Friday, April 29 - Julie

Julie (1956)

Her new husband's behaviour convinces Julie Benton that his jealousy is dangerous, and when he admits he killed her first husband she realises she has to get away. A long-time friend helps all he can, but even in a town the size of San Francisco, Benton seems able to track them down. The police can do nothing despite a death threat, so the next move is up to Julie.

Thursday, April 28 - What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969)

Claire Marrable (Geraldine Page) is a widow whose housekeepers have a mysteriously high turnover rate. When Marrable's most recent maid goes missing, the maid's former employer, Alice Dimmock (Ruth Gordon), takes the job to investigate the disappearance. With the help of her nephew (Robert Fuller), Alice discovers that the widow is responsible for the missing housekeepers and attempts to reveal Marrable's dark secrets -- before she disappears as well.

Wednesday, April 27 - Destination Murder

Destination Murder (1950)

Laura Mansfield's father is killed, apparently by a telegraphic messenger. She spots Jackie Wales in a police lineup but can't identify him positively. Later, she arranges to meet him and is convinced he was the killer, but he was acting for someone else. She gets to know Jackie to find out who the boss is, taking a job in the Vogue Club, owned by a man named Armitage. Meanwhile, Alice, Armitage's greedy mistress, goes after Jackie and lures him into blackmailing the nightclub owner. Armitage discovers the betrayal, and kills the two, but Laura schemes to get closer so she can prove him guilty.

Tuesday, April 26 - The Big Boodle

The Big Boodle (1957)

Ned Sherwood, dealer in a Havana casino (pre-Castro), gets 500 counterfeit pesos from an anonymous, attractive blonde. Then he's beaten and wounded by two thugs trying to retrieve the bills. Then the police suspect him of being the counterfeiter. Then the real counterfeiter suspects him of having the missing plates. And someone is trying to kill Ned, who has little choice but to pursue the case himself, through a Cuban underworld where no one is what they seem.

Monday, April 25 - The Boss

The Boss (1956)

Coming home at the end of World War I, Matt Brady (John Payne), the black-sheep brother of big-city political boss Tim Brady (Roy Roberts), is a loose cannon who gets into drunken fights and impulsively marries a total stranger, the plain but kind-hearted Lorry (Gloria McGhee). Taking over his brother's political machine after Tim's sudden death, Matt becomes powerful and extremely wealthy, but his corrupt dealings with a local gangster (Robin Morse) threaten to destroy everything he has.

Sunday, April 24 - The Catered Affair

The Catered Affair (1956)

At breakfast, Jane announces that she and Ralph are getting married the next week. All Jane and Ralph want is a small wedding with the immediate family and no reception, because Jane's parents are poor and Jane and Ralph can borrow a car for their honeymoon. But at dinner that night, all Ralph's parents talk about are the big weddings they gave their daughters, and everything escalates. Suddenly it's a big wedding breakfast with hundreds of guests. The problem is that for 12 years, Tom has been saving money to buy his own cab and license, but now that he can, all of that money is going towards a wedding that neither he nor Jane nor Ralph really want.

Friday, April 22 - Fear Is the Key

Fear Is the Key (1972)

'Fear' opens in Louisiana, as an unnamed man (Barry Newman) is in radio contact with a plane. Suddenly it is shot out of the sky, and crashes. He looks mortified. We then move to a bar, where the same man raises a fuss because he cannot get a drink on a Sunday. He then beats up cops when they try to arrest him. He winds up in court, and here we learn his name is John Talbot, a former underwater salvage expert wanted by Interpol. Also present is Sarah Ruthven (Suzy Kendall). Before he can be sentenced, Talbot escapes, taking Suzy as hostage. In a stolen car, they are chased relentlessly.

When the chase is finally over, he finds himself in the huge mansion of Kendall's father, and that is when you realize that this has been all some sort of set-up that Kendall seems to have been an innocent pawn in...

Thursday, April 21 - The Human Comedy

The Human Comedy (1943)

The film is the story of a teenaged Homer Macauley in high school, working part-time as a telegram delivery boy, in the fictional town of Ithaca, California, during World War II. The effects of the war on the "Home Front" over a year in Homer's life are depicted in a series of perceptive vignettes—some amusing, some grave, some ugly, some touching, some sentimental—involving himself, his family, friends and neighbors in his California hometown, and his brother Marcus, a Private in the U.S. Army. The storyline is introduced and directed by a narrator, Homer's father, who has been dead for two years.

Wednesday, April 20 - Man on a Tightrope

Man on a Tightrope (1953)

Elia Kazan’s 1953 film stars Fredric March as the owner of an impoverished circus in Communist-ruled Czechoslovokia who plots to flee across the border to freedom, taking his entire troupe of performers and wild animals with him. The cast also includes Gloria Grahame, Terry Moore, Cameron Mitchell, Richard Boone and Adolphe Menjou.

Tuesday, April 19 - The Girl in Black Stockings

The Girl in Black Stockings (1957)

Near a small Utah town, visiting lawyer David Hewson finds the slashed body of party girl Marcia Morgan, his fellow tenant at Parry Lodge. Sheriff Jess Holmes considers everyone at the motel a suspect, even owner Edmund Parry, a woman hater who is quadriplegic...or is he? While Holmes investigates and the suspects try to hide mutual fears, the killer strikes again...

Monday, April 18 - Fashions of 1934

Fashions of 1934 (1934)

A genial racketeer and his assorted companions hope to become very rich by stealing the FASHIONS OF 1934.

Businessman Sherwood Nash (William Powell) and designer Lynn Mason (Bette Davis) come together for a scheme to sell knock-off dresses to boutiques. When the stores find out, however, Sherwood gets out of it by saying he will go to Paris and secretly copy European designs for them. Once there, he finds out a famous designer's "duchess" fiancée is his friend from New Jersey, and adds her to his scheme. But Lynn, who loves Sherwood, is losing patience and considers leaving him if he continues.

Sunday, April 17 - The Man in the Net

The Man in the Net (1959)

Alan Ladd plays an artist who has left the pressure of NYC and his full time job in order to paint. He spends most of his time in the woods, painting, while a group of local kids play nearby and talk with him. His major problem isn't the brushes and colors, though, it's his wife (Carolyn Jones), an alcoholic who wants to return to the social atmosphere that helped her drinking along in the first place. Here in the boondocks, she's hooked up with the ritzy set, to Ladd's displeasure.

When he returns from a business trip to New York City, his wife is missing, there is blood on his painting clothes, his paintings have been destroyed, and everybody thinks he's responsible. With the help of the children he has befriended, he eludes the police and is able to get the proof he needs to exonerate himself.

Saturday, April 16 - The Hucksters

The Hucksters (1947)

Victor Norman is just out of the service and looking for a job in advertising. By playing hard to get, he figures that he can get a good job and a large salary. The first thing he has to do is get a war widow to endorse Beautee Soap - a client of the Kimberly Agency. He meets with Kay Dorrance and gets the endorsement and Mr. Evans, the head of Beautee Soap is temporarily happy. Victor's job is now to work with Mr. Evans, a man who is a strict and demanding client. Everything should be rosy, but Victor, a bachelor, finds himself more attracted to Kay, a widow, than young single Jean Ogilvie.

Friday, April 15 - The Threat

The Threat (1949)

At Folsom State Prison, several inmates escape...including killer Arnold Kluger, who swore revenge on the detective and district attorney responsible for his conviction. Despite precautions, the two men are soon in Kluger's power, together with showgirl Carol whom he suspects of informing on him. At a shack in the California desert, Kluger, two henchmen, and four hostages wait, and wait, for an escape plane that may never come.

Thursday, April 14 - Paradise for Three & Dinner at the Sporting Club

Paradise for Three (1938)

Multi-millionaire soap industrialist Frank Morgan (as Rudolph Tobler) holds a slogan contest for his company, with the winner and runner-up prizes awarded a two week vacation at the ritzy Palace hotel in the Swiss Alps. Unbeknownst to all, Mr. Morgan has entered his own contest under the name "Edward Schultz" and come in second place. First place winner is Robert Young (as Fritz Hagedorn), an unemployed American in Vienna who is several months behind in his rent payments.

Morgan decides to go on the vacation and see how poor people live. Concerned about her eccentric boss receiving less than spectacular service, his possessive housekeeper Edna May Oliver (as Mrs. Kunkel) calls to let the hotel staff know Morgan is arriving incognito.

Due to a mix-up, the staff thinks Mr. Young is the soap tycoon. Both men attract attention from fortune-hunting divorcée Mary Astor (as Irene Mallebre). And then I changed the channel and missed the romance between Robert Young and Tobler's daughter Hilde (Florence Rice).

Play for Today: Dinner at the Sporting Club (Season 9 Episode 4 aired Nov 7, 1978)

John Thaw plays Dinny Mathews a small time boxing promoter who struggles with his conscience as to whether or not to provide a fighter for a Sporting Club promotion, a fighter he knows is unfit against an opponent who is way out of his league. However Mathews needs sponsorship and this would be the ideal opportunity to mix with the "frilly shirted" sportsmen who enjoy their lavish lifestyle as fighters slug it out as the steak is served.

Wednesday, April 13 - Johnny Staccato: The Return

Johnny Staccato: The Return (Season 1 Episode  14 - aired Dec 17, 1959)

Korean War veteran Eddie Dasko escapes from a mental hospital. Dasko is sure that his wife has been seeing another man, and he intends to kill her.

Tuesday, April 12 - Our Girl Friday

The Adventures of Sadie 

Original title: Our Girl Friday (1953)

Rich Sadie Patch (Dame Joan Collins) is marooned on a desert island after an emergency on her cruise ship. With her are Irish stoker Pat Plunkett (Kenneth More), prickly young Jimmy Carrol (George Cole), and bald and bookish Professor Gibble (Robertson Hare). All fancy their chances.

Monday, April 11- Three Strangers

Three Strangers (1946)

After convincing two strangers, Jerome Arbutny (Sydney Greenstreet) and John West (Peter Lorre), to come to her apartment, Crystal Shackelford (Geraldine Fitzgerald) explains that at the stroke of midnight her statue of the goddess Kwan Yin will open its eyes, look into the souls of three strangers and grant their deepest wishes. The trio jointly invests in a sweepstake ticket, then separate, only to have their true natures demolish the possibility that Kwan Yin will fulfill their dreams.

Sunday, April 10 - A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)

Pinky (Jordan) is released from prison and has decided to go straight from now on, but takes a job as a maintenance man at a large bank, which gives him a lot of undue attention from "Ivan the Terrible" (Niven), the local hoodlum. By using Pinky, Ivan hopes to rob the bank, and Pinky starts to like the idea of going back to his old ways.

Saturday, April 9 - A Warning to the Curious

A Warning to the Curious - TV Movie (1972)

An amateur archaeologist, Mr Paxton (Peter Vaughan), travels to the coastal Norfolk town of Seaburgh. His research has uncovered an old Anglo-Saxon legend telling of three fabled crowns that protect England from invasion. One is said to have been lost in a war, a second lost to the sea - but the third is thought to be hidden somewhere near Seaburgh. Paxton checks into a local inn where, despite the suspicions of the locals, he hears that another archaeologist searching for the crown was found dead more than a decade ago. His inquiries lead him to the grave of a local man, William Ager who was said to be the last of his line and a guardian of the crown. Paxton goes to search the woods near Ager's former home but his excavations will unearth something more than the fabled crown.

Friday, April 8 - Homicidal

Homicidal (1961)

The story centers around a murderous scheme to collect a rich inheritance. The object of murder is Miriam Webster, who is to share in the inheritance with her half brother Warren, who lives with his childhood guardian Helga in the mansion where Warren and Mariam grew up. Confined to a wheelchair after recently suffering a stroke, Helga is cared for by her nurse Emily, a strange young woman who has formed a close bond with Warren.

Thursday, April 7 - The Killer That Stalked New York

The Killer That Stalked New York (1950)

Sheila Bennet returns to New York from Cuba carrying $40,000 worth of smuggled diamonds - and smallpox, which could start a devastating epidemic in the unprotected city. Treasury agent Johnson loses her but keeps doggedly on the trail, while Public Health Doctor Wood searches in vain for the unknown person spreading the deadly disease far and wide. Meanwhile, the increasingly ill Sheila is concerned only with her faithless husband Matt, who plans to abscond with the diamonds.

Wednesday, April 6 - The Slasher

The Slasher Original title: Cosh Boy (1953)

Amongst the bomb-sites and dark alleys of postwar London, Roy Walsh (James Kenney) and his gang of juvenile delinquents waylay and rob old ladies. Without parental control from his war-widowed doting mother, Walsh, already on probation, drifts into more and more devious and serious offences.

Tuesday, April 5 - The Black Torment

The Black Torment (1964)

After a three-month absence, Sir Richard Fordyce and his new bride return to his estate under a black cloud. A young woman who lived on his lands was brutally raped and murdered just two days prior to his return. Her last words seemed to accuse Sir Richard of being the culprit. In addition, several of the locals report seeing Sir Richard's dead first wife chasing him through the village on horseback yelling "Murderer!" Sir Richard is at a loss to explain these strange events. He has been more than 100 miles away for months. Is it witchcraft or something equally sinister? As the dead bodies begin to pile-up, Sir Richard must discover the truth to keep his tenants from revolting and losing his new wife.

Monday, April 4 - Sparrows Can't Sing

Sparrows Can't Sing (1963)

Charlie returns to the East End after two years at sea to find his house demolished and wife Maggie gone. Everyone else knows she is now shacked up with married bus driver Bert and a toddler, and they all watch with more than a little interest at the trail of mayhem Charlie leaves as he goes about sorting things out.

Sunday, April 3 - Deadline at Dawn

Deadline at Dawn (1946)

Alex, a radio-specialist sailor on leave, recovers from a drink-induced blackout with a large sum of money belonging to Edna Bartelli, a B-girl who invited him home to fix her radio. He tries to return the money with the reluctant aid of June Goffe, a sweet but oh-so-tired dance hall girl. They find Edna murdered. Not quite sure he didn't do it himself, Alex and June have four hours in the dead of night to find the real killer before his leave ends. Their quest brings them into contact with a sleazy kaleidoscope of minor characters as the clues get more and more tangled.

Saturday, April 2 - Terror Street

Terror Street - Original title: 36 Hours (1953)

Bill Rogers (Dan Duryea), an American jet pilot stationed in the States, goes AWOL and heads to England to find out why he hasn't heard from his wife lately. Upon his arrival, he learns details that suggest she has left him and is living a life which involves many male 'friends'. In her new apartment, an angry Rogers awaits her return and anticipates their confrontation. When she shows up, he is suddenly knocked unconscious from behind. When he awakes he finds his wife has been murdered, and that he is the prime suspect. With only 36 hours at his disposal, Rogers takes it upon himself to track down the actual killer.

Friday, April 1 - Web of the Spider

Web of the Spider - Original title: Nella stretta morsa del ragno (1971)

The journalist Alan Foster makes a bet than he can spend one night at the haunted Blackwood Castle. As he learns, the rumors of ghosts at the castle are indeed true. On All Soul's Eve the ghosts of the castle search for blood to tide them over for another year. In the castle Foster meet and fall in love with Elizabeth Blackwood.

Thursday, March 31 - Backfire

Backfire (1950)

Bob Corey, recovering from a series of operations in a Veterans' hospital, learns that his friend, Steve Connelly, with whom he intended to buy a ranch, has disappeared under circumstance that indicate he may have been involved in a murder. Accompanied by his nurse, Julie Benson, with whom he has fallen in love, Bob follows a series of clues and incidents, including three more murders, that leads to a gambler, masquerading as an undertaker to avoid taxes on his illegal income, and has a whole lot to do with his friend's predicament.