Sunday, Dec. 30 - We Were Strangers

We Were Strangers (1949)

When her brother is murdered, China Valdez (Jennifer Jones) swears revenge on the corrupt Cuban government he had been protesting. She joins the resistance led by Tony (John Garfield), an American with a plan that promises devastating results to their enemies. First they'll kill a government official, then plant a bomb at the funeral, which will wipe out the dead man's associates when it explodes. All they need to do is to dig an underground tunnel from China's house to the cemetery next door.

Saturday, Dec. 29 - Fric-Frac

Fric-Frac (1939)

Marcel works as assistant to a jeweller whose bossy daughter Renée keeps hitting on him. When he meets lovely Loulou and her lazy friend Jo, he is fascinated by the girl and somehow attracted by their world: Loulou and Jo are crooks. As Marcel naively tries to bring some morality in their lives, the pair turn him into an unwilling accomplice in the robbery of his boss's jewels.

Friday, Dec. 28 - Panique

Panique (1946)

In the suburbs of Paris, an old maid has just been murdered. Every body talks about that, except the misanthrope Mr Hire. The same evening, Alice, just getting out of jail, arrives and meets up with her lover Alfred again. They act as they do not know each other, for Alice went to jail to spare Alfred. But Mr Hire falls in love with Alice, and he suspects who the murderer is.

Thursday, Dec. 27 - The Phantom President

The Phantom President (1932)

Too bad for presidential hopes of banker T.K. Blair; his party feels he has too little flair for savoir faire. But at a medicine show, the party bosses find Blair's double: huckster Doc Varney. Of course, they scheme to make Varney T.K.'s public spokesman; at first, he even fools Blair's girlfriend Felicia, providing a romantic complication. As election eve approaches, the conspirators face the problem of what to do with Varney...who has difficult decisions of his own to make.

A group of bureaucratic hacks, lead by Prof. Aikenhead, believes that the super-rich Theodore K. Blair would make a splendid president, despite him being a businessman with zero political experience and possessing the charm of lumpy mattress. Impossible!

On the verge of giving up, Aikenhead and his colleagues stumble upon Doc Varney, a charming, smooth-talking snake-oil salesman who is Blair's exact double. Varney is immediately enlisted into taking Blair's place on the campaign trail, with the understanding that he will disappear once Blair is elected. But fate -- and the scriptwriters -- have other plans in store for all involved.

Wednesday, Dec. 26 - Invisible Man Appears

Invisible Man Appears (1949) Tômei ningen arawaru (original title)

An elderly scientist has been working to perfect an invisibility formula for over ten years. His two best students are also tackling the problem, albeit from different angles, whilst they compete for the hand of his eldest daughter. Unfortunately, the naive professor makes the mistake of showing his research to a slimy businessman who wants to heist a priceless diamond necklace called ‘Amour Tears.’

Tuesday, Dec. 25 - The Steel Lady

The Steel Lady (1953)

Surviving a plane crash in the Sahara, four oilmen find and manage to repair a German Afrika Corps tank which had been buried in the sand since WWII. Heading toward a French Foreign Legion outpost, they encounter a nomadic Arab tribe who believe the oilmen have found the treasure of Calipha, a rival Arab leader. If trying to acquire the jewels by guile doesn't work, the Arabs are prepared to kill the oilmen to get the stolen treasure.

Monday, Dec. 24 - Chance at Heaven

Chance at Heaven (1933)

An ambitious mechanic is tempted to desert his wonderful girlfriend when a silly but rich debutante falls for him.

Marje is in love with Blackie, the owner of a local garage. Blackie says he loves Marje, but Marje knows that Blackie is truly in love with Glory. Marje tells Blackie to follow his heart and marry Glory.

Much to the great dismay of her very wealthy mother, Glory and Blackie elope and settle into Blackie's bungalow. The newlyweds are happy and an unlikely friendship develops between Glory and Marje.

One day, Glory learns that she is pregnant. Seizing the opportunity, Glory's mother spirits her off to New York so that she can be better cared for while in her delicate condition. The visit to New York turns from weeks into months. Finally, Blackie can wait no longer to see his wife when he learns from Marje that Glory isn't coming home, but is instead going to Los Angeles.

Blackie arrives at the nearly empty New York apartment just as Glory and her mother are about to leave. Glory's mother tells Blackie that he shouldn't have come, explaining that Glory has changed. When Glory enters the room, she is distant. She tells Blackie that the marriage was a mistake and wants a divorce. When Blackie asks about the baby, Glory coldly states that the small town doctor was wrong and that she was never pregnant.

A despondent Blackie returns home to his bungalow and finds that Marje is there and has made his favorite dinner. The two state their love for each other. It is implied that now Blackie can truly love Marje and that she will marry him.

Sunday, Dec. 23 - Internes Can't Take Money

Internes Can't Take Money (1937)

In a fantastically art-deco hospital, young Dr. Kildare treats and falls for impoverished Janet Healy, widow of a bank robber, who's been in prison and can't find her baby. Later she helps Kildare sew up gangster Hanlon in a tavern back room. Kildare pursues Janet and enlists Hanlon to help her; the gangster's solution, not surprisingly, is violent.

Saturday, Dec. 22 - Hostile Witness

Hostile Witness (1968)

A highly regarded English lawyer, Simon Crawford (Ray Milland) is devastated when he finds out that his daughter has been killed in a hit-and-run accident. The driver is still at large, and Crawford becomes obsessed with tracking the person down. After a surprising turn of events, Crawford is put on trial for the death of a neighbor, who also happened to be a judge. Initially represented by a younger lawyer, Crawford eventually defends himself in court, despite not having an alibi.

Friday, Dec. 21 - The Great Man's Lady

The Great Man's Lady (1942)

In Hoyt City, a statue of founder Ethan Hoyt is dedicated, and 100 year old (107 or 109, actually) Hannah Sempler Hoyt (who lives in the last residence among skyscrapers) is at last persuaded to tell her story to a 'girl biographer'. Flashback: in 1848, teenage Hannah meets and flirts with pioneer Ethan; on a sudden impulse, they elope. We follow their struggle to found a city in the wilderness, hampered by the Gold Rush, star-crossed love, peril, and heartbreak. The star "ages" 80 years.

Thursday, Dec. 20 - The Bride Wore Boots

The Bride Wore Boots (1946)

Rich and beautiful Southern heiress Sally Warren loves horse-racing and running her horse-farm although her husband of seven years hates the four-legged mammals. Spouse Jeff Warren is a successful author, Civil War scholar, and popular lecturer on the ladies club circuit. After Jeff buys aging twelve-year old nag Albert in the mistaken belief that he's a colt, and Sally purchases a desk for her husband in the naive belief that it once belonged to Jefferson Davis, it's obvious that they have few interests in common.

The squabbling is complicated by Jeff's jealousy of Sally's relationship with Lance Gale, her childhood friend, neighbor, and fellow horse breeder. Sally in turn becomes enraged when the ubiquitous Mary Lou Medford, a flirtatious literary groupie, becomes omnipresent with her infatuation of Jeff. Although the strains on their relationship lands the couple in divorce court, circumstances and an equine cupid bring them back together again.

Wednesday, Dec. 19 - The Lady Gambles

The Lady Gambles (1949)

When his estranged wife Joan is found badly beaten after using loaded dice in a back-alley game, David Boothe looks back on how she came to this sorry state.

A reporter from Chicago, he is on an assignment at Hoover Dam, so he and his wife stay at a hotel in Las Vegas. There the casino's owner, Corrigan, introduces her to gambling with a few chips on the house.

Joan eventually loses $600 of David's expense money, as well as pawning a camera, before winning it back. Gambling excites her. When her sister Ruth joins them in Nevada, her husband decides to leave. Ruth has always been a divisive presence, manipulative and neurotic.

Corrigan flirts with Joan and persuades her to be his proxy in a poker game. She wins $4,000 and is given a share. But the game lasts till dawn, and when David phones from the road, Ruth tells him Joan has not slept in her bed all night.

He returns to Vegas and can see how gambling has her hooked. David quits his job and takes her to Mexico, where he intends to write a book. A couple Joan met in Vegas get her into a dice game, where she loses all of their life savings. David leaves, intending to file for a divorce.

Not knowing where else to go, Joan returns to Vegas, where she is hired by Corrigan to front a horse-racing operation. But she double-crosses his partners just to cash in on a long-shot bet. On her own again, Joan descends into a world of disreputable characters, partnering in Shreveport with a crooked gambler named Frenchy.

By the time David rejoins her after the beating, Joan is hospitalized and suicidal. He must fight to convince her that it is not too late to kick her gambling habit and save their marriage.

Tuesday, Dec. 18 - The Grissom Gang

The Grissom Gang (1971)

Barbara Blandish, a young Kansas City heiress, gets kidnapped by some inept local hoodlums for the diamond necklace she is wearing, and then gets kidnapped a second time by the Grisson gang demanding a million dollar ransom. THe Grissons, a family of depraved, ruthless poor white trash, is led by Ma Grissom, a fury whose mustache and house dress clash, whose belief it is that kidnapping plots go awry because the victim is allowed to live. But plans go haywire when her son Slim, a psychopathic, knife-wielder, falls in love with Barbara. Her millionaire father hires Dave Fenner, a cynical private detective, to find her.

(Re-make of James Hadley Chase's notorious novel No Orchids for Miss Blandish)

Monday, Dec. 17 - Tomorrow Is Forever

Tomorrow Is Forever (1946)

In 1918, Elizabeth MacDonald (Claudette Colbert) learns with shock that her husband, John Andrew (Orson Welles), has been killed in the war. Elizabeth bears John's son and eventually marries her kindly boss. Unknown to her, John has survived but is horribly disfigured and remains in Europe. Years later, on the eve of World War II, Elizabeth refuses to agree to her son's request to enlist and is stunned when an eerily familiar stranger named Kessler arrives from abroad and becomes involved.

Sunday, Dec. 16 - Sudden Fury

Sudden Fury (1975)

While on the road, a husband (played with slimy aplomb by Dominic Hogan) asks his wife (Gay Rowan) for money. She flatly declines and reveals that she has been having an affair. In a fit of rage, the husband crashes their car off the road. The husband survives, but his wife ends up trapped in the vehicle bleeding to death. In a moment of panic, the husband decides to let her die. A bystander (Dan Hennessey) sees the crash, pulls the woman out, but the husband can’t let either of them live.

Saturday, Dec. 15 - The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Taken to the Cleaners

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959–1963): Taken to the Cleaners (Season 1 | Episode 25 - aired 29 March 1960)

Dobie and Thalia become involved with a pair of crooked dry cleaners.

Friday, Dec. 14 - The Talk of the Town

The Talk of the Town (1942)

Michael Lightcap is a stuffy law professor in line to a Supreme Court appointment, who is spending the summer at the house of schoolteacher Nora Shelley. But Lightcap is not the only guest at the house. Shelley has also let Leopold Dilg -- a man who had recently escaped from prison, where he was serving a sentence for false accusations of immolating a local factory--stay at the house, telling Lightcap that he is a gardener. In addition to striking up a friendship, Lightcap and Dilg also compete for the affections of Shelley. Eventually, the professor learns of Dilg's true identity, finding out that Leopold was framed by a crooked government, led by the foreman of the factory, who supposedly died in the fire. When Dilg is captured by the police, Lightcap comes to his defense, bringing the still-alive foreman out of hiding and, in the process, clearing Leopold of all the charges.

Thursday, Dec. 13 - Seven Miles from Alcatraz

Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942)

DescriptionAlcatraz inmates Champ (James Craig) and Jimbo (Frank Jenks), who were gangsters on the outside, learn about the attack on Pearl Harbor and get the idea that the island prison they call home is sure to be the next attack site. They break out of jail and make it to a tiny lighthouse isle, where they take the few inhabitants hostage. But when Champ and Jimbo uncover a Nazi plot to take over the lighthouse, the crooks must choose to either flee or stay put and stick up for their country.

Wednesday, Dec. 12 - Platinum Blonde

Platinum Blonde (1931)

Robert Williams plays down-to-earth reporter Stew Smith, who is drawn to socialite Anne Schuyler (Jean Harlow ) despite their obvious differences in background. Stew marries Anne while his fellow reporter Gallagher (Loretta Young), a gal accepted in the city room as "one of the boys," waits patiently for Stew to recognize that his marriage was a mistake and that she is in love with him.

Tuesday, Dec. 11 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Belfry

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962): The Belfry (Season 1 | Episode 33 - aired 13 May 1956)

Clint is determined to marry Ellie, the county's schoolteacher, and he is building a house for them to live in. But Ellie is not interested, and she tells him that she has just become engaged to another man. Clint is enraged, and when he meets Ellie's fiancé, he kills him with an ax. He decides to hide in the bell tower of Ellie's schoolhouse, since he thinks no one will look for him there. He also likes the idea of being close to Ellie, so that he can have the chance to strike back at her too.

Monday, Dec. 10 - Sabotage

Sabotage (1939)

Tommy Grayson, a mechanic at the Midland Aircraft Corporation, has convinced actress Gail to leave showbiz and marry him. She was afraid of the small town reaction to actors but is convinced to stay when Tommy’s family goes out of their way to embrace her and welcome her.

The day before their marriage, a new plane is being tested, and the whole town turns out to watch the test flight. However, the test ends in disaster, with the plane crashing and burning.

There have been other failures due to engines from the plant, and tests point to Tommy, as all the failing pistons came from his bench.

Major Matt Grayson, and his Civil War Vet friends Mel, Smitty, and Eli investigate to clear Tommy’s name.

Sunday, Dec. 9 - Widows & The Ape Woman

Widows (2018)

After a group of criminals die in a heist gone wrong, their widows, Veronica, Alice and Linda, are forced to collect the money to repay their husbands' debt.

The Ape Woman (1964) La donna scimmia (original title)

Ugo Tognazzi stars as a charming ne'er-do-well who happens upon young Annie Girardot, who outside of the fact that she is covered with hair from head to foot is a normal woman with normal desires and dreams. Tognazzi inveigles her into the European carnival sideshow circuit as "The Ape Woman", securing her cooperation by making love to her. The Ape Woman was inspired by the true story of 19th century Mexican "freak" Julia Pastran.

Saturday, Dec. 8 - Maryland

Maryland (1940)

After her husband dies, wealthy Charlotte Danfield sells off his entire stable of horses, and forbids son Lee to ride again.

He remains close to trainer William Stewart, though, and upon returning from Europe, where he has been sent to school, Lee decides to ride William's horse Cavalier in the Maryland Cup over his mother's objections.

Friday, Dec. 7 - Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Tyrant's Daughter

Sherlock Holmes (1954–1955): The Case of the Tyrant's Daughter (Season 1 | Episode 39 - aired 17 October 1955)

A wealthy man is unhappy with his daughter's choice of a marriage partner and seeks to keep the event from happening. He offers the young man a tidy sum to give up the girl, but he refuses. When they are arguing, the old man has a heart attack and is aided by the young man and his housekeeper. They get him his medicine. Shortly after this, the old guy dies. Because the young man was seen with a bottle in his pocket, it is assumed by Scotland Yard that he is the killer. The housekeeper goes to see Holmes and Watson, as she believes the young man to be innocent.

Thursday, Dec. 6 - Fast Life

Fast Life (1932)

Two sailors are leaving the US Navy after 10 years. In their spare time, one of them (Haines) invents a carburetor that should increase the speed that powered boats will run, but all that they succeed in doing is to sink the Admiral's launch. After discharge, broke and out of work, they find work with a boat builder who wants the fastest race boat in the World. They design the boat, carburetor and the engine but lack of money and the foreclosure of the business hinders their efforts to prove the new design.

Haines plays Sandy, who’s recently left the Navy and made his way to Catalina. He’s invented a new carburetor for boats that makes them go a great deal faster; the only problem is they explode after a few minutes of use. He meets boat magnate John D. Jameson (Arthur Pryor) who agrees to risk everything on his invention which will climax, of course, with A Big Race.

Meanwhile, Sandy is in love with Shirley (Evans), Jameson’s daughter, who is in turn more than happy to settle for the rich but slimy Burton (Nagel). Cliff Edwards is also hanging around as Sandy’s best friend and foil; you know, the guy who gulps and goes bug-eyed whenever it’s time to cut to an endless scene of boats puttering around.

Wednesday, Dec. 5 - Lisbon

Lisbon (1956)

The police inspector Fonseca is interested in two Lisbon men in particular, the wealthy and notorious criminal Mavros and an American suspected smuggler with a fast boat, Captain Evans.

A number of beautiful women work for Mavros, including a secretary, Maria, who came to him for help when she was destitute. A menacing and jealous servant, Serafim, is secretly in love with Maria, but the attraction is not mutual.

Sylvia Merrill, married to a much older millionaire, is tired of waiting for government officials to rescue her husband Lloyd, a prisoner behind the Iron Curtain. She offers a large sum of money to Mavros, who correctly surmises that Sylvia has an ulterior motive. If her husband dies without a will, it could take as long as seven years for her to inherit his wealth.

Evans is hired by Mavros to go after Lloyd in his boat. Having developed a romantic attraction to Maria, the American finds himself hated by Serafim, who attempts to kill him. Mavros gives his man permission to kill Evans during the rescue of Lloyd, and by now Sylvia is on board with the idea that Lloyd won't come back alive, either.

Evans manages to foil Serafim's plans and sees him fall to his death. Fonseca, having been tipped off by Maria, has an informer prepared to identify the smuggler, but to the policeman's surprise it is Mavros who is fingered as the culprit rather than Evans. A happy Maria has her man, while Sylvia is left with only a husband she has betrayed.

Tuesday, Dec. 4 - All at Sea

All at Sea (1957) Barnacle Bill (original title)

William Horatio Ambrose (Guinness) wants desperately to live up to the proud family tradition; the Ambroses have always been mariners (if not exactly distinguished ones), hence their family motto, "Omnes per Mare" ("All at Sea"). In humorous vignettes, Guinness portrays six of his ancestors, starting with a confused caveman perpetually going in circles in his coracle and ending with his own father's ignominious demise at the Battle of Jutland. Ambrose has a debilitating problem however: he gets violently seasick at the slightest excuse. As a result, his contribution to the Second World War consists of testing cures for the malady.

When he retires from the Royal Navy as a captain, he purchases a dilapidated late Victorian era amusement pier (the closest thing to a command of his own) with his life savings. The workers are an apathetic bunch, led by an insolent Figg (Victor Maddern), who quits as soon as the new owner begins imposing some semblance of discipline. With the assistance of his new second-in-command, a former RN rating named Tommy (Percy Herbert), and much hard work with help by a group of bored local teenagers, Ambrose soon has the pier repaired.

Then he has to deal with the local town council, headed by the crooked Mayor Crowley (Maurice Denham) and the hostile Arabella Barrington (Irene Browne), who mistakes him for a peeping tom when they first meet. Every time he comes up with an ingenious way to make his business profitable, they see to it that the council outlaws it. When Crowley decides to confiscate and demolish Ambrose's pier and Barrington's bathing huts (under compulsory purchase) to further his own business interests, she resigns from the council and informs Ambrose. He counters by registering his property as a "foreign" naval vessel (christened the Arabella), under the flag of convenience of the easygoing country of "Liberama", which puts it outside the town's jurisdiction. He soon attracts many happy, paying passengers for his stationary inaugural "cruise".

Thwarted, Crowley hires Figg to take his dredger and demolish the structure late at night. Using a seasickness remedy suggested by Barrington, Ambrose is able to take to sea and foil the scheme (with his ghostly ancestors watching approvingly), but in the process, part of the pier becomes detached and floats away. He remains aboard to prevent salvagers from claiming it and drifts over to France, where he is hailed as a naval hero.

Monday, Dec. 3 - The Lady Refuses

The Lady Refuses (1931)

A wealthy London nobleman hires a pretty but poor young girl to distract his playboy son from marrying a golddigger. Complications ensue when the girl and the father begin to fall for each other, and things get even more complicated when the son declares his love for her, too.

Sunday, Dec. 2 - Bright Lights

Bright Lights (1930)

Successful actress Louanne (Dorothy Mackaill) is about to marry a rich man instead of the man she really loves, Wally Dean (Frank Fay). As the film begins, Louanne is giving her last performance as she plans to retire once she is married. A group of reporters comes to interview Louanne and while she tells them a story which she thinks is appropriate for a soon-to-be wife of a wealthy socialite, the scene flashes back to her actual past.

It is revealed that Louanne was once a dancer at a low-class cafe. Portuguese smuggler Miguel Parada (Noah Beery), took an interest in her and attempted to force his affections on her. Wally Dean, who was, even then, her constant companion, manages to escape with her from the cafe as a riot is about to start. Another flashback shows Wally as a barker at a carnival with Louanne as a dancer. Again Wally saves Louanne from an imminent riot. Back in the present, Louanne continues to lie to the reporters and tell them about her genteel background.

Fish (Frank McHugh), one of the reporters, does not believe her story but says nothing. When Louanne returns to the stage to resume her performance, Miguel, who happens to be in the audience, recognizes her and goes to her dressing room because he has some "unfinished business" with her. Louanne enters her dressing room and is shocked to find Miguel. Wally soon appears and pretends he has a gun to intimidate Miguel; he gives the "gun" to Connie Lamont (James Murray) because he has to go on stage. While Connie is guarding Miguel, a fight erupts between the two and Miguel reveals that he has a real gun. In the struggle for it, Miguel is shot and he dies.

When the police arrive, Wally tries to convince the police that Miguel committed suicide to save Louanne from a scandal before her marriage. Louanne's friend Peggy (Inez Courtney) also gives false testimony to save her. The police remain unconvinced until the reporter, Fish, gives false testimony that he actually saw Miguel pull the trigger. Louanne is cleared and realizes that she really loves Wally. She cancels her engagement to her rich fiancé and is united with Wally.

Saturday, Dec. 1 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Portrait of Jocelyn

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962): Portrait of Jocelyn (Season 1 | Episode 28 - aired 8 April 1956)

Mark Halliday takes his wife to an art gallery, to show her a painting he has purchased for their first anniversary. But instead of the painting he had seen, he is given a portrait of his first wife Jocelyn, who disappeared five years ago. Both he and his new wife are shocked and upset, so Halliday shows the portrait to Jocelyn's brother, who locates the artist for him. When Halliday goes in search of the artist, he encounters further coincidences and confusing developments, suggesting that Jocelyn is living very close by.

Friday, Nov. 30 - He Was Her Man

He Was Her Man (1934)

Flicker Hayes informs the police after he sets up two men to be caught in a phony robbery attempt, because they were responsible for his going to prison. Dan Curly escapes, but the other kills a policeman and goes to the chair, so Dan wants two hitmen to get Flicker, who plans to leave the country. But he meets down-and-out Rose Lawrence, an ex-prostitute looking to hitch a ride to a small fishing village in the south to marry a Portuguese fisherman, and Flicker decides it would be a nice place to hide. After he seduces Rose, Flicker stakes her to a bus ticket and goes with her. But he's been spotted by Pop Sims, who follows them and reports Flicker's whereabouts to Dan. Meanwhile, Rose falls in love with Flicker, who is unaware that the hitmen are coming to kill him.