Thursday, Jan. 30 - The Cool and the Crazy

The Cool and the Crazy (1958)

Ben Saul, a reform school graduate, is transferred to a Kansas City high school. There, Ben's clowning in class ticks off the local gang of tough guys, but he soon wins all of their admiration when he begins buying them beer, taking them to dances, giving them "kicks," and then finally turning them on to marijuana. Ben is working as a frontman for a local marijuana ring, but the local police detective is hot on his trail. When a marijuana-crazed addict teenager whom Ben has sold the drug to dies trying to hold up a filling station for drug money, the police question him and events begin to spiral out of Ben's control. In the dramatic (or melodramatic) finale, Ben ends up killing the pusher for more marijuana only to find that there is none, and gets his just deserts in a fiery car wreck. Then there is an obligatory moralizing segment, where a policeman screams at the surviving addicts, "Is this what you call 'kicks'?! Sooner or later, if you don't wise up you're all gonna wind up like this, one way or the other."

There's also a romance involving Ben's new friend Jackie.

Wednesday, Jan. 29 - Murder on the Campus

Murder on the Campus (1961) Out of the Shadow (original title)

A reporter (Terence Longdon) probes the mysterious death of his brother, who fell out of the window of his college dorm room. Without anything to go on, except his own curiosity, Longdon begins asking questions. When the police and the college staff are evasive in their answers, he digs in his heels and starts his own probe. Longdon turns to his brother's classmates and friends. He schedules a meeting with a student who saw someone walking on the roof of his brother's apartment on the night he fell. But minutes before the meeting time, the student is found dead, another victim of an accident. Now even the police are willing to believe that there is more here than just two accidental deaths.

(Don't forget the antique store.)

Tuesday, Jan. 28 - Pointed Heels

Pointed Heels (1929)

Millionaire producer Robert Courtland (William Powell) is secretly in love with Lora (Fay Wray) but Lora has just married Donald Ogden (Phillips Holmes), a serious composer who is writing a jazz symphony. He receives a telegram from his mother, cutting off his allowance because of his marriage to a "chorus girl". He is in despair! He can't do anything else but compose! - so Lora goes back to the chorus line and they find a cheaper (much cheaper) apartment. Unfortunately, they live in the same building as Lora's brother and his wife ("Skeets" Gallagher and Helen Kane), a low brow comedy team billed as Dot and Dash who are constantly fighting. They have an idea for a show and when Courtland visits Lora and Donald, Dot and Dash burst in and convince him to become their backer. He says yes but only if Lora is given a star part. He also gives Donald's music the spotlight (Donald has written a hit song "I Have to Have You" ).

Lora and Donald's marriage is not going well and Courtland, who has never stopped carrying a torch for Lora, suggests that she leave Donald. He invites her to his mansion so she can kick up her heels but has a change of heart and puts a tipsy Lora to bed in a separate room. The inevitable happens - David visits Courtland, sees Lora's bag and gloves and immediately prepares to sail for Europe.

For the opening night Courtland gets Dot and Dash drunk, so they will put over the song in their old way - in rehearsals they had been singing it "too highbrow"! They boop a doop it and surprisingly the show is a hit. Courtland, in a change of heart, brings Lora and David together for the fadeout!

Monday, Jan. 27 - Part-Time Wife

Part-Time Wife (1961)

Struggling insurance salesman Tom tries to drum up some business with his skirt-chasing old army pal Drew, whom had once - accidentally, unknown to Tom - saved his life. Drew has the kind of rich uncle, most usually found in this kind of farce, who will only entrust him with the family business so long as he's respectably married. Faced with a visit by the uncle from across the Atlantic, Drew needs to find someone pronto to pose as his wife, but none of his regular floozies fit the bill.

He seizes on Tom's desperation and promises him a big insurance deal if his attractive young wife Jenny will masquerade as Drew's until the uncle is out of the way again. Of course, all kinds of compromising situations and other complications ensue.

Sunday, Jan. 26 - It Came from Beneath the Sea

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

While on a routine mission, Cmdr. Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) runs into trouble when his submarine is nearly sunk by an unknown creature. Back at base in Pearl Harbor, Dr. John Carter (Donald Curtis) and Professor Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue) identify the beast as a giant octopus from the nether reaches of Mindanao Deep, which has been awakened by nearby nuclear testing. Radioactive and monstrously huge, the rampaging leviathan is heading toward the North American Pacific Coast.

Saturday, Jan. 25 - The Man in the Mirror

The Man in the Mirror (1936)

Edward Everett Horton's alter ego comes out of the mirror and replaces him. He actually makes loves to his wife, is friendly to his mother in law, shows great financial acumen and outwits his business partner.

Friday, Jan. 24 - Broadway Bad

Broadway Bad (1933)

Tony, as the story gets under way, is a chorus girl of exemplary character who spurns the sinful advances of Craig Cutting, a wealthy amateur showman played by Ricardo Cortez. But she does marry a young scion of wealth who shortly thereafter divorces her on the unjust grounds that she has been too friendly with Cutting. Having been punished for her innocence, the girl now determines to reap the harvest of the lurid publicity she has received during the divorce proceedings. The result is that she becomes a name to conjure with in the theatre. She saves her money, preserves a cynical outlook toward Mr. Cutting and her other associates and goes away every week-end to visit a baby which has been born to her on some indefinite earlier occasion. When the family of her former husband learn of the baby’s existence and try to take it away from her. There is a trial to determine whether Tony is a fit mother.

Thursday, Jan. 23 - Two Wives at One Wedding

Two Wives at One Wedding (1961)

Tom Murray's wedding day becomes a nightmare when a mysterious stranger turns up claiming to be his wife. Annette is a French woman who had an affair with Tom during World War II, when he was injured near Normandy, and she nursed him back to health. She claims that Tom became her husband then, but this is something he has no memory of. Annette is willing to divorce Tom, but only with a £10,000 settlement. Blackmailed and with his promising medical career in the balance should the story reach the press, Tom turns detective to determine if Annette is really telling the truth.

Wednesday, Jan. 22 - Footlight Parade

Footlight Parade (1933)

Chester Kent (James Cagney) replaces his failing career as a director of Broadway musicals with a new one as the creator of musical numbers called "prologues", short live stage productions presented in movie theaters before the main feature is shown. He faces pressure from his business partners to continuously create a large number of marketable prologues to service theaters throughout the country, but his job is made harder by a rival who is stealing his ideas, probably with assistance from someone working inside his own company. Kent is so overwhelmed with work that he doesn't realize that his secretary Nan (Joan Blondell) has fallen in love with him and is doing her best to protect him as well as his interests.

Kent's business partners announce that they have a big deal pending with the Apolinaris theater circuit, but getting the contract depends on Kent impressing Mr. Apolinaris (Paul Porcasi) with three spectacular prologues, presented on the same night, one after another at three different theaters. Kent locks himself and his staff in the offices to prevent espionage leaks while they choreograph and rehearse the three production numbers. Kent then stages "Honeymoon Hotel", "By a Waterfall" (featuring the famous "Human Waterfall") and "Shanghai Lil", featuring Cagney and Ruby Keeler dancing together.

Tuesday, Jan. 21 - The Invisible Ray

The Invisible Ray (1936)

A visionary astronomer, Dr. Janos Rukh (Boris Karloff), has invented a telescope that can look far out into deep space, into the Andromeda Galaxy, and photograph light rays that will show the Earth's past. He has theorized about this being possible for some years, much to his discredit among his fellow scientist-colleagues. Looking at the remote past on a planetarium-like dome in his lab, two of those ardently skeptical scientists, Dr. Benet (Bela Lugosi) and Sir Francis Stevens (Walter Kingsford), watch a large meteorite smash into the Earth a billion years ago, in what is now the continent of Africa. Amazed by Rukh's demonstration, the pair invite him to go on an expedition to locate the impact site.

Rukh finds the meteorite, but is exposed to its unknown radiation, now dubbed "Radium X". This causes him to glow in the dark and to make his mere touch instantaneous deadly to any living thing. The exposure also begins to warp his mind. Returning to the base camp, he entreats Dr. Benet to devise a means of neutralizing Radium X's poisoning effect. Benet develops a serum that holds the lethal element's toxicity at bay, but Rukh must take regular doses of the antidote or he will revert to being a luminous killing machine. Rukh returns to his jungle base and learns from Benet that this situation has been complicated by the romantic relationship between Rukh's wife, Diana (Frances Drake), and Ronald Drake (Frank Lawton), the nephew of Lady Arabella Stevens (Beulah Bondi), Dr. Stevens' wife.

Benet takes a piece of the meteorite back to Europe, where he modifies its effects to help people, including curing the blind. Working along similar lines, Rukh cures his mother's blindness, but in spite of her warning, he goes to Paris to confront Benet and the others. There, he pretends to acknowledge his wife's new relationship with Drake, but in reality, it is the first step in his plan for revenge. Rukh murders a Frenchman he closely resembles, making it appear that he has died and been rendered unrecognizable due to an accident with Radium X.

Believing the deception, Diana marries Ronald. Rukh now begins to use his radiation poisoning to kill off the expedition members. He marks each death by disintegrating a single statue on the exterior of a church across from where he is hiding. Each time, he focuses the radiation through a window using a raygun-like device. He manages to kill both Stevenses before the police realize what is happening. Dr. Benet helps them set a trap by convening a scientific conference at his home to discuss Radium X, but Rukh secretly gains access and kills Benet. He has saved his revenge on Ronald and Diana for last but finds himself unable to kill his former wife. This hesitation brings him to a confrontation with his mother, the most important woman in his life. She has foreseen her son's growing madness and smashes the last of his antidote bottles in order to stop him. As the Radium X begins to consume him from within, Rukh jumps from a window. He disappears in an explosive flame, having been vaporized before reaching the ground.

Monday, Jan. 20 - Man on the Roof & Over the Wall

Man on the Roof (1976) Mannen på taket (original title)

Stockholm policeman Martin Beck (Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt) is called in to investigate the murder of a fellow officer. Beck and his partner, Einar Ronn (Håkan Serner), soon discover that the murdered policeman was well known to his colleagues for his excessive brutality, though his misdeeds were never reported to higher authorities. As they pursue their investigation, a sniper (Ingvar Hirdvall) climbs to a roof in downtown Stockholm and starts firing at every uniformed officer he sees.

Over the Wall (1938)

Dick Foran is a truckdriver who's handy with his dukes and doubles as a fighter. His manager Ward Bond gets him a fight, but doublecrosses him and Foran's opponent knocks him out in the first round using some loaded gloves.

Foran settles with Bond by coldcocking him. But gangster Dick Purcell sees an opportunity to get rid of Bond who he doesn't like and kills him and lays the blame on Foran. Of course Foran goes to prison, protesting his innocence all the way.

Just like James Cagney in Each Dawn I Die, Foran is one mean and nasty prisoner until prison chaplain John Litel, doubling for Pat O'Brien takes him in hand. Turns out Foran has a nice singing voice and he starts broadcasting from prison.

Sunday, Jan. 19 - The Men

The Men (1950)

When Ken (Marlon Brando) is shot in battle, he loses the use of both his legs. In the hospital, he spends his time mired in self-pity, making little effort to respond to treatment. After much encouragement from his devoted fiancée, Ellen (Teresa Wright), he finally consents to let kindly Dr. Brock (Everett Sloane) help him and is determined to be able to stand up on his wedding day. However, he and Ellen begin to question whether they're truly ready to accept the burden of his disability.

Saturday, Jan. 18 - Murder on the Campus

Murder on the Campus (1933)

A student is killed at the top of a tower on a college campus. No one saw anyone come down from the tower and there was no place for the killer to hide. Charles Starrett plays Bill Bartlett a reporter who just happened to be on the scene of the crime. He's interested in a girl who becomes one of the suspects in the murder.She is working her way through college as a singer in a night club run by a gambler known as Blackie. As more deaths occur the reasons for the murder become less clear, especially as we learn about some of the suspects.

Friday, Jan. 17 - Bluebeard

Bluebeard (1944)

In Paris a killer is strangling young women and dumping their dead bodies into the Seine and is nicknamed "Bluebeard "after the classic French story of the man who murdered his wives. As women group together to travel in the evening streets, the outdoor puppet theatre of Gaston (John Carradine) becomes a popular place for people to convene. When Lucille (Jean Parker) sees Gaston's puppets she is enthralled and an emotional bond is formed with the performance artist. When Gaston returns home waiting for him is a former love Renee (Sonia Sorel) who is jealous that Gaston is interested in Lucille. In a calculated cold act Gaston strangles Renee and dumps her body into the river. As Gaston's relationship with Lucille develops police Inspector Lefevre (Nils Asther) who is the fiancé of Lucille's sister Francine (Teala Loring) and when the investigation leads them to a suspicious art dealer Lamarte (Ludwig Stossel) who may be a front for a murderous painter, Francine agrees to model for the artist who turns out to be Gaston. The police believe they have their man and close in.

Thursday, Jan. 16 - Son of Frankenstein

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone), son of Henry Frankenstein, relocates his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson) and their young son Peter (Donnie Dunagan) to the family castle. Wolf wants to redeem his father's reputation, but finds that such a feat will be harder than he thought after he encounters hostility from the villagers, who resent him for the destruction his father's monster wreaked years before. Aside from his family, Wolf's only friend is the local police Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill) who bears an artificial arm, his real arm having been "ripped out by the roots" in an encounter with the Monster as a child.

While investigating his father's castle, Wolf meets Ygor (Bela Lugosi), a demented blacksmith who has survived a hanging for graverobbing and has a deformed neck as a result. Wolf finds the Monster's comatose body in the crypt where his grandfather and father were buried; his father's sarcophagus bears the phrase "Heinrich von Frankenstein: Maker of Monsters" written in chalk. He decides to revive the Monster to prove his father was right, and to restore honor to his family. Wolf uses the torch to scratch out the word "Monsters" on the casket and write "Men" beneath it.

When the Monster (Boris Karloff) is revived, it only responds to Ygor's commands and commits a series of murders; the victims were all jurors at Ygor's trial. Wolf discovers this and confronts Ygor. Wolf shoots Ygor and apparently kills him. The Monster abducts Wolf's son as revenge, but cannot bring himself to kill the child. Krogh and Wolf pursue the Monster to the nearby laboratory, where a struggle ensues, during which the Monster tears out Krogh's false arm. Wolf swings on a rope and knocks the Monster into a molten sulphur pit under the laboratory, saving his son.

Wolf leaves the keys to Frankenstein's castle to the villagers. The film ends with the village turning out to cheer the Frankenstein family as they leave by train.

Wednesday, Jan. 15 - Gold Diggers of 1933

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Chorus girls Polly, Carol and Trixie are ecstatic when they learn that Broadway producer Barney Hopkins is putting on a new show. He promises all of the girls parts in the new show and even hires their neighbor Brad Roberts, an unknown composer, to write some of the music. There's only one problem: he doesn't have the money to bankroll it all. That problem is solved when Brad turns out to be quite rich but he insists that he not perform. When opening night comes, the juvenile lead can't go on forcing Brad to take the stage. He's recognized of course and his upper crust family wants him to quit. When he refuses, they tell him to end his relationship with Polly or face having his income cut off. When Brad's snobbish brother Lawrence mistakes Carol for Polly, the girls decide to have a bit of fun and teach him a lesson.

Tuesday, Jan. 14 - The House That Would Not Die

The House That Would Not Die (1970)

Ruth Bennett has inherited an old house in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in the Amish country. She moves in to the house with Sara Dunning, her niece. The house was built during the Revolutionary era and is said to be haunted by the spirits of its original inhabitants who are disinclined towards hospitality. With the help of Pat McDougal, a local professor and Stan Whitman, one of his students, they delve into the history of the house and find a scandal that involves a Revolutionary War General Douglas Campbell, who was suspected of being involved with British enemies, and his daughter Amanda "Ammie", who was presumed to have disappeared after eloping with her boyfriend Anthony. The spirits of Campbell and Ammie take possession of Pat's and Sara's bodies, and it is learned that the general killed Anthony and Ammie the night they tried to elope.

Monday, Jan. 13 - The Phantom Light

The Phantom Light (1935)

Sam Higgins alights at the train station for the Welsh village of Tan-Y-Bwlch to take over the North Stack lighthouse, which is believed by the locals to be haunted. There, he meets Alice Bright. She asks him to take her along to the lighthouse, explaining that she belongs to a "psychic society" and wants to investigate the "legend of the phantom lighthouse". He turns her down.

Sam reports to Harbour Master David Owen, who informs him that Jack Davis, Sam's predecessor, "just disappeared", as did the chief lighthouse keeper before him. Owen confirms there was a major shipwreck a year ago, caused, so he believes, by the phantom light. Jim Pearce tries to bribe Sam to take him to the lighthouse; Sam guesses he is a reporter. Alice later overhears Jim ask about hiring a boat, so she tries her charms on him, but again fails.

When Owen, Dr. Carey and others take Sam by boat to the lighthouse, Carey examines Tom Evans, a mentally disturbed member of the resident staff. Evans tries to strangle the doctor, who decides he cannot be moved in his present state, to Sam's discomfort. Just to be safe, Sam ties Tom up. Sam's remaining assistants are Claff Owen (David's brother and Tom's uncle) and Bob Peters. Then Jim shows up in a boat that is conveniently out of petrol. To Jim's surprise, he has a stowaway: Alice. Sam starts questioning his unwanted guests. Alice now tells him she is "an actress hiding from the police" because two admirers fought over her with knives.

Strange things start occurring. First a fire breaks out near Tom's bed. Then, Sam overhears Jim plotting something with Alice and admitting he is not a reporter. He fears they may be communist saboteurs. Jim has Alice hang a radio aerial out the window of the bunk room, but Tom (whom Claff has untied) sees her do it and sneaks up behind her. He hears Jim returning, so he hastily retreats to his bunk. When Sam shows up, Jim tells him he is a naval officer after wreckers out to sink the Mary Fern for the insurance, most of the shares being held by the locals. Then Alice informs him that she is a detective from Scotland Yard.

Jim starts to transmit a warning to the approaching ship, but Bob and Claff are rendered unconscious, the light is sabotaged, and a decoy light is turned on. After Jim sends Alice to fetch Sam, Tom knocks Jim out and disables his radio. When Alice and Sam return, Tom locks them all in. Jim, however, climbs down the side of the lighthouse and swims to the village to alert the coast guard. Claff wakes up and unlocks the door, allowing Sam to set about repairing the light. They overhear Carey talking to Tom and learn that the doctor is the mastermind. The Mary Fern is saved just in time. Then, trapped at the top of the lighthouse, Carey decides to jump.

Sunday, Jan. 12 - Horrors of the Black Museum

Horrors of the Black Museum (1959)

A mystery writer (Michael Gough) baffles Scotland Yard with ingenious murders staged by his hypnotized helper (Graham Curnow).

Saturday, Jan. 11 - 42nd Street

42nd Street (1933)

When revered Broadway director Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) falls on hard times with both his health and his finances, he helms an ambitious musical as a final production before his retirement. His lead actress, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels), is torn between two loves--the show's wealthy backer, Abner Dillon (Guy Kibbee), and the earnest but penniless actor Pat Denning (George Brent) --while aspiring young performer Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) waits in the wings, hoping for her big break.

Friday, Jan. 10 - Mister Roberts & Red Ensign

Mister Roberts (1955)

Bittersweet film about a supply officer aboard a decrepit cargo ship during World War II who yearns for a transfer into a combat zone but is thwarted by the ship's captain, a petty tyrant. Forced to endure various humiliations in exchange for privileges, the crew engage in minor acts of resistance, and look to Mr. Roberts for inspiration and moral support. Based on the hit Broadway play.

Strike! (1934) Red Ensign (original title)

In 1933, David Barr is the manager and chief designer of Glasgow shipbuilding firm Burns, McKinnon & Co. He comes up with a radical new ship design that can carry 25% more cargo for the tonnage and use less fuel at a time when the industry as a whole is in recession. Barr decides to build not just one ship, as Lord Dean advises, but twenty (to bring the costs down to a manageable level). Manning, a rival shipbuilder Barr loathes, hears rumors and sends two men undercover to find out what they can. They manage to get themselves hired. Manning then offers to purchase either the design or all the ships they can build. Both offers are rejected.

With the support of June McKinnon, the chief shareholder, Barr proceeds, despite the opposition of Lord Dean and other members of the board. He receives a severe setback when the Government declines to give him a contract or pass a shipping bill, and is driven to use his own money to try to complete the ship. When he runs out and cannot secure a loan to cover the payroll, a rabble-rouser tries to stir up the men, but Barr convinces them to stick by him. June, having heard his rousing speech, offers to let him obtain a loan on the security of her trust fund.

Manning's men knock out the night watchman and blow up the ship being built; a man named MacLeod is killed. Bassett, a reporter, informs Barr that MacLeod was third officer on one of Manning's ships.

Now needing funds desperately, Barr forges Lord Dean's signature to obtain a loan when Dean, as a trustee of June's trust, refuses to cooperate (partly out of jealousy of Barr and June's developing relationship). Manning finds out and tries to blackmail Barr into selling the design, but Barr refuses to do so and is convicted of forgery. Later, however, Manning is sought for manslaughter, while Barr is present when June launches the first of the new ships, the SS David Barr.

Thursday, Jan. 9 - Divorce in the Family

Divorce in the Family (1932)

Divorced Ethnologist John Parker loves his two boys, Al and Terry, and misses them terribly when they have to leave his archaeological dig at the end of the summer. While Al goes to military school, Terry returns home and learns that his mother, Grace, has married Dr. Phil Shumaker, a stable man who can provide the home that Grace never had with John. When John gets a note from Terry saying that Grace has married and he wishes he were dead, John decides to give up his work and go to his sons. He visits Al at military school first and asks his assistance in helping Terry to accept Phil as his new father. Though the terms of the divorce prevent John from seeing Terry at home, he takes a place near them and asks Al to keep in touch with him about Terry's progress. Though Phil tries to be a good father, he does not understand Terry and makes rules that are impossible for the child to follow.

Wednesday, Jan. 8 - They Call Him Cemetery & Escape From Sahara

They Call Him Cemetery (1971) Gli fumavano le Colt... lo chiamavano Camposanto (original title)

The McIntire brothers return home after an eastern upbringing to find their crippled father and his fellow ranchers under the grip of local racketeers who are bleeding them for protection money under threat of violence. The brothers, full of moral fury but ill equipped for a town addicted to the gun, confront the bad guys and make themselves targets for the mysterious gang leader who keeps his face covered and enlists the services of a paid gunman to eliminate the new trouble makers. Unbeknownst to all, another gunman has arrived. A stranger who seems to have the welfare of the brothers at heart and who is an old and respected acquaintance of the racketeer's newly hired man. The two gunmen spar around each other, attempting to serve their own purposes without coming into open conflict or transgressing their 'professional code'. Eventually, their torn loyalties can lead them in only one direction and when the brothers discover the racketeer's true identity and where he has stashed all his ill gotten gains a showdown is inevitable.

Escape from Sahara (1958) Madeleine und der Legionär (original title)

It's a nightmare at 20,000 feet when three French Foreign Legion paratroopers decide to desert, and force their plane's pilot to take them to Spain. Following a fight and a desert crash-landing (no, no... that's not right), they meet a nurse (Hildegard Neff) who offers help (actually, they offer her help - of a sort). There are run-ins with military patrols, a trip on a merchant ship--and romance--until the deserters find themselves in the country they fear more than any other--France!

Tuesday, Jan. 7 - Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai

Bushido (1963) Bushidô zankoku monogatari (original title)

After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he remembers his gruesome family history, which sees his ancestors sacrificing themselves for the sake of their cruel lords, and realizes that he's about to repeat their mistakes.

Monday, Jan. 6 - Boulevard Nights & The Philadelphia Story

Boulevard Nights (1979)

Raymond Avila (Richard Yñiguez) is a young Mexican-American trying to resist the lure of street gangs in East Los Angeles. Raymond's brother, Chuco (Danny De La Paz), has been less successful; despite Raymond's attempts to steer him clear, Chuco finds a sense of belonging by being part of a gang. As Raymond's relationship with his girlfriend (Marta Du Bois) deepens, he takes steps toward building himself a future. But all that is thrown into jeopardy when tragedy strikes and a gang war erupts.

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

This classic romantic comedy focuses on Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn), a Philadelphia socialite who has split from her husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), due both to his drinking and to her overly demanding nature. As Tracy prepares to wed the wealthy George Kittredge (John Howard), she crosses paths with both Dexter and prying reporter Macaulay Connor (James Stewart). Unclear about her feelings for all three men, Tracy must decide whom she truly loves.

Sunday, Jan. 5 - The Cockeyed Miracle & The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

The Cockeyed Miracle (1946)

Aging shipbuilder Sam Griggs (Frank Morgan) is near the end of his career due to health problems. With the help of his friend Tom Carter (Cecil Kellaway), he has invested all of his family's money in a shaky real estate venture which he hopes will provide a large return. The rest of his family is happily unaware of the deal, preoccupied with their own future prospects.

Sam dies and meets the youthful ghost of his father Ben Griggs (Keenan Wynn), eager to shepherd his son into the afterlife. Sam insists on lingering to help his family as best he can, first persuading Ben to use his supernatural power to cause storms to help along a romance between his daughter and an oblivious lodger, and then to aid the success of his investment by impressing the potential buyer.

Having discovered his death and their own financial situation (but not the nature of his venture), Sam's wife Amy (Gladys Cooper) encourages her children to remember their father fondly. Tom arrives at their home to give the grieving family Sam's share, but succumbs to greed after writing the check and attempts to leave without informing them of their new inheritance.

Though Sam invisibly berates his faithless friend, he and his father seem helpless to prevent the betrayal. However, one last storm cast by Ben leads to Tom dying from a lightning strike. Knowing that the authorities will find the check on his body, Sam and Ben finally leave for the afterlife with Tom in tow.

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982)

After he is accused of murdering a lawman in 1901 Texas, a Mexican-American farmer flees and manages to elude a large posse for two weeks before he is finally captured.

Saturday, Jan. 4 - The Real McCoy

The Real McCoy (1930)

A city slicker from Elmira, NY, speeding through the back woods, gets a look at a lovely woman, a local school teacher, and decides to pose as a mountain man, the last of the McCoys, to get her attention. A skunk and a split in his trousers may derail him before he gets properly started. Then, local whiskey runners think he's an undercover cop. To prove his bona fides, the gang wants him to sing an Appalachian song. Charley delivers.

Friday, Jan. 3 - Dark Waters & Dames

Dark Waters (2019)

A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.

Dames (1934)

Eccentric multimillionaire Ezra Ounce (Hugh Herbert), whose main purpose in life is raising American morals through a nationwide campaign, wants to be assured that his fortune will be inherited by upstanding relatives. He visits his cousin Matilda Hemingway (ZaSu Pitts) in New York City, in Horace's view the center of immorality in America. What Ounce finds most offensive are musical comedy shows and the people who put them on, and it just so happens that Matilda's daughter Barbara (Ruby Keeler) is a dancer and singer in love with a struggling singer and songwriter, her 13th cousin, Jimmy Higgens (Dick Powell). On Ezra's instructions, Jimmy the "black sheep" has been ostracized by the family, on pain of not receiving their inheritance.

Matilda's husband Horace (Guy Kibbee) meets a showgirl named Mabel (Joan Blondell), who's been stranded in Troy when her show folds, and connives her way into sleeping in Horace's train compartment as a way to get back home. Terrified of scandal, he leaves her some money and his business card, along with a note telling her to not mention their meeting to anyone; but when Mabel discovers that Horace is Barbara's father, she blackmails him into backing Jimmy's show.

Thursday, Jan. 2 - Easy Living

Easy Living (1937)

J.B. Ball, a rich financier, gets fed up with his free-spending family. He takes his wife's just-bought (very expensive) sable coat and throws it off the roof. It lands on poor hard-working girl Mary Smith, leading everyone to assume she is his mistress and has access to his millions.

Wednesday, Jan. 1 - The Secret 6

The Secret 6 (1931)

Bootlegger/cafe owner Ralph Bellamy recruits crude working man Wallace Beery to join his gang which is masterminded by crooked criminal defense lawyer Lewis Stone. Beery eventually takes over Bellamy's operation, beats a rival gang, becomes wealthy and dominates the city for several years until a secret group of 6 masked businessmen have him prosecuted and sent to the electric chair with the help of rival crusading newspapermen Clark Gable and Johnny Mack Brown. Waitress Jean Harlow is torn between her love for the honest newsman Brown and her financial dependence on her generous boss, Beery.

Tuesday, Dec. 31 - Modesty Blaise

Modesty Blaise (1966)

British Secret Service chief Sir Gerald Tarrant (Harry Andrews) recruits former criminal mastermind Modesty Blaise (Monica Vitti) to protect a shipment of diamonds en route to a Middle Eastern sheik, Abu Tahir (Clive Revill). The shipment has also attracted Gabriel (Dirk Bogarde), the head of a criminal organization that includes his henchman McWhirter (Clive Revill) and Mrs. Fothergill (Rossella Falk). Modesty believes that Gabriel, who maintains a compound in the Mediterranean, is dead, but he reveals himself to her.

In Amsterdam, Modesty reunites with her former lover, secret agent Paul Hagen (Michael Craig), while her partner, Willie Garvin (Terence Stamp), is reunited with an old flame, Nicole (Tina Aumont), who may have information on Gabriel. Nicole is killed by assassins working for Gabriel, who are in turn killed by Modesty and Willie. Modesty and Willie set themselves up as live bait to draw Gabriel out, but find themselves pursued by Tarrant and Hagen. Gabriel captures Modesty and forces Willie to help steal the diamonds.

Held prisoner on Gabriel's island, Modesty and Willie escape, killing Mrs. Fothergill. Thanks to a radio signal from Modesty, Abu Tahir's forces invade the island and capture Gabriel. Modesty gives the shipment of diamonds to Abu Tahir and, as her reward, asks for and receives the diamonds.