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.

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. . . 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Saturday, February 7 - Blondie

Blondie (1938)

Dagwood loses his job on the eve of his and Blondie's fifth wedding anniversary.

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.

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.

Wednesday, February 4 - Swamp Fire

Swamp Fire (1946)

In the delta county of Louisiana, Johnny Duval is haunted by recurring nightmares of his wartime experiences.

Tuesday, February 3 - Bourbon Street Beat: Wagon Show

Bourbon Street Beat: Wagon Show (Season 1 Episode 36 - aired Jun 13, 1960)

The murder of a circus performer is linked to the disappearance of a chimpanzee.

Monday, February 2 - Dangerous Intruder

Dangerous Intruder (1945)

An actress, Jenny (Veda Ann Borg), is hitchhiking across the country when she is accidently struck by a car. The driver, Max Ducone (Charles Arnt), offers to take her into his home until she can resume traveling. Later Ducone's wife is murdered and Jenny determines to find the killer. With the aid of detective Curtis (Tom Keene as Richard Powers), she discovers that Ducone is the murderer, having killed his wife in order to have the funds to finance his antique collection.

Sunday, February 1 - Nightbeat

Nightbeat (1947)

Following the Second World War, the two comrades go their separate ways; one joins the Metropolitan Police while the other begins a police career but becomes a racketeer in post-war London.

Saturday, January 31 - Gideon C.I.D.: Subway to Revenge

Gideon C.I.D.: Subway to Revenge (Season 1 Episode 11 - aired Apr 3, 1965)

A man tries to push an accountant, James, off a crowded subway platform. Only his friend, Ellen from personnel, is worried and contacts Gideon and kept after him to take it seriously. It turns out that there have been three sudden deaths from the same company, Chinnery Chemicals, all in different ways. The solving of the crimes all hinge on why a woman had defrauded the company and subsequently committed suicide.