Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Monday, February 16 - Playgirl

Playgirl (1954)

Innocent and attractive Phyllis Matthews leaves her Nebraska home for New York City and an ambition to become a model. Fran Davis, a nightclub singer, welcomes her to town, where she quickly meets magazine writer Tom Bradley and his editor, Mike Marsh.

Fran is having a fling with Mike, who is married, but either unable or unwilling to get a divorce. Warned about life in the big city and how different it can be, Phyllis finds out first-hand in a hurry, wealthy Ted Andrews insulting her by offering $100 to spend the night.

Phyllis's beauty gives the magazine guys an idea. They pose her for the cover of their next issue, which makes Phyllis an overnight sensation. Fran, however, becomes morose, then angry, believing Phyllis is trying to seduce both Mike and Tom, and becoming desperate about her own future. A fit of anger results in an armed Fran accidentally shooting Mike, and the scandal envelops Phyllis, ruining her reputation and new career. She leaves for home, sadder but wiser.

Monday, February 16, 2026

Sunday, February 15 - Behind the High Wall

Behind the High Wall (1956)

A prison warden is kidnapped during a breakout . The inmates grasp (?) another prisoner against his will and manage to recover a suitcase full of stolen money to further their escape . Plans go badly when a car crash kills one (both, actually) of the inmates . The warden comes to first and steals the money for himself ! The kidnapped  prisoner winds up taking the blame and it all comes down to whether the warden has a conscience. . . 

Sunday, February 15, 2026

Saturday, February 14 - Blondie Brings Up Baby

Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939)

Blondie is convinced by a salesman that Baby Dumpling is a genius with an IQ of 168, She enrolls him in kindergarten where he immediately gets into a fight resulting in a black eye. Later, Baby Dumpling skips school to play with Daisy. Blondie and Dagwood report to the police that Baby Dumpling and Daisy are missing. Meanwhile, Daisy is picked up by the dog catcher and taken to the pound where she is adopted by the nurse of a rich little girl who uses a wheelchair. Baby Dumpling spots Daisy inside the gates of the mansion and begins to play with Daisy and the girl. They are spotted. While adults argue about letting the children play together, Baby Dumpling and the little girl wander off with Daisy. The children are found playing on a swing where the little girl demonstrates she has been encouraged to walk. The nurse states, "Weak children can be taught by strong children and strong children learn compassion."

Dagwood shows his architectural model to the girl's father who decides to purchase the building. As a result, Dagwood, who had been fired by Mr. Dithers earlier, is promised a nice bonus.

Saturday, February 14, 2026

Friday, February 13 - Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit (1945)

To get background for a new book, author Charles Condomine (Sir Rex Harrison) and his second wife Ruth (Constance Cummings) light-heartedly arrange for local mystic Madame Arcati (Dame Margaret Rutherford) to give a séance. The unfortunate result is that Charles' first wife Elvira (Kay Hammond) returns from beyond the grave to make his life something of a misery. Ruth too gets increasingly irritated with her supernatural rival, but Madame Arcati is at her wit's end as to how to sort things out.

Friday, February 13, 2026

Thursday, February 12 - The Heavenly Body

The Heavenly Body (1944)

Astronomer Bill Whitley is so preoccupied with the new comet he's discovered that his time at the observatory sometimes comes at the expense of his beautiful wife, Vicky. When the neglected spouse becomes influenced by an eccentric neighbor into believing in the power of astrology, she subscribes to a weekly horoscope from a phony seer, the appropriately named Margaret Sybill. When the beautiful Mrs. Whitley reads that a new dream man will be coming soon into her life, she assumes he's taken the form of Lloyd Hunter, a handsome and dashing foreign correspondent who doubles as the neighborhood air raid warden. A frantic Bill realizes that he's going to have to keep closer track of his earthbound heavenly body if he's going to keep the prediction from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Wednesday, February 11 - Frieda

Frieda (1947)

R.A.F. pilot Robert Dawson (David Farrar) returns home from World War II with his new bride, Frieda (Mai Zetterling), the German girl who helped him escape from a prisoner-of-war camp. Frieda has to deal with the venomous bigotry of both Robert's family and neighbors, however just when the small town's prejudice against her begins to subside, her brother Richard (Albert Lieven), a closet Nazi sympathizer, arrives for a visit, causing even Robert's faith in his wife to be tested.

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Tuesday, February 10 - The Gay Divorcee

The Gay Divorcee (1934)

In this beloved musical, Mimi Glossop (Ginger Rogers) journeys to England to seek a divorce from her absentee husband. When Mimi meets dashing performer Guy Holden (Fred Astaire), sparks fly, and, most importantly, lavish song-and-dance numbers ensue. While romance and comedy factor into the film, the production is largely a showcase for the legendary talents of Rogers and Astaire, most notably displayed in an extended sequence during the third act.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Monday, February 9 - Missing Women

Missing Women (1951)

After newlywed Claudia Rankin's husband is murdered, she sets out to avenge his killing by posing as a criminal and successfully infiltrating the gang of car thieves responsible for his death. However, this puts her own life in peril.

Monday, February 9, 2026

Sunday, February 8 - Murder Without Tears

Murder Without Tears (1953)

A husband hires a killer to murder his wife, then arranges for it to look like he committed the crime. At his trial, he presents irrefutable evidence that he could not have committed the crime - which he evidently didn't - and is acquitted, thereby assuring that he can't be tried again for the murder. A police detective, however, is convinced that the man was responsible for the wife's murder, and sets out to prove it.

Sunday, February 8, 2026

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Friday, February 6 - Step by Step

Step by Step (1946)

Fresh out of the Marines, Johnny Christopher (Tierney) spots Evelyn Smith (Jeffreys) while she’s swimming in the ocean, and in a two-piece bathing suit yet. Not easily taking a friendly no for an answer, he follows her to the house where she’s working as a Senator’s secretary, but another Miss Smith seems to have taken her place. Johnny’s Miss Smith is nowhere in sight.

   Bringing the police in does not help, and in fact makes things worse. When the bodies start to pile up, he’s immediately been tagged as being a semi-delusional if not cracked-up war veteran, and his Miss Smith, when found, quickly becomes his partner on the lam.

A war veteran (Lawrence Tierney) pursuing a senator's attractive secretary (Anne Jeffreys) stumbles on a Nazi plot at an isolated Malibu beach house.

Friday, February 6, 2026

Thursday, February 5 - Outside the Wall

Outside the Wall (1950)

Larry Nelson, pardoned after serving nearly half of his 30-year sentence for manslaughter, leaves Eastern State Penitentiary but faces difficulty settling into the outside world. Determined to avoid any further trouble with the law, he takes a job as a lab assistant in a country sanitarium, where he falls for attractive nurse Charlotte.

Larry recognizes one of the patients in the sanitarium as Jack Bernard, another ex-convict who has just executed a million-dollar heist. Bernard offers Larry money if he will deliver some of the heist money to his ex-wife. When Larry attempts to give her the money, she mobilizes her gang to seize the rest of the loot. Sweet, wholesome nurse Ann helps Larry escape the dangerous situation.