Friday, February 27 - The Case of the Scorpion's Tail

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (Original title: La coda dello scorpione 1971)

When a plane explodes in the air with no survivors, the unfaithful Lisa Baumer is informed that her husband, businessman Baumer, left a one-million-dollar insurance policy and she is the beneficiary. She travels from London to Athens to receive the payment in cash and then to travel to Greece (I thought Athens was in Greece, but what do I know) to meet her lover. Meanwhile, the insurance company suspects that a bomb might be planted in the plane and assigns their investigator Peter Lynch to investigate the widow in Greece. Soon she is threatened by Baumer's lover Lara Florakis and her bodyguard Sharif, but Peter protects and rescues her from the attackers. When the front desk calls Lisa to take the taxi to the airport, they discover that she was murdered, and the money has vanished. Soon local Police Inspector Stavros, Interpol Agent John Stanley and the French Investigative Reporter Cléo Dupont, who is having an affair with Peter, investigate the case where Peter is the prime suspect.

Thursday, February 26 - Honey West: Come to Me, My Litigation Baby

Honey West: Come to Me, My Litigation Baby (Season 1 Episode 23 - aired Feb 18, 1966)

Although stymied when they try to get incriminating photographs of a man suspected of making a phony accident claim, Honey and Sam discover that the subject's accident witness, a seemingly sweet old lady, is suspiciously accident-prone herself.

Wednesday, February 25 - Million Dollar Pursuit

Million Dollar Pursuit (1951)

Monte Norris (Norman Budd), a small-time crook with a neurotic drive to rise to the heights of the law-breaking underworld, is flat broke and in disrepute with gangdom's big mobs. He finds a key to the chief cashier's office at a large department. He wants to handle the job alone but he boasts of his plans, and four other hoodlums cut themselves in on the robbery. Ther take is $500,000 but he and his confederates are unable to spend it since most of the bills are marked. As the tension in their hideout mounts, they fight among themselves and one of them is killed. Two other are killed in a police trap when they try to pass the money to a fence,Carlo Petrov (Grant Withers). Norris kills the remaining robber and goes to the apartment of his former girlfriend, Ronnie LaVerne (Penny Edwards), a nightclub singer who has served a short prison term because of a frame-up on her by Norris.

Tuesday, February 24 - College Swing

College Swing (1938)

It's 1738, and Gracie Alden of the powerful Alden family fails to graduate from the college founded by her grandfather for the ninth year in a row, so he leaves the institution in his will to the first female of the family to graduate within 200 years. At the deadline, in 1938, another Gracie Alden, the last girl of the line, is having trouble with her studies, so she hires fast-talking Bud Brady to help her. Her efforts are opposed by woman-hating professor Hubert Dash and his secretary George Jones, who don't want to see their beloved college fall into the hands of an empty-headed nit-wit like Gracie.

When by hook and by crook Gracie manages to pass her exam and becomes the owner of the college, she does away with entrance exams, hires a bunch of incompetent but kooky teachers, and turns the place into a jumpin' jitterbugging joint complete with swing bands and remote radio broadcasts.

Monday, February 23 - Highway Patrol: Fake Cop

Highway Patrol: Fake Cop (Season 2 Episode 34 - aired May 27, 1957)

George Roker robs merchants at gunpoint and his wife Lorna poses as a customer who flags down their accomplice Ed Beale immediately after Roker flees the scene. Beale impersonates a uniformed Highway Patrol officer and convinces the victims that they need not do anything further. Flush with success, they continue pulling jobs even after Dan Mathews and his officers have notified area merchants about their modus operandi. When one victim calls the Patrol immediately after the three have fled, Dan is able to determine the direction of their flight and he tracks them to a remote area. He and his officers then block the only road that would permit the felons' escape.

Sunday, February 22 - Easy to Wed

Easy to Wed (1946)

Financier J. B. Allenbury is determined to file a $2 million libel suit against The Morning Star when the newspaper prints a story claiming his daughter Connie was responsible for the breakup of a marriage. Anxious to save his paper from financial ruin (Allenbury's real goal), editor Curtis Farwood turns to business manager Warren Haggerty, who postpones his marriage to Gladys Benton in order to assist his employer.

Warren's convoluted scheme involves having reporter Bill Chandler temporarily marry Gladys so that she can sue Connie for alienation of affection when an intimate photograph of Bill and Connie Allenbury surfaces, "proving" that the newspaper story is not libelous. In order to get the damaging picture, Bill must ingratiate himself with the Allenburys, who are vacationing at the Hotel Del Rey in Mexico. He heads south of the border with Spike Dolan and introduces himself to the Allenburys as a writer who enjoys hunting, which is J. B.'s favorite hobby.

As time passes and Bill fails to get himself photographed with Connie, Gladys and Warren become increasingly impatient. Warren suspects Bill has become romantically involved with Connie and flies to Mexico in the hope he can persuade her and her father to drop their lawsuit. When they turn him down, Warren telephones Gladys, who arrives at the resort and tells J. B. she is married to Bill. When J. B. reports this news to his daughter, Connie decides to prove him wrong by demanding that Bill marry her immediately. They are wed by a justice of the peace.

When Warren and Gladys threaten to expose Bill as a bigamist, Bill announces that Gladys' mail-order divorce from her previous husband is not legally binding and therefore her marriage to Bill is invalid. Gladys then reveals that she obtained a second divorce in Reno that is legal. The Allenburys finally agree to drop their lawsuit, and Warren and Gladys realize they are meant to be together.

Saturday, February 21 - Postmark for Danger

Postmark for Danger (Original title: Portrait of Alison 1955)

A woman's painted portrait and a post card with a sketch of a woman's hand holding a Chianti bottle are the main clues used by the Scotland Yard to solve a string of murders connected to a diamond-smuggling ring.

Friday, February 20 - Temptation

Temptation (1946)

Ruby, a beautiful divorcee with a shady past, calculatingly marries rich Egyptologist Nigel Armine. He installs her at his Cairo estate while he continues his excavation work, but Ruby is hopelessly bored. A young woman of her acquaintance confides that she is being blackmailed over indiscreet letters she foolishly sent to a man called Baroudi, with whom she believed herself to be in love. Ruby offers to recover the letters. But when she meets the blackmailer, mutual attraction leads to an affair. As Ruby gets in deeper, she finds Baroudi is even more unscrupulous than she realised, as she is led into a course of action which threatens both her marriage and her future.

Thursday, February 19 - Bathing Beauty

Bathing Beauty (1944)

Songwriter Steve Elliot (Red Skelton) has just wed his sweetheart, Caroline Brooks (Esther Williams), when a scheming Broadway producer breaks up the marriage. Caroline returns to her position as a college swimming instructor at a girls' college. Desperate to set things right, Elliot enrolls at the college as its sole male student and tries to get Caroline to fall in love with him all over again. But he'll face some competition from stodgy botany professor Willis Evans (Bill Goodwin).

Wednesday, February 18 - Together Again

Together Again (1944)

Anne Crandall is the mayor of a small town in Vermont. Her deceased husband had been the mayor for years and when he died, she was left to carry on and to raise his daughter from his first marriage. She lives with the daughter, her father-in-law and a housekeeper. In the town square, there was a statue of her late husband and every year since his death, they have an anniversary celebration there. This year during a thunderstorm, the statue is hit by lightning and the head falls off. The daughter insists that a new statue be erected instead of patching the old one. Mayor Crandall is sent to New York to interview the prospective sculptor, George Corday. While there, she gets involved in a nightclub raid and goes to jail after she is mistaken for the club's stripper. Back at home, she tries to keep the scandal quiet and to forget Corday but he shows up and moves into her garage to work on the statue. Corday playfully uses the scandal to blackmail her into accepting his advances. Ann Crandall's step-daughter and her boyfriend add still more complications to the situation.

Tuesday, February 17 - The Woman in Brown

The Vicious Circle (1948)

A rich Hungarian baron discovers that there are large oil deposits underneath properties owned by the villagers. He buys up all the property except those owned by Jewish families, who refuse to sell. In order to circumvent their refusal, he has the men charged with the murder of a woman, who had recently committed suicide.

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.