Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Friday, Feb. 28 - The Strip
Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.
Friday, February 28, 2020
Thursday, Feb. 27 - An Act of Murder
Fredric March plays Calvin Cooke, a by-the-book judge confronted with an agonizing dilemma when his beloved wife Cathy (Florence Eldridge, March's real wife) is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
Medication is unable to control Cathy's unbearable pain, so Judge Cooke somewhat impulsively commits what he intends as an act of murder-suicide, driving his car off the road on a rainy night while Cathy is obliviously sleeping.
Cathy dies, but the judge survives, and when he's physically recovered he turns himself in on a murder charge. A dedicated defense attorney (Edmond O'Brien) dating the Cookes' daughter (Geraldine Brooks) is appointed by the judge (John McIntire) hearing the case to represent Judge Cooke.
An autopsy raises the question of whether the judge actually killed his wife after all...but even so, he meant to do it.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Wednesday, Feb. 26 - Double Door
A domineering woman, Victoria Van Brett, tries to destroy her brother (Rip)'s marriage to young Anne Darrow.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Tuesday, Feb. 25 - Unexpected Uncle
Seton Mansley (Charles Coburn) is walking down a Florida street when he spies salesgirl Kathleen (Shirley) crying through a shop window. Kathleen has just been fired for her reaction when she was pinched by customer Johnny Kerrigan (James Craig).
Mansley wangles Kathleen's job back and she "adopts" him as her uncle. "Uncle Seton" supervises Kathleen's romance with the apologetic Johnny, trying to determine whether Johnny is proper husband material. At times Johnny's an irresponsible playboy; at other times he works such long hours he has no time for Kathleen.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Monday, Feb. 24 - Tales of Tomorrow: The Invader
A research team led by Dr. Burroughs witnesses a UFO crash into the sea. Burroughs' son Roy makes a dive on the ship, but when he surfaces, his father begins to realize that Roy is not himself.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Sunday, Feb. 23 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Alibi Me
Georgie Minnelli confronts Lucky Moore, his old childhood enemy, for interfering in his pinball machine racket. Georgie waves a gun in Lucky's face, but Lucky isn't intimidated. A cop named Larkin has just been made lieutenant, and Larkin vowed long ago that if either of these hated rivals turns up dead, the other had better have a good alibi. Georgie couldn't possibly get away with it. But Lucky has pushed Georgie too far and his old enemy shoots him dead anyway. Now the young gangster is desperate for an alibi. But getting one won't be easy.
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Saturday, Feb. 22 - Six Bridges to Cross
(Fictionalized account of famous Brink's robbery in 1950. Author Joe Dineen gained confidence of convicted Brink's gang leader Tony Pino, whose thinly-veiled story this is.)
Youth gang leader Jerry Florea is shot fleeing from a crime scene by rookie cop Ed Gallagher. Result: "he'll never have children of his own." Ed and Jerry develop a mutually beneficial friendship: Jerry gets the benefit of the doubt, Ed gets information that brings him rapid promotion. As years and jail terms go by, Ed's friendship with this likable rogue becomes strained, as hope for his reform dwindles.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Friday, Feb. 21 - What a Woman!
The Whirlwind, written by Anthony Street (pen name only), is the best selling novel of the last ten years, its success largely attributed to agent Carol Ainsley - the daughter of an actress and a US senator - she who has already sold the movie rights further to capitalize on the success she's already generated. No one except Street's publisher knows his real identity. Henry Pepper, Associate Editor of Knickerbocker Magazine, is assigned by his boss to write a multi-installment article on the success that is Carol Ainsley.
Carol is amenable to the idea until she learns that Henry does not want to write a standard biography, but rather an in depth profile of her workings, she reluctant to make public many of her working secrets, especially anything that may place her or her company in a bad light. Her next step, which she has the exclusive contract to do, is find the actor to play the hyper-masculine, romantic yet adventurous lead character of the Whirlwind, the identity of that actor who seems to be elusive at least to her and her staff. This difficulty is one of those items that she does not want Henry to know. However, based on what she learns of Street written in the inside jacket of The Whirlwind, she believes he would be the perfect person to portray his own character. She does whatever she can to find, convince and train "Anthony Street" to be the Whirlwind, which may not be as easy as it sounds and which may have unintended consequences. And she has to do it under the watchful eye of Henry, who takes great pleasure in making her life as difficult as possible, he having more than one motive for his madness.
Friday, February 21, 2020
Thursday, Feb. 20 - Intrigue
In post-war China, court-martialed pilot Brad Dunham (George Raft) now flies smuggled goods into the country. He attempts to force his immediate superior, Ramon Perez (Marvin Miller), to pay him more, but Perez resists, so Brad steals the cargo back.
The boss of the black-market operation is Tamara Baranoff (June Havoc), who agrees to Brad's demand of a 50% cut of the operation and fires Ramon as a show of good faith. Meanwhile, an American newspaper reporter, Marc Andrews (Tom Tully), a friend of Brad's, shows up in Shanghai to investigate black-market crime.
Brad meets a social worker, Linda Arnold (Helena Carter), and their friendship makes Tamara jealous. She insists that Brad do something about the prying reporter and steer clear of that other woman. Tamara's criminal rival tips off Marc that his pal Brad is involved with the crime ring.
Marc is knifed by Tamara's rival just as he is delivering a copy of his story exposing the black market. His dying wish is that Brad deliver the story for him, telling Brad that it was Tamara whose testimony led to Brad's unjust court-martial.
Brad distributes her black-market goods to needy citizens. Ramon turns up to ambush Brad, but his gun goes off, killing Tamara instead, and Ramon is placed under arrest. Brad and Linda contemplate a new life together.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Wednesday, Feb. 19 - Ever Since Eve
Marge Winton (Marion Davies) is fed up with having to quit job after job to avoid the advances of lecherous bosses. When she goes to the employment agency, she is surprised to discover that she is too beautiful for one position. So she gives herself a makeover, hiding her blond curls under a dark, severe wig, putting on glasses, and wearing a drab, unflattering dress.
The disguise works. Book publisher Abigail Belldon (Louise Fazenda) hires her as a secretary for lazy writer Freddy Matthews (Robert Montgomery). Freddy would rather go out and party with his girlfriend Camille Lansing than start on his novel. Abigail has already sold the film rights, and the deadline for delivering the book to the film studio is fast approaching. She figures a plain secretary will be one less distraction.
Despite his initial displeasure at Marge's appearance, Freddy gives in and accepts her. However, Camille keeps taking up too much of Freddy's time and attention, and Marge begins to fall for him as well. Thus, Marge has plenty of reason to try to sabotage their relationship. When this is discovered, she quits.
A complication arises when Freddy decides to rehire her. He shows up at her apartment unexpectedly and sees her without her disguise, so she has to pretend to be her roommate Sadie (Patsy Kelly). They spend the entire evening and part of the morning getting acquainted.
With the deadline only days away, however, Marge pretends to go out of town for a couple of weeks. The plan backfires. Instead of writing, Freddie goes after her. Camille finds out and follows as well. Marge has no choice but to show up at the hotel, registering first as the plain secretary, then as Sadie, juggling her two personas to keep Freddie in the dark. She finally gets an outline from him for the last few chapters, which she uses to finish the novel on her own.
Since he gave the outline to "Sadie", and she had no opportunity to give it to Marge, Freddie finally realizes that they are one and the same. He decides to marry her anyway.
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Tuesday, Feb. 18 - The Scarf
John Barrington escapes from an asylum for the criminally-insane and finds refuge on the ranch of turkey-raiser Ezra Thompson. Barrington, who has suffered from amnesia, finds his memory returning slightly and he sets out on his mission of learning the truth about whether or not he really murdered his sweetheart and is actually insane. He goes to Los Angeles to visit his oldest-and-best friend, psychiatrist David Dunbar, who was a witness to Barrington's crime. Dunbar repeats his story to Barrington, convinces Barrington that he did commit the crime, and then betrays him to the police. However, Thompson, Connie Carter and others are not totally convinced of Barrington's guilt.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Monday, Feb. 17 - Hello, Sister!
Peggy and her friend Millie are strolling down Broadway while Jimmy and Mac are trolling Broadway, and the four get together. Jimmy and Peggy get together in many romantic ways and Peggy soon finds that her expected baby needs a father. Since Jimmy is the father (to-be) she informs him, but Jimmy thinks she is lying.
Monday, February 17, 2020
Sunday, Feb. 16 - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Henry Jekyll (Spencer Tracy) believes good and evil exist in everyone. Experiments reveal his evil side, named Mr. Hyde. Experience teaches him how evil and violent Hyde can be: he rapes Ivy Pearson (Ingrid Bergman), who earlier expressed interest in Jekyll. Meanwhile, Jekyll is preparing to marry Beatrix Emery (Lana Turner). Over the course of the film, Hyde abuses Ivy. Feeling remorse over the treatment inflicted on Ivy by his “monstrous” counterpart, Jekyll vows never to take the serum again, destroys the key to his lab, and sends money to Ivy anonymously. Ivy believes the money was sent by Hyde in order to trick her into believing she is now free. On the advice of a friend over her rattled nerves, she goes to Jekyll for comfort. Jekyll promises that Hyde will never hurt her again.
On the way to Emery's house for the announcement of his marriage to Beatrix, Jekyll transforms into Hyde without taking the serum. He goes over to Ivy's house, accuses her of meeting with Jekyll, and strangles her. He escapes back to his locked lab, only to recall that he no longer has the key. He fails to break into the front door of his place, so he hurries to his friend Dr. Lanyon (Ian Hunter) for help. Lanyon is shocked to find out that both Jekyll and Hyde are the same person as Hyde drinks the antidote in his friend's presence. Jekyll decides to break off his engagement to Bea in order to keep his dark secret. She refuses to accept, her reaction triggering Jekyll to become Hyde and frighten Bea. Her father (Donald Crisp) responds to her scream, only to be beaten to death by Hyde.
Lanyon later discovers a piece of Jekyll's cane at the scene, and he realizes his friend is responsible for the murder. He then leads police to search Jekyll's lab, where they find Jekyll, who earlier, as Hyde, had strong-armed past his butler, Poole (Peter Godfrey), to get to the antidote. Soon the cornered doctor starts transforming once again into Hyde as authorities question him in the lab. A struggle ensues and Lanyon shoots Hyde. As the monster dies, he reverts yet again and finally to Jekyll.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Saturday, Feb. 15 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Toby
New York, 1910. In a poor neighborhood, a heat wave is making everyone weary and truculent. Meanwhile, Mr. Birch is renting a basement flat for his fiancée, Edwina. She was his sweetheart twenty years ago; now, thanks to a newspaper advertisement she placed, the two have found each other again. He wants everything to be perfect for her arrival, which means, among other things, a dozen roses. She loved roses. It strikes him as a bad sign when the vase the roses were to go in breaks. The first real sign of trouble is seeing Edwina herself. She's still a beautiful woman and every bit the lady she always was. But she doesn't come alone. She arrives with a bundle in a baby blanket. This first shock gives way to more unpleasant surprises and mysterious behavior from the woman he hopes, at long last, to marry.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Friday, Feb. 14 - Romance on the High Seas
Although Mike (Don DeFore) and Elvira Kent (Janis Paige) are in love, each suspects the other of unfaithfulness. Elvira plans an anniversary cruise to Rio, but, when Mike cancels at the last minute and encourages her to go alone, Elvira is convinced he's seeing someone else. She asks singer Georgia Garrett (Doris Day) to go on the cruise in her place, unaware that Mike has hired a detective, Peter Virgil (Jack Carson), to take the cruise to spy on "Elvira."
Friday, February 14, 2020
Thursday, Feb. 13 - Black Eye
Fred Williamson stars as Stone, a Los Angeles-area private eye. After a movie star's funeral, the star's signature walking cane disappears. Stone discovers that the cane is somehow connected to a string of murders. Stone's investigation takes him onto a porn movie set and into a religious cult. A major subplot involves Stone's intermittent relationship with a young bisexual woman, and the tension therein.
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Wednesday, Feb. 12 - House of Frankenstein
After escaping from prison, the evil Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff) and his hunchbacked assistant, Daniel (J. Carrol Naish), plot their revenge against those who imprisoned them. For this, they recruit the powerful Wolf Man (Lon Chaney), Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange) and even Dracula himself (John Carradine). Niemann pursues those who wrong him, sending each monster out to do his dirty work. But his control on the monsters is weak at best and may prove to be his downfall.
Yeah, I know... we already watched this just a few months ago.
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Tuesday, Feb. 11 - The Picture of Dorian Gray
A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Monday, Feb. 10 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: None Are So Blind
Vain, pretentious Seymour Johnston didn't see himself that way. Nor does he see himself the way his late father did - as one who couldn't be trusted with a large inheritance,That's why Seymour's father left all his money to his sister, Seymour's Aunt Muriel. Once she's dead, the money will all go to him. But Muriel doesn't seem destined to die any time soon. In the meantime, how will Seymour keep his antique shop going, and be able to enjoy any of the finer things in life? When Seymour, reduced to eating in a diner, finds a wallet someone had dropped, the answer comes to him.
Monday, February 10, 2020
Sunday, Feb. 9 - All That Heaven Allows
Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) is an affluent widow in Stoningham in suburban New England, whose social life involves her country club peers, college-age children, and a few men vying for her affection.
She becomes interested in Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), her gardener, an intelligent, down-to-earth and respectful yet passionate younger man. Ron is content with his simple life outside the materialistic society and the two fall in love. Ron introduces her to people who seem to have no need for wealth and status and she responds positively. Cary accepts his proposal of marriage, but becomes distressed when her friends and college-age children are angry. They look down upon Ron and his friends and reject their mother for this socially unacceptable arrangement. Eventually, bowing to this pressure, she breaks off the engagement.
Cary and Ron continue their separate lives, both with many regrets, but Cary's children soon announce they are moving out. Having destroyed her chance at happiness, her son buys her a television set to keep her company. Before doing so, however, her daughter apologizes to her mother for her prior impulsive and foolish reaction to Ron, saying that there is still time if she really does love Ron. Cary's doctor points out that Cary is now lonelier than she was before meeting Ron.
When Ron has a life-threatening accident, Cary realizes how wrong she had been to allow other people's opinions and superficial social conventions to dictate her life choices and decides to accept the life Ron offers her. As he recovers, Cary is by his bedside telling him that she has returned home.
Sunday, February 9, 2020
Saturday, Feb. 8 - Deadline - U.S.A.
Ed Hutcheson, tough editor of the New York 'Day', finds that the late owner's heirs are selling the crusading paper to a strictly commercial rival. At first he sees impending unemployment as an opportunity to win back his estranged wife Nora. But when a reporter, pursuing a lead on racketeer Rienzi, is badly beaten, Hutcheson is stung into a full fledged crusade against the gangster, hoping Rienzi can be tied to a woman's murder...in the 3 issues before the end of 'The Day.'
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Friday, Feb. 7 - Heads Up
A Coast Guard ensign (Charles Rogers) boards a family yacht suspected of running rum.
Friday, February 7, 2020
Thursday, Feb. 6 - Black Friday
When his friend Professor Kingsley is at deaths door, brain surgeon Dr. Sovac saves his life by means of an illegal operation that transplants part of injured gangster Red Cannon's brain. Unfortunately, the operation has a disastrous Jeckll and Hyde side effect and under certain conditions the persona of Cannon emerges. Sovac soon learns of the duel personality and of half a million dollars the gangster has hidden away. He attempts to find the money through the manipulation of his friend, an attempt that brings Kingsley closer to madness as he alternates between a meek professor of English and a brutal gangster out for murderous revenge on those who tried to kill him.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Wednesday, Feb. 5 - Circle of Danger
Clay Douglas an American, comes to Britain, to find out the truth behind his brother's death during a commando operation in occupied France. After tracking down the surviving members of the raid, he confronts the killer, only to be told the truth about what really happened.
The story deals with a salvage captain leaving Florida to go all over the United Kingdom (Wales, Scotland and London) to seek out the surviving members of a commando team who operated in France during WWII and unravel the mysterious events surrounding his younger brother's death.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Tuesday, Feb. 4 - Black Legion
When passed over for promotion at work in favor of a foreign-born friend, Frank Taylor (Humphrey Bogart), a midwestern factory worker, joins the anti-immigrant Black Legion, a secret white vigilante organization portrayed as related to the Ku Klux Klan. Dressed in black robes and hoods, Taylor and the Legion mount a torchlight raid and burn down the friend's chicken farm, driving him out of town, so that Taylor can gain the job he believed was his. Soon, however, Taylor's recruiting activities with the Legion get in the way of his work, and he is demoted in favor of his Irish neighbor Mike Grogan (Clifford Soubier). The Legion takes action again, attacking Grogan.
Under the continued influence of the Legion, Taylor becomes a brutal racist, and alienates his wife (Erin O'Brien-Moore). He starts drinking heavily and takes up with a loose woman (Helen Flint). When his friend Ed Jackson (Dick Foran) tries to counsel him, a drunken Taylor tells about his Legion activities. Taylor reports the conversation to Cliff, a co-worker and fellow member of the Legion, who initiates a false rumor that Jackson is a woman-beater. On the pretext of punishing him for that offense, the Legion kidnaps Jackson, planning to flog him. Jackson tries to escape. As he is running away, Taylor shoots and kills him; breaking down afterward with guilt and remorse, he exclaims, "I didn't mean to shoot!"
Taylor is arrested for the murder, and the Legion threatens his wife and son to prevent him from implicating the secret group in the crime. Taylor finally tells the truth, resulting in all the members of the Black Legion being convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Monday, Feb. 3 - Decoy: Dream Fix
While on Juvenile watch, Casey finds a young teen struggling to walk and brings her into the station. The police find that Joanne, the teen, is hooked on heroin and could be linked to a drug supplier. Joanne's attorney comes to her rescue and sends her to a sanatorium for the time being, where Casey goes under the guise of Joanne's nurse to learn more. Casey earns her trust and she eventually leads Casey directly to the man who got her hooked.
Monday, February 3, 2020
Sunday, Feb. 2 - Gold Diggers of 1935
In the resort of Lake Waxapahachie, the swanky Wentworth Plaza is where the rich all congregate, and where the tips flow like wine. Handsome Dick Curtis (Dick Powell) is working his way through medical school as a desk clerk, and when rich, penny-pinching Mrs. Prentiss (Alice Brady) offers to pay him to escort her daughter Ann (Gloria Stuart) for the summer, Dick can't say no – even his fiancée, Arline Davis (Dorothy Dare) thinks he should do it. Mrs. Prentiss wants Ann to marry eccentric middle-aged millionaire T. Mosley Thorpe (Hugh Herbert), who's a world-renowned expert on snuffboxes, but Ann has other ideas. Meanwhile, her brother, Humbolt (Frank McHugh) has a weakness for a pretty face: he's been married and bought out of trouble by his mother several times.
Every summer, Mrs. Prentiss produces a charity show for the "Milk Fund", and this year she hires the flamboyant and conniving Russian dance director Nicolai Nicoleff (Adolphe Menjou) to direct the show. The parsimonious Mrs. Prentiss wants to spend the least amount possible, but Nicoleff and his set designer Schultz (Joseph Cawthorn) want to be as extravagant as they can, so they can rake off more money for themselves, and for the hotel manager (Grant Mitchell) and the hotel stenographer Betty Hawes (Glenda Farrell), who's blackmailing the hapless snuffbox fancier Thorpe.
Of course, Dick and Ann fall in love, Humbolt marries Arline, and the show ends up costing Mrs. Prentiss an arm and a leg, but in the end she realizes that having a doctor in the family will save money in the long run.
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Saturday, Feb. 1 - Mystery of the Wax Museum
In London, sculptor Ivan Igor struggles in vain to prevent his partner Worth from burning his wax museum...and his 'children.' Years later, Igor starts a new museum in New York, but his maimed hands confine him to directing lesser artists. People begin disappearing (including a corpse from the morgue); Igor takes a sinister interest in Charlotte Duncan, fiancée of his assistant Ralph, but arouses the suspicions of Charlotte's roommate, wisecracking reporter Florence.
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