Monday, January 30 - The Lost Hours

The Big Frame Original title: The Lost Hours (1952)

During a London reunion of a World War II RAF unit, an American pilot gets into a fight with one of his buddies, who is drunk and belligerent. The next day the pilot wakes up in a strange hotel room with blood on his suit, and can't remember how he got there. Then he discovers that the friend he fought with the night before has been murdered, and he is a prime suspect.

Sunday, January 29 - Street of Shadows

The Shadow Man - Original title: Street of Shadows (1953)

Luigi (Cesar Romero)is the owner of a pin-table saloon frequented by questionable characters and kept under constant police surveillance. He meets Barbara Gale (Kay Kendall), neglected wife of heavy gambler Gerald Gale (John Penrose) and after a brief romance, Barbara agrees to go away with Luigi. But Angele Abbe (Simone Silva) is found stabbed to death in Luigi's apartment. Luigi asks his friend Limpy (Victor Maddern) to help him hide the body but they are picked up by the police. Luigi escapes and sets out to prove his innocence while running from the law.

Saturday, January 28 - The Pay Off

The Pay Off (1942)

Chief Prosecutor Lloyd Pearson is gunned down by an unknown assassin. Brad McKay (Lee Tracy) "the best newspaper man in the country", becomes involved in the Pearson murder after police come after one of his poker buddies, Moroni (John Maxwell). He gives Moroni an alibi, but Moroni, (who is the real killer) sends him on a wild goose chase by telling him the killer is Hugh Walker - Pearson's assistant, who was disbarred for taking bribes. He also says Pearson was taking a payoff of $100,000. When Moroni is found dead, Brad meets Phyliss Walker (Tina Thayer), her father mysteriously goes missing and they find themselves at a gambling club run by John Angus (Jack LaRue). Evelyn Brent makes an extremely brief though very welcome appearance as Alma Dorn - a mystery woman, who doesn't seem to have much to do except to give Tracy a big kiss at the fadeout.

Friday, January 27 - Betrayal from the East

Betrayal from the East (1945)

An ex-GI poses as a mercenary to gain the trust of Japanese intelligence in the days leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Having fooled the enemy with the help of a beautiful double agent, he is hired to steal vital strategic plans for the defence of the Panama Canal, but his mission puts both their lives in great danger.

Thursday, January 26 - The Perfect Woman

The Perfect Woman (1949)

In need of cash, Roger Cavendish and his valet take a job escorting the perfect woman for a night on the town. She is in fact the robotic creation of Professor Belman, but it turns out rather to be the Professor's niece Penelope doing a pretty good imitation of the perfect Olga who winds up with them in the bridal suite at the Hotel Splendide.

Wednesday, January 25 - Adam and Evelyne

Adam and Evalyn - Original title: Adam and Evelyne (1949)

Adam Black (Stewart Granger), a veteran gambler, unexpectedly becomes a father figure after a friend dies and entrusts him with the care of his teen daughter, Evelyne (Jean Simmons). Adam sends Evelyne off to boarding school. When she returns, she is a gorgeous young woman, and this complicates his feelings for her. Meanwhile, Adam's occasional girlfriend, Moira (Helen Cherry), and his trouble-making brother, Roddy (Raymond Young), cause a rift between him and Evelyne that may be irreparable.

Tuesday, January 24 - City Across the River

City Across the River (1949)

Two members of a tough Brooklyn street gang accidentally kill one of their teachers.

Frank Cusack is a leading member of the Amboy Dukes teenage gang based in a slum-ridden area of Brooklyn. His activities with the gang ultimately lead from vandalism and hooliganism to complicity in the murder of a school teacher. His hopes—and those of his parents—for an escape from the bleakness of slum life are dashed by circumstance and by his willingness to accept the gang code of not informing to the police.

Monday, January 23 - The Night Holds Terror

The Night Holds Terror (1955)

Driving home from his job at Edwards Air Force Base, Jack Kelly picks up a hitch-hiker (Vince Edwards) who pulls a gun on him. The rest of Edwards' gang (John Cassavettes and David Gross) join up, but spare Kelly's life when he has only 10 bucks on him. Deciding that trading in his car for cash is a better deal, they take over Kelly's knotty-pine home (he has a wife (Hildy Parks) and two kids) until the following day.

From then on in it's a standard family-held-hostage suspenser, with Edwards putting the moves on the wife and the inevitable sorting out of the pecking order among the gang members. When they depart next morning, taking Kelly along for insurance, Parks disobeys orders and calls the police.

Next, they hold Kelly for $200,000 ransom after they determine his father is very wealthy.

Sunday, January 22 - Man on the Run

Man on the Run (1949)

British Army deserter Peter Burden (Derek Farr), perpetually on the run in postwar England, one day finds himself in a pawnshop. When armed men suddenly burst in and rob the store -- assaulting the owner and killing a police officer -- Burden is mistakenly pegged as the criminal. Knowing he is innocent yet under suspicion as a deserter, Burden finds refuge at the home of attractive war widow Jean Adams (Joan Hopkins), who offers to help clear his name.

Saturday, January 21 - Let's Kill Uncle

Let's Kill Uncle (1966)

A 12-year-old orphan who has just inherited a fortune is trapped on an island with his uncle, a former British intelligence commander who intends to kill him. A young girl is the boy's only ally against the sarcastic uncle, who uses hypnotism, a pool of sharks, fire, and poisonous mushrooms as weapons (the kids use the mushrooms, but never mind).

Friday, January 20 - Double Jeopardy

Double Jeopardy (1955)

Emmett Devery is being blackmailed by his former partner, Sam Baggott, who served a prison term years before on a shady business deal. Devery's daughter, Barbara, and his attorney, Marc Hill, in love with Barbara, know nothing about the situation. Baggott applies more blackmail-pressure and is killed by Jeff Calder, the boyfriend of cheating-wife Marge Baggott, who tried to double-cross Marge by getting the money himself. The police investigation of Baggott's murder leads to Devery, who admits that Baggott was blackmailing him but denies killing the extortionist. Hill and Barbara begin their own investigation.

Thursday, January 19 - Death in High Heels

Death in High Heels (1947)

There's a death by poisoning at a Bond St. fashion house. The designer, the owner, the models and even the tea lady all have secrets to hide, but who's hiding a murderous one?

Wednesday, January 18 - Jennifer

Jennifer (1953)

Ida Lupino plays a woman engaged to house-sit a vast California estate whose previous caretaker -- Jennifer -- up and disappeared.

Howard Duff is the guy in town who manages the estate's finances and takes a shine to Lupino, who decides to play hard to get. 

She becomes more and more involved, not to say obsessed, with what happened to her predecessor in the old dark house full of descending stairways and creepy cellars.

Tuesday, January 17 - Dick Tracy vs. Cueball

Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946)

Expensive diamonds are stolen but before the thief can fence them he is strangled by ex-con Cueball, who then takes the gems and continues murdering people he believes are trying to swindle him. Dick Tracy allows his girlfriend Tess to act as a buyer for the gems but his plan backfires when she is captured by the homicidal Cueball.

Monday, January 16 - The Lodger

The Lodger (1944)

In London in 1889, retiree Robert Burton (Cedric Hardwicke) and his wife, Ellen (Sara Allgood), rent a spare room to the mysterious Slade (Laird Cregar) as Jack the Ripper continues to terrorize the city. The Burtons' niece, Kitty (Merle Oberon), is a music hall singer who initially grows fond of the eccentric lodger, but, when the Ripper's body count rises, she and a Scotland Yard inspector (George Sanders) gradually begin to suspect that Slade could be the notorious Whitechapel killer.

Sunday, January 15 - The Return of October

The Return of October (1948)

Terry Moore is brash and appealing playing a headstrong, stubborn eighteen-year old girl facing a sanity hearing after her boyfriend, a campus psychologist, publishes a paper detailing her 'delusional' belief that a racehorse named October is her beloved deceased uncle come back to life; her relatives, greedy sorts who have been cut out of the last will of the lass's eccentric aunt, hope to put the kid away, but all she really wants is to race the horse in the Kentucky Derby!

Saturday, January 14 - The Inside Story

The Inside Story (1948)

A collection agent arrives in a small town with $1000 for a local farmer. Whilst waiting for the farmer to arrive the money is put in a safe at a hotel for safe keeping. However, it is removed by mistake and solves a number of financial problems before it is returned.

Friday, January 13 - Whirlpool

Whirlpool (1950)

After shoplifting an expensive pin in a department store, the wife of the prominent psychoanalyst Dr. William Sutton (Richard Conte), Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney), is arrested by one of the security guards. The swindler astrologer and hypnotist David Korvo (José Ferrer) recognizes the woman and convinces the manager to release her. Later, David calls Ann and asks her to meet him in his hotel, and he proposes to treat her kleptomania through hypnosis. Ann accepts the offer, but Davis uses Ann to get rid of Theresa Randolph (Barbara O'Neil), a widow that had stolen the heritage of her daughter. When Theresa is found dead, Ann is accused of murder by the skeptical Lt. James Colton (Charles Bickford), but she has no recollections of what happened in that specific night. Meanwhile David has a strong alibi to support his innocence.

Thursday, January 12 - Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy (1945)

Police detective Dick Tracy must identify and apprehend a serial killer known as Splitface.

Wednesday, January 11 - Good-Time Girl

Good-Time Girl (1948)

Jean Kent plays Gwen--a poor girl from a screwed up family. Her sense of right and wrong are sadly diminished and her father is abusive. So, she leaves home at 16 and tries to make her way in the world. But, she always seems to hang out with low-lifes--the sort of jerks that are constantly preying on society. Eventually, she's caught for one of their crimes but she runs away from prison. At this point, she's a mess but she's not necessarily evil. But, soon after escaping, she begins to hit the bottle and becomes a very active and willing participant in a life of crime. And, in the process, she becomes a total mess.

Tuesday, January 10 - Public Deb No. 1

Public Deb No. 1 (1940)

When a waiter gives a society girl a public spanking for attending a Communist rally, her soup-tycoon uncle makes the waiter a vice-president of his company.

Monday, January 9 - I Was a Shoplifter

I Was a Shoplifter (1950)

A shoplifter, Faye Burton, is being watched by Herb Klaxon, a security guard at a Los Angeles department store, and by Jeff Andrews, a shopper there. Jeff tries to warn her, but Faye is nevertheless caught and placed under arrest. Faye signs a confession and is set free, warned that if she tries this again, she will go to jail.

Faye returns to her job as a librarian, but a gang of thieves run by Ina Perdue, a pawnbroker, recruits Faye by claiming they can get her confession back, thereby clearing her record. Faye is shown by Ina and her henchman Pepe how to steal like a professional thief, and is then given a San Diego robbery assignment as a test. She is followed by Jeff, who is actually an undercover law officer, working to bust the shoplifting ring.

Pepe attempts to sexually assault Faye, who becomes so despondent, she tries to commit suicide. Jeff rescues her and reveals his true identity. They arrange to work together, but Jeff's cover is blown and Faye is kidnapped. Ina and Pepe take her to Mexico to continue their crime spree, but Jeff and his men arrive in time to apprehend the crooks. Jeff also realizes he has fallen in love with Faye.

Sunday, January 8 - Banjo on My Knee

Banjo on My Knee (1936)

Joel McCrea plays a shantytown boy who marries a land girl (Stanwyck). The patriarch of McCrea's family, played by Walter Brennan, is desperate for a grandchild. Unfortunately, Stanwyck and McCrea can't seem to get their marriage consummated. On their wedding night, they think McCrea has murdered someone (he hasn't), so McCrea takes off for six months and sees the world while his wife waits none too patiently.

The day he comes home, he talks about moving the family to Aruba and says he'll go down first for a month and then send for her. The couple get into a terrible fight because Stanwyck doesn't want to be left again. The two of them then split up again - that instant. She goes to New Orleans to work for a slimy photographer, but no sooner does she get to his apartment that she bolts and takes a job as a dishwasher in a bar.

Soon, the entire population of Shantytown is in New Orleans looking for her and for McCrea. At the bar, Tony Martin is a saloon singer who falls for Stanwyck, and soon, Buddy Ebsen, another Shantytown resident, and Walter Brennan are big hits performing there, and Stanwyck is doing duets with Martin. It goes on from there...

Saturday, January 7 - Call Northside 777

Call Northside 777 (1948)

In Chicago in 1932, during Prohibition, a policeman is murdered inside a speakeasy. Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte) and another man are quickly arrested, and are later sentenced to serve 99 years imprisonment each for the killing. Eleven years later, Wiecek's mother (Kasia Orzazewski) puts an ad in the newspaper offering a $5,000 reward for information about the true killers of the police officer.

This leads the city editor of the Chicago Times, Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb), to assign reporter P.J. McNeal (James Stewart) to look more closely into the case. McNeal is skeptical at first, believing Wiecek to be guilty. But he starts to change his mind, and meets increased resistance from the police and the state attorney's office, who are unwilling to be proved wrong. This is quickly followed by political pressure from the state capital, where politicians are anxious to end a story that might prove embarrassing to the administration. Eventually, Wiecek is proved innocent by, among other things, the enlarging of a photograph showing the date on a newspaper that proves that a key witness statement was false.

Friday, January 6 - The Big Bluff

The Big Bluff (1955)

John Bromfield is an unscrupulous gold-digging gigolo who seduces and marries a wealthy widow (Martha Vickers) who is seriously ill with only a few months to live. Much to his dismay, the marriage works wonders for her health and she improves so much that he is forced to hatch a diabolically clever plan to murder her.

Thursday, January 5 - The Naked Street

The Naked Street (1955)

Phil Regal (Anthony Quinn), a tough racketeer, pulls strings to get his pregnant unmarried sister Rosalie's punk boyfriend, Nicky, out of a death penalty sentence for killing Barricks, so that they can get married. Later, after Rosalie loses the baby and Phil learns that Nicky is cheating on her, the gangster arranges for Nicky to be framed for a murder. Nicky threatens to expose how Phil got Nicky out of the first murder rap. Nicky is executed for the murder. Phil dies while trying to escape the police.

Wednesday, January 4 - The Bachelor's Daughters

The Bachelor's Daughters (1946)

Struggling to make ends meet, several shop girls decide to team together with the crotchety older floor walker and a sweet but dotty retiring saleslady in renting a mansion and pretending to be a family in order to find eligible rich men. Lead by stuffy floor walker Adolph Menjou and a former movie actress (Billie Burke), the scheme gets into motion with little question once they manipulate Menjou to participate.

Tuesday, January 3 - The Street with No Name

The Street with No Name (1948)

After two gang-related killings in "Center City," a suspect (who was framed) is arrested, released on bail...and murdered. Inspector Briggs of the FBI recruits a young agent, Gene Cordell, to go undercover in the shadowy Skid Row area (alias George Manly) as a potential victim of the same racket. Soon, Gene meets Alec Stiles, neurotic mastermind who's "building an organization along scientific lines." Stiles recruits Cordell, whose job becomes a lot more dangerous...

Monday, January 2 - Time Table

Time Table (1956)

As a train speeds through the Arizona night, a man posing as a physician holds up the baggage-car crew and escapes with a $500,000 payroll. The fake doctor, Paul Bruckner, leaves the train with his "patient" and the "patient's wife", who is really Bruckner's wife Linda. The insurance company puts its best investigator, Charlie Norman, on the case to work with the railroad's investigator, Joe Armstrong. The men are friends and Joe is upset that Charlie and his wife, Ruth, will have to postpone their Mexico vacation. Charlie's concern goes beyond the spoiled vacation as he was the brains behind the holdup, who had fallen in love with Linda several months earlier while investigating a claim Bruckner had filed against his insurance company. At first, Joe is unable to find anything out about the flawless timetable planning for the robbery other than what Charlie wants him to find out.

Sunday, January 1 - Private Information

Private Information (1952)

Jill Esmond is a parson's widow. Her daughter, Carol Marsh, is an aspiring writer with a fine collection of rejection slips. Her son, Jack Watling, works for the surveyor's office. He has just prepared a report on the (housing) project they live in, saying the construction is bad and the pipes are worse. He asks her to put it away while he goes to London to take a test. Instead, she reads it.

Then she goes to a town council meeting, where she complains about the rattling, jerry-built houses and suggests that someone's bank account is fat because of it. Under threat of eviction, the loss of her son's job, and lawsuit for slander, she agrees to publicly retract the statement.... until ex-doctor and current local newspaper publisher Gerard Heinz talks to her. She tears up the statement publicly, and the council decides they must sue.

Then typhoid hits the council houses...

Saturday, December 31 - Find the Lady

Find the Lady (1956)

Beverly Brooks is driving for the weekend. Her car breaks down. Her godmother lives in the village, so she figures she can visit while repairs are made. However, the door is opened by Mervyn Johns, who says he's the lady's brother-in-law, she is at a nursing home, and has somehow left her inseparable dog and walking stick behind. Miss Brooks doesn't believe this for a moment. She picks up smitten Donald Houston and begins to investigate.