes well until the wife of the dead 'Hobo' shows up. Luckily, Gabby is able to save Brass and Brass learns what is his assignment. He is to board the USN airship 'Mason', which is testing the super secret Inertia Projector, and destroy the airship.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Sunday, Feb. 25 - Straight on Till Morning

Straight on Till Morning (1972)

Shy Brenda Thompson writes naive children's stories to amuse herself. Stifled and desperate for a man of her own, she leaves Liverpool, telling her mom she's pregnant, and gets a job in a boutique in London. She moves in with the promiscuous but good-hearted Caroline but the mod set shuns her for her plain looks. Then she kidnaps a strange young man's dog, so as to perhaps get to know him while returning it. The young man turns out to be Peter, a psychopath with a predilection for killing beautiful things. He renames Brenda Wendy, and they start a hopeful, if strange, relationship. It might have a chance, if it weren't for Peter's murderous secrets.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Saturday, Feb. 24 - All the Money in the World & The Diabolical Dr. Z

All the Money in the World (2017)

Rome, 1973. Masked men kidnap a teenage boy named John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer). His grandfather, Jean Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer), is the richest man in the world, a billionaire oil magnate, but he's notoriously miserly. His favorite grandson's abduction is not reason enough for him to part with any of his fortune. All the Money in the World (2017) follows Gail, (Michelle Williams), Paul's devoted, strong-willed mother, who unlike Getty, has consistently chosen her children over his fortune. Her son's life in the balance with time running out, she attempts to sway Getty even as her son's mob captors become increasingly more determined, volatile and brutal. When Getty sends his enigmatic security man Fletcher Chace (Mark Wahlberg) to look after his interests, he and Gail become unlikely allies in this race against time that ultimately reveals the true and lasting value of love over money.

The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966) Miss Muerte (original title)

Woman seeks to avenge her father's death by using a local dancer, with long poisonous fingernails, to do her bidding.

The late Dr. Z's daughter (Mabel Karr) tries his mind-control method on an exotic dancer called Miss Death (Estella Blain).

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Friday, Feb. 23 - Route 66: Follow the White Dove with the Broken Wing

Route 66 (1960–1964): Follow the White Dove with the Broken Wing (Season 4 | Episode 20 - aired 21 February 1964)

The boys stop in a bar to drink a hamburger and observe a troubled youth having some trouble. He runs off and a popular local beat cop follows him to a warehouse where the policeman is fatally injured in an accident. The kid has been hurt as well and, having taken the officer's gun, he forces Tod and Linc to help him hide out and get him medical attention. While holding Linc hostage while Tod goes for some medical supplies, the kid tells Linc how he's been misunderstood all his life and how no one has ever reached out to try to understand him. Linc isn't sympathetic: he recognizes that the kid needs redirection more than sympathy (a bootindeazz!). Meanwhile the local neighborhood teens, who liked the cop, decide to take matters into their own hands. They are led by a self-appointed avenger type who finds his power dissolving at the end when the gang finds out it was an accident and starts to see things from the young man's point of view.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Thursday, Feb. 22 - Route 66: This Is Going to Hurt Me More Than It Hurts You

Route 66 (1960–1964): This Is Going to Hurt Me More Than It Hurts You (Season 4 | Episode 19 - aired 14 February 1964)

Tod and Linc are in St. Augustine, Florida, where they are staying and working at the Hotel Ponce De León, Tod as the assistant social director. There, Tod unexpectedly meets up with his best friend and worst enemy from school, both the same person. He is multi-millionaire eccentric Harlan Livingston, III, who is traveling on his yacht. Harlan, who is looking for a wife, has a soft spot in his heart for women who are ill that he can help nurse - the sicker, the better. This attraction opens him up to cons, poor women who pretend to be wealthy and sick in order to access Harlan's wealth. This situation exasperates Harlan's one-year traveling companion, his uncle, Dr. Frank Hillman, a physician and research scientist who is on this one year journey to fulfill the dying request of Harlan's father to look after Harlan in return for a much needed $1 million cash infusion into his New York research clinic. Frank has a long four months left to fulfill that requirement to get the money. Frank and Harlan have been able to get rid of all of Harlan's truly healthy hangers-on, except for three truly healthy "wheelchair-bound" women, Jeanelle, Cindy and Andrea, who have been able to hang on longer than the others as they are working in cahoots with each other. As such, Harlan offers Tod a lucrative one-week job in replacement for his hotel job: act the wealthier man to lure away Jeanelle, Cindy and Andrea. Tod refuses as he has his sights set on another woman at the hotel, Doree Hunter, who in return is attracted to Tod. She too is looking for love, unlike her gold digging mother who is spending their life savings on this two-week trip to help Doree find a wealthy man to marry to get them out of their poverty. Thrown into the mix is Linc, who, initially unknown to Tod, accepts Harlan's offer for Tod by pretending to be wealthy Tod's bodyguard.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Wednesday, Feb. 21 - Jeeves and Wooster: Totleigh Towers (or, Trouble at Totleigh Towers)

Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993): Totleigh Towers (or, Trouble at Totleigh Towers) (Season 4 | Episode 5 - aired 13 June 1993)

The latest house party at Totleigh Towers sees 'Stiffy' Bing trying to strong-arm Bertie into stealing an African tribal statue which, she believes, has put a curse on the Bassetts. Bertie's midnight exploits bring him into contact with Gussie Fink-Nottle who, rebelling against his betrothed Madeleine Bassett's efforts to turn him into a vegetarian, is enjoying meaty midnight feasts with Emerald, the comely American cook. Bertie steals the statue but when Major Plank, from whom it was bought, refuses to have it back, he ends up blacking up and impersonating an African tribal chief anxious to restore the statue to his tribe, Unfortunately real Africans arrive and once more it's Jeeves to the rescue.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Tuesday, Feb. 20 - The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre: The Man Who Was Nobody

The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1960–1965): The Man Who Was Nobody (Season 1 | Episode 2 - aired 15 September 1960)

A slick young man buys a jewel with a cheque that bounces. He then disappears and both the police and a lawyer try to find him. The lawyer hires a female detective to track down the missing man, but when his body is found in the Thames the case is by no means over.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Monday, Feb. 19 - The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre: The Clue of the Twisted Candle

The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (1960–1965): The Clue of the Twisted Candle (Season 1 | Episode 1 - aired November 1968)

A man John Lexman is unjustly convicted of a homicide and goes to jail. The man responsible Ramon Karadis is murdered later in a room with no windows with a steel lined door which locks only from the inside.. Who killed him and how it was done is solved by Supt. Meredith and his junior officer Sgt. Anson.

Monday, February 19, 2018

Sunday, Feb. 18 - Holiday

Holiday (1938)

Johnny (Cary Grant) seems like a solid match for Julia (Doris Nolan), the socialite daughter of Edward Seton (Henry Kolker). Assured that Johnny is a worthy suitor, Edward approves of the pairing. But, as Johnny's wanderlust surfaces -- he is more interested in traveling than in business -- Edward starts to have doubts. Johnny also begins to wonder if he might not be a better match for Linda (Katharine Hepburn), Julia's outspoken younger sister, with whom he has much more in common.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Saturday, Feb. 17 - The Thomas Crown Affair

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Four men pull off a daring daytime robbery at a bank, dump the money in a trash can and go their separate ways. Thomas Crown, a successful, wealthy businessman pulls up in his Rolls and collects it. Vickie Anderson, an independent insurance investigator is called in to recover the huge haul. She begins to examine the people who knew enough about the bank to have pulled the robbery and discovers Crown. She begins a tight watch on his every move and begins seeing him socially (romantically).

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Friday, Feb. 16 - Smashing the Money Ring

Smashing the Money Ring (1939)

T-Man Brass Bancroft goes undercover in a prison which has a secret counterfeit operation set up in the print shop.

Friday, February 16, 2018

Thursday, Feb. 15 - Mr. Lucky: Aces Back to Back

Mr. Lucky (1959–1960): Aces Back to Back (Season 1 | Episode 11 - aired 2 January 1960)

Mr. Lucky receives a "Birthday Present" from an old WWII Navy pal - an atrocious oil painting. When the friend is murdered and an aggressive buyer for the painting pops up on the Fortuna II, Mr. Lucky, Andamo and Maggie find themselves in a hot spot.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Wednesday, Feb. 14 - Jeeves and Wooster: The Delayed Arrival

Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993): Arrested in a Night Club (or, the Delayed Arrival) (Season 4 | Episode 4 - aired 6 June 1993)

Aunt Dahlia aims to sell her ailing magazine to Scouse parvenu Mr. Trotter but hocks her pearls to afford to pay a famous female novelist to contribute a story to the magazine, to reel in Trotter. Bertie, having been arrested in The Mottled Oyster speakeasy, where he has accompanied Lady Florence Craye to research her new book, is charged to 'steal' the fake pearls which Dahlia has substituted before her husband finds out - which involves his dressing as a thieving housemaid. Jeeves too dons drag to impersonate the great lady novelist, in the process attracting the unwanted attentions of Florence's oafish beau 'Stilton' Cheesewright, though at least it gets him off Bertie's case.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Tuesday, Feb. 13 - Mannix: Falling Star

Mannix (1967–1975): Falling Star (Season 1 | Episode 15 - aired 6 January 1968)

Vain, arrogant, fading movie star Anne Marion calls a press conference to announce plans for an autobiography. Then, a bomb goes off. The actress hires Intertect and, after a look at available operatives, decides Mannix is her man. The assumption was the bomb was a publicity stunt. Mannix visits one of Anne's ex-husbands, who performs special effects work. The bomb was supposed to be a dud. Mannix is convinced that someone wants to do the actress harm. She has three suspicious ex-husbands, one of whom is an arrogant hothead, the other who employs shady and violent bodyguards. Mannix decides to make himself a target by having Anne's college-age daughter take the diary of the actress and letting the ex-husbands know it.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Monday, Feb. 12 - Thriller: The Specialists

Thriller (1960–1962): The Specialists (Season 2 | Episode 30 - aired 30 April 1962)

Someone wants Ray Coleman dead before he can talk to the cops. A group are on their way to see him when the car of the driver sent to get them blows up. Ray Coleman is shot and a forged suicide note is left behind. This looks like a job for Peter Duncan (McCarthy) & The Specialists (this was in fact an unsold pilot for a TV series inserted into "Thriller").

Monday, February 12, 2018

Sunday, Feb. 11 - Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch (1972) Hungry Wives (original title)

Joan Mitchell is an unhappy, suburban housewife pushing 40, who has an uncommunicative businessman husband, named Jack, and a distant 19-year-old daughter, named Nikki, on the verge of moving out of the house. Frustrated at her current situation, Joan seeks solace in witchcraft after visiting Marion Hamilton, a local tarot reader and leader of a secret black arts wicca set, who inspires Joan to follow her own path. After dabbling a little in witchcraft, Joan, believing herself to have become a real witch, withdraws into a fantasy world and sinks deeper and deeper into her new lifestyle until the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred and eventually tragedy results.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Saturday, Feb. 10 - Stand-In

Stand-In (1937)

A New York bank plans to sell a Hollywood studio at a big loss. But the head accountant is suspicious and goes to investigate. He finds chicanery, romance, and help to save the studio.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Friday, Feb. 9 - Naked City: Barefoot on a Bed of Coals

Naked City (1958–1963): Barefoot on a Bed of Coals (Season 4 | Episode 34 - aired 29 May 1963)

A man who failed to qualify for the NYPD takes to impersonating a uniformed patrolman. His motives have to do with wanting to serve the public and also wanting to attract more desirable women. When he becomes involved in stopping a robbery and uses his non-regulation firearm the real NYPD searches him out

Friday, February 9, 2018

Thursday, Feb. 8 - Lovejoy: The Price of Fish

Lovejoy (1986–1994): The Price of Fish (Season 5 | Episode 13 - aired 28 November 1993)

When Lovejoy accompanies Charlotte to the Victorian estate of her friend Hattoe Horsham in Suffolk, he learns that Hattie's family, her father and 93 year old grandmother are broke. They had to sell the estate to the local historical society for tourism, and although they're allowed to live in the manor house, their financial fortunes are at a low ebb. After fending off the advances of another one of Charlotte's friends, he sets out to auction off the giant mounted pike that Hattie's grandmother caught in 1917 with a provenance that includes Isadora Duncan. Meanwhile at the Felsham Manor, Tink is handed an eviction notice by Gimbert, who secretly wants to turn Felsham Manor into a health spa.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Wednesday, Feb. 7 - Your Uncle Dudley

Your Uncle Dudley (1935)

In a rare starring role, character comedian Edward Everett Horton plays a civic-minded patsy named Dudley Dixon who puts his own interests on the back burner so that he can help out his neighbors. In the true spirit of "No good deed goes unpunished," all Horton has to show for his efforts is a wall full of paper citations (silver loving cups, actually) and a mountain of debts (just one debt, really - he owes his sister-in-law $5000). Realizing that he has been taken advantage of by the less honest townsfolk, Horton does a "worm turns" scene, though he continues to extend generosity for the truly deserving.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Tuesday, Feb. 6 - Naked City: Golden Lads and Girls

Naked City (1958–1963): Golden Lads and Girls (Season 4 | Episode 33 - aired 22 May 1963)

A pair of married couples from different social and economic backgrounds find they do have something in common. The couples both are involved in physically abusive relationships and must go through the same legal system. The realization that they have similar problems despite their different stations in life is quite an eye opener.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Monday, Feb. 5 - Easy to Love

Easy to Love (1934)

John and Carol Townsend (played by Adolphe Menjou and Genevieve Tobin) are involved in a sort of "love quadrangle". John is having an affair with Carol's best friend Charlotte (Mary Astor), John's best friend Eric (Edward Everett Horton), wealthy "Sardine King", is in love with Carol. When Carol can't get her hubby into bed anymore, she concludes he has no energy from "playing too much polo" (his excuse for his daily afternoon tryst) - but finding out he has NOT been playing polo, she hires a detective who quickly gets the dope on the secret love affair. Now Carol uses Eric to "get even" with her hubby, by pretending to have her own affair!

Meanwhile, their daughter and prospective son-in-law say they disavow marriage and plan on living together.

Monday, February 5, 2018

Sunday, Feb. 4 - Nancy Goes to Rio

Nancy Goes to Rio (1950)

Pert and precocious Nancy Barklay (Jane Powell) is up for the leading role in a Broadway musical set in Brazil, but her seasoned stage-star mother, Frances (Ann Sothern), thinks she’s got the part! A sticky situation becomes impossibly complicated after Nancy follows her mother to Rio – where they both fall for the same man!

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Saturday, Feb. 3 - Sylvie et le fantôme

Sylvie et le fantôme (1946)

On the eve of her 16th birthday, Sylvie's father needs cash to stay in his castle so he sells Sylvie's favorite thing, a painting of Alain, the lover of Sylvie's grandmother, killed in a duel. Alain's ghost lives in the castle and Sylvie senses his presence, thinks she loves him, and fears that romance from the living will never come her way. Dad prepares a midnight surprise for Sylvie and her party guests: the appearance of the phantom. He's hired an actor, but two young men in love with Sylvie also volunteer to don white robes: Fred, the rich kid who bought the painting, and Ramure, a jewel thief in hiding. The youths declare their love, and Alain's ghost helps resolve all.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Friday, Feb. 2 - Route 66: Only by Cunning Glimpses

Route 66 (1960–1964): Only by Cunning Glimpses (Season 3 | Episode 12 - aired 7 December 1962)

Tod and Buz,drive out of Cleveland, Ohio and a washed out bridge makes them stop and review the recent past. Why they left is explained in flashback. The predictions of a nightclub mentalist have been all too real for Tod, he has seen one after another come true. The last prediction is the scariest-his fiery killing of Buz.

Friday, February 2, 2018

Thursday, Feb. 1 - Thriller: The Lethal Ladies

Thriller (1960–1962): The Lethal Ladies (Season 2 | Episode 29 - aired 16 April 1962)

2 twisted tales of timid people hitting their breaking point. A philandering investor dreams of independence from his wife, a wealthy, bold geologist, but when his latest scheme plummets down the big board, Myron plots murder. Alice Quimby's entire life is her work at a university library, but she's passed over to be chief librarian, in favor of Dr. Wilford Bliss, a martinet who's going to clean house, forcing her out before she can collect her pension.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Wednesday, Jan. 31 - Jeeves and Wooster: Bridegroom Wanted!

Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993): Honoria Glossop Turns Up (or, Bridegroom Wanted!) (Season 4 | Episode 3 - aired 30 May 1993)

Unwelcome familiar faces turn up to destroy Bertie's New York idyll, starting with Bingo Little, who wants to marry the English waitress at Art's Diner and persuades Bertie to impersonate romantic novelist Rosie M. Banks again to make his uncle, Lord Bittlesham, favour the union. Old flame Honoria Glossop and her doctor father Sir Roderick are also in town, the latter wanting to wed his nurse but needing to marry off Honoria first. Bertie's plan to goad her shy suitor Blair into proposing by making him jealous goes horribly awry, as does his hiring of a gold-digging actress, Trixie, to pose as his betrothed, to get Honoria off his back. When Bingo marries the waitress, who turns out to be the real Rosie M. Banks, Bertie is exposed as a fraud and everyone is after him. Even on the liner home. The only solution is for him and Jeeves to jump ship - literally.