Wednesday, August 19 - The House Across the Bay

The House Across the Bay (1940)

Nightclub owner Steve Larwitt (George Raft) sees his empire of investments collapse as he faces tax evasion charges and attacks by rivals. Believing Steve will be safer in prison for one year, his wife, Brenda (Joan Bennett), testifies against him on advice from his lawyer, Slant Kolma (Lloyd Nolan), who is in love with her. After Steve receives 10 years in Alcatraz, Brenda moves to be near him and avoids advances of airplane builder Tim Nolan (Walter Pidgeon), who knows nothing about her past.

Tuesday, August 18 - Weekend for Three

Weekend for Three (1941)

A young married couple's weekend is interrupted by the arrival of a brash, loud-mouthed acquaintance of the wife, who knew her before her marriage. He immediately proceeds to turn their life upside-down, despite their best efforts to politely get rid of him. Complications ensue.

Monday, August 17 - Highway Patrol: Hostage Copter

Highway Patrol: Hostage Copter (Season 2 Episode 38 - aired Jun 24, 1957)

Ted Ellis and Ed Kane's planned robbery of Ralph O'Shea's roadside diner goes awry when Ellis nervously shoots O'Shea after he sees him reaching for a gun. The two are forced to flee, taking O'Shea's 22-year-old daughter Kathy along as a hostage. The area is rough and mountainous, so Dan Mathews elects to use the Highway Patrol helicopter to pursue the two felons and their hostage. When Ellis and Kane see that they are being followed, they abandon Kathy and steal another woman's convertible in a panic-stricken attempt to escape the helicopter. After Dan finds that the women are unharmed, he forces a showdown with Ellis and Kane by ordering the helicopter to land on a dirt road just ahead of their stolen vehicle.

Sunday, August 16 - Honey West: Little Green Robin Hood

Honey West: Little Green Robin Hood (Season 1 Episode 27 - aired Mar 18, 1966)

Hired to protect a gated community after a rash of burglaries, Honey and Sam discover a deluded burglar who actually believes that he is Robin Hood. They decide to humor him not only because they fear he will only confess the location of the hidden jewels to someone he trusts but also because they suspect that someone is directing the weak-minded thief.

Saturday, August 15 - The Sun Sets at Dawn

The Sun Sets at Dawn (1950)

A young man faces execution in a state's brand-new electric chair while maintaining his innocence. As reporters gather and technical glitches delay the execution, a twist reveals the real killer just in time.

Friday, August 14 - Interpol Calling: Dead on Arrival

Interpol Calling: Dead on Arrival (Season 1 Episode 9 - aired Nov 8, 1959)

The body of a Nato courier is found on the Istanbul-Paris express on its arrival, setting Interpol the problem of solving exactly where in one of half a dozen countries the crime was committed. Duval suspects the killer wanted only one thing - the courier's identity and uninterrupted passage through to Paris. He retraces the dead man's journey on the same train, and is surprised to find the courier was not alone - information that someone wants to keep from Duval at all costs.

Thursday, August 13 - He Married His Wife

He Married His Wife (1940)

T.H."Randy" Randall and Valerie Randall are divorced but friendly, but not to the extent she doesn't have him jailed for non-payment of alimony. His attorney, Bill Carter, suggests that the only way out of his financial strain is for him to get Valerie married off to someone else.

Dizzy matron Ethel thinks that is a good idea and arranges a week-end party at which Valerie is to be paired off with likely-prospect Paul Hunter. Plans are disrupted when free-loading Freddie crashes the party and makes a heavy move on Valerie, and she likes it, mostly because Randy doesn't.

Carter can't see any problem - a husband is a husband - but Randy is so certain that Freddie is bad news that he decides to win her back and remarry her himself, since he has also decided that he still loves her.

Wednesday, August 12 - Thirty Day Princess

Thirty Day Princess (1934)

On her way to New York to find financial backing for her impoverished country, the Ruritanian Kingdom of Taronia, Princess "Zizzi" Catterina (Sylvia Sidney) falls ill with the mumps and has to be quarantined for a month. In desperation, financier Richard Gresham (Edward Arnold), who is planning to issue $50 million in Taronian bonds, hires unemployed lookalike actress Nancy Lane (also portrayed by Sidney) to impersonate the princess, and offers her a large bonus if she changes the mind of the chief opponent of the financial transaction, newspaper publisher Porter Madison III (Cary Grant).

Tuesday, August 11 - Adam Adamant Lives!: Death by Appointment Only

Adam Adamant Lives!: Death by Appointment Only (Season 1 Episode 11 - aired Sep 8, 1966)

Adamant's investigation of the murder of several businessmen leads him to investigate the Eve Escort Agency. Against his wishes, Georgie also tries to infiltrate the agency as an employee.

Monday, August 10 - Maigret: Liberty Bar

Maigret: Liberty Bar (Season 1 Episode 6 - aired Dec 5, 1960)

Superintendent Maigret is sent to Antibes to elucidate the murder of William Brown, a rich Australian who regularly disappeared to indulge in formidable drinking binges. In his footsteps, Maigret makes the rounds of bars until discovering the Liberty Bar, its welcoming patroness La Grosse Jaja and its equivocal clientele. It is without a doubt here that the key to the murder is to be found.

Sunday, August 9 - A Tragedy at Midnight

A Tragedy at Midnight (1942)

This Republic murder mystery starts with a radio broadcast by Greg Sherman who solves cases on the air that the local police cannot solve. As he names the perpetrator of a recent murder we see the criminal, who is listening to the show, become alarmed and start to make his escape. The scene shifts to the police department where the chief, fearing for his job, assigns officers to get something, anything, on Sherman and get him off the air.

Meanwhile, Greg and his pretty wife Beth are parting company. He's going to a party and she's going to visit her pregnant sister in the hospital. The next morning Greg wakes up and nudges his sleeping wife. When she doesn't respond, he pulls off the covers and finds not his wife but a strange woman, dead and with the murder knife still sticking up out of her back.

While he's still recovering from the shock, Beth walks into the bedroom. Thinking that she has discovered her husband with another woman, she leaves and calls the police. The police are delighted of course, but Greg escapes as they are arresting him. Now he must solve the mystery by himself.

(Apparently, Jim the reviewer fell asleep at this point, because Sherman doesn't actually have to solve the mystery by himself; he and his wife get back together and solve it together. I fell asleep a bit later, so I can't report on anything beyond this point, either.)

Saturday, August 8 - They Made Me a Killer

They Made Me a Killer (1946)

After his brother is killed in an accident, Tom Durling quits his job and drives across country. He gives an attractive girl a ride and is subsequently forced at gun point to be the driver in a bank robbery. During the crime another innocent man, Steve Reynolds, is involved and killed in the escape. After a high-speed chase, the car crashes and Durling is knocked unconscious. The bandits get away, the police arrest Durling and refuse to believe that he isn't one of the robbers.

Durling escapes the police then later teams with Reynolds' sister in an attempt to prove his innocence. The trail leads to a small roadside diner where the two end up finding the gang hiding out in the building's basement. They go undercover, she as a waitress and Durling joining the gang. In the end, they trick the criminals into confessing their crimes. Durling's reputation is saved, and the criminals, led by a Ma Barker-type mom, get shot up.