Tuesday, Dec. 11 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Belfry

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962): The Belfry (Season 1 | Episode 33 - aired 13 May 1956)

Clint is determined to marry Ellie, the county's schoolteacher, and he is building a house for them to live in. But Ellie is not interested, and she tells him that she has just become engaged to another man. Clint is enraged, and when he meets Ellie's fiancé, he kills him with an ax. He decides to hide in the bell tower of Ellie's schoolhouse, since he thinks no one will look for him there. He also likes the idea of being close to Ellie, so that he can have the chance to strike back at her too.

Monday, Dec. 10 - Sabotage

Sabotage (1939)

Tommy Grayson, a mechanic at the Midland Aircraft Corporation, has convinced actress Gail to leave showbiz and marry him. She was afraid of the small town reaction to actors but is convinced to stay when Tommy’s family goes out of their way to embrace her and welcome her.

The day before their marriage, a new plane is being tested, and the whole town turns out to watch the test flight. However, the test ends in disaster, with the plane crashing and burning.

There have been other failures due to engines from the plant, and tests point to Tommy, as all the failing pistons came from his bench.

Major Matt Grayson, and his Civil War Vet friends Mel, Smitty, and Eli investigate to clear Tommy’s name.

Sunday, Dec. 9 - Widows & The Ape Woman

Widows (2018)

After a group of criminals die in a heist gone wrong, their widows, Veronica, Alice and Linda, are forced to collect the money to repay their husbands' debt.

The Ape Woman (1964) La donna scimmia (original title)

Ugo Tognazzi stars as a charming ne'er-do-well who happens upon young Annie Girardot, who outside of the fact that she is covered with hair from head to foot is a normal woman with normal desires and dreams. Tognazzi inveigles her into the European carnival sideshow circuit as "The Ape Woman", securing her cooperation by making love to her. The Ape Woman was inspired by the true story of 19th century Mexican "freak" Julia Pastran.

Saturday, Dec. 8 - Maryland

Maryland (1940)

After her husband dies, wealthy Charlotte Danfield sells off his entire stable of horses, and forbids son Lee to ride again.

He remains close to trainer William Stewart, though, and upon returning from Europe, where he has been sent to school, Lee decides to ride William's horse Cavalier in the Maryland Cup over his mother's objections.

Friday, Dec. 7 - Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Tyrant's Daughter

Sherlock Holmes (1954–1955): The Case of the Tyrant's Daughter (Season 1 | Episode 39 - aired 17 October 1955)

A wealthy man is unhappy with his daughter's choice of a marriage partner and seeks to keep the event from happening. He offers the young man a tidy sum to give up the girl, but he refuses. When they are arguing, the old man has a heart attack and is aided by the young man and his housekeeper. They get him his medicine. Shortly after this, the old guy dies. Because the young man was seen with a bottle in his pocket, it is assumed by Scotland Yard that he is the killer. The housekeeper goes to see Holmes and Watson, as she believes the young man to be innocent.

Thursday, Dec. 6 - Fast Life

Fast Life (1932)

Two sailors are leaving the US Navy after 10 years. In their spare time, one of them (Haines) invents a carburetor that should increase the speed that powered boats will run, but all that they succeed in doing is to sink the Admiral's launch. After discharge, broke and out of work, they find work with a boat builder who wants the fastest race boat in the World. They design the boat, carburetor and the engine but lack of money and the foreclosure of the business hinders their efforts to prove the new design.

Haines plays Sandy, who’s recently left the Navy and made his way to Catalina. He’s invented a new carburetor for boats that makes them go a great deal faster; the only problem is they explode after a few minutes of use. He meets boat magnate John D. Jameson (Arthur Pryor) who agrees to risk everything on his invention which will climax, of course, with A Big Race.

Meanwhile, Sandy is in love with Shirley (Evans), Jameson’s daughter, who is in turn more than happy to settle for the rich but slimy Burton (Nagel). Cliff Edwards is also hanging around as Sandy’s best friend and foil; you know, the guy who gulps and goes bug-eyed whenever it’s time to cut to an endless scene of boats puttering around.

Wednesday, Dec. 5 - Lisbon

Lisbon (1956)

The police inspector Fonseca is interested in two Lisbon men in particular, the wealthy and notorious criminal Mavros and an American suspected smuggler with a fast boat, Captain Evans.

A number of beautiful women work for Mavros, including a secretary, Maria, who came to him for help when she was destitute. A menacing and jealous servant, Serafim, is secretly in love with Maria, but the attraction is not mutual.

Sylvia Merrill, married to a much older millionaire, is tired of waiting for government officials to rescue her husband Lloyd, a prisoner behind the Iron Curtain. She offers a large sum of money to Mavros, who correctly surmises that Sylvia has an ulterior motive. If her husband dies without a will, it could take as long as seven years for her to inherit his wealth.

Evans is hired by Mavros to go after Lloyd in his boat. Having developed a romantic attraction to Maria, the American finds himself hated by Serafim, who attempts to kill him. Mavros gives his man permission to kill Evans during the rescue of Lloyd, and by now Sylvia is on board with the idea that Lloyd won't come back alive, either.

Evans manages to foil Serafim's plans and sees him fall to his death. Fonseca, having been tipped off by Maria, has an informer prepared to identify the smuggler, but to the policeman's surprise it is Mavros who is fingered as the culprit rather than Evans. A happy Maria has her man, while Sylvia is left with only a husband she has betrayed.

Tuesday, Dec. 4 - All at Sea

All at Sea (1957) Barnacle Bill (original title)

William Horatio Ambrose (Guinness) wants desperately to live up to the proud family tradition; the Ambroses have always been mariners (if not exactly distinguished ones), hence their family motto, "Omnes per Mare" ("All at Sea"). In humorous vignettes, Guinness portrays six of his ancestors, starting with a confused caveman perpetually going in circles in his coracle and ending with his own father's ignominious demise at the Battle of Jutland. Ambrose has a debilitating problem however: he gets violently seasick at the slightest excuse. As a result, his contribution to the Second World War consists of testing cures for the malady.

When he retires from the Royal Navy as a captain, he purchases a dilapidated late Victorian era amusement pier (the closest thing to a command of his own) with his life savings. The workers are an apathetic bunch, led by an insolent Figg (Victor Maddern), who quits as soon as the new owner begins imposing some semblance of discipline. With the assistance of his new second-in-command, a former RN rating named Tommy (Percy Herbert), and much hard work with help by a group of bored local teenagers, Ambrose soon has the pier repaired.

Then he has to deal with the local town council, headed by the crooked Mayor Crowley (Maurice Denham) and the hostile Arabella Barrington (Irene Browne), who mistakes him for a peeping tom when they first meet. Every time he comes up with an ingenious way to make his business profitable, they see to it that the council outlaws it. When Crowley decides to confiscate and demolish Ambrose's pier and Barrington's bathing huts (under compulsory purchase) to further his own business interests, she resigns from the council and informs Ambrose. He counters by registering his property as a "foreign" naval vessel (christened the Arabella), under the flag of convenience of the easygoing country of "Liberama", which puts it outside the town's jurisdiction. He soon attracts many happy, paying passengers for his stationary inaugural "cruise".

Thwarted, Crowley hires Figg to take his dredger and demolish the structure late at night. Using a seasickness remedy suggested by Barrington, Ambrose is able to take to sea and foil the scheme (with his ghostly ancestors watching approvingly), but in the process, part of the pier becomes detached and floats away. He remains aboard to prevent salvagers from claiming it and drifts over to France, where he is hailed as a naval hero.

Monday, Dec. 3 - The Lady Refuses

The Lady Refuses (1931)

A wealthy London nobleman hires a pretty but poor young girl to distract his playboy son from marrying a golddigger. Complications ensue when the girl and the father begin to fall for each other, and things get even more complicated when the son declares his love for her, too.

Sunday, Dec. 2 - Bright Lights

Bright Lights (1930)

Successful actress Louanne (Dorothy Mackaill) is about to marry a rich man instead of the man she really loves, Wally Dean (Frank Fay). As the film begins, Louanne is giving her last performance as she plans to retire once she is married. A group of reporters comes to interview Louanne and while she tells them a story which she thinks is appropriate for a soon-to-be wife of a wealthy socialite, the scene flashes back to her actual past.

It is revealed that Louanne was once a dancer at a low-class cafe. Portuguese smuggler Miguel Parada (Noah Beery), took an interest in her and attempted to force his affections on her. Wally Dean, who was, even then, her constant companion, manages to escape with her from the cafe as a riot is about to start. Another flashback shows Wally as a barker at a carnival with Louanne as a dancer. Again Wally saves Louanne from an imminent riot. Back in the present, Louanne continues to lie to the reporters and tell them about her genteel background.

Fish (Frank McHugh), one of the reporters, does not believe her story but says nothing. When Louanne returns to the stage to resume her performance, Miguel, who happens to be in the audience, recognizes her and goes to her dressing room because he has some "unfinished business" with her. Louanne enters her dressing room and is shocked to find Miguel. Wally soon appears and pretends he has a gun to intimidate Miguel; he gives the "gun" to Connie Lamont (James Murray) because he has to go on stage. While Connie is guarding Miguel, a fight erupts between the two and Miguel reveals that he has a real gun. In the struggle for it, Miguel is shot and he dies.

When the police arrive, Wally tries to convince the police that Miguel committed suicide to save Louanne from a scandal before her marriage. Louanne's friend Peggy (Inez Courtney) also gives false testimony to save her. The police remain unconvinced until the reporter, Fish, gives false testimony that he actually saw Miguel pull the trigger. Louanne is cleared and realizes that she really loves Wally. She cancels her engagement to her rich fiancé and is united with Wally.

Saturday, Dec. 1 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Portrait of Jocelyn

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962): Portrait of Jocelyn (Season 1 | Episode 28 - aired 8 April 1956)

Mark Halliday takes his wife to an art gallery, to show her a painting he has purchased for their first anniversary. But instead of the painting he had seen, he is given a portrait of his first wife Jocelyn, who disappeared five years ago. Both he and his new wife are shocked and upset, so Halliday shows the portrait to Jocelyn's brother, who locates the artist for him. When Halliday goes in search of the artist, he encounters further coincidences and confusing developments, suggesting that Jocelyn is living very close by.

Friday, Nov. 30 - He Was Her Man

He Was Her Man (1934)

Flicker Hayes informs the police after he sets up two men to be caught in a phony robbery attempt, because they were responsible for his going to prison. Dan Curly escapes, but the other kills a policeman and goes to the chair, so Dan wants two hitmen to get Flicker, who plans to leave the country. But he meets down-and-out Rose Lawrence, an ex-prostitute looking to hitch a ride to a small fishing village in the south to marry a Portuguese fisherman, and Flicker decides it would be a nice place to hide. After he seduces Rose, Flicker stakes her to a bus ticket and goes with her. But he's been spotted by Pop Sims, who follows them and reports Flicker's whereabouts to Dan. Meanwhile, Rose falls in love with Flicker, who is unaware that the hitmen are coming to kill him.