Wednesday, May 30 - George Gently: Gently in the Night

Inspector George Gently (2007)

Gently in the Night
S2, Ep2
May 10, 2009

Audrey Chadwick's corpse is found on a church altar and, whilst she told her parents and landlady she was a nurse, the not so happily married Bacchus recognizes her as a hostess at a Playboy-style drinking club he has used,called Rakes, run by brash American Patrick Donovan. Audrey had had an abortion - news to her volatile boyfriend - and the doctor who performed it tells Gently it was because she had been raped. Margaret Bishop, an anti-abortionist, heads a group picketing to close Rakes but her husband is Donovan's lawyer and very much at odds with Margaret's views. He admits intimacy with Audrey but denies rape, nonetheless making him the prime suspect. After the murderer has been unmasked the club is shut down and Gently, having earlier accused Bacchus of being out of condition for his youth, bizarrely takes him on in a charity boxing match.

Tuesday, May 29 - Prohibition: A Nation of Scofflaws

Prohibition (2011)

A Nation of Scofflaws
S1, Ep2
Oct. 3, 2011

With the passing of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, the federal government now passes legislation to enforce it. Known as the Volstead Act, the legislation forbids not only hard liquor but also beer and light wine which many legislators assumed would be exempted. Penalties as well were far harsher than many had expected. The ban on alcoholic beverages could not be complete as alcohol was required by many industrial processes. There were also exemptions for religious observances and for medicinal purposes. In fact, from the day the ban went into into effect, entrepreneurs found ways, some legal, most not - to get around the law. Some States had no legislation to implement the new amendment to the constitution and for the most part, the Federal government was left on its own to enforce it. Rum running became big business with schooners plying their trade on both the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the U.S...

Monday, May 28 - Prohibition: A Nation of Drunkards

Prohibition (2011)

A Nation of Drunkards
S1, Ep1
Oct. 2, 2011

The 19th century was a period of growth both for alcoholic beverages and the temperance movement. Washingtonian societies - made up of men who had taken a pledge to forgo all alcoholic beverage - sprang up across the country. Women were often excluded from these groups and so formed their own. The women's crusade of 1873 was essentially a general strike by women who brought business to a halt. Their protest spread to 911 communities in 37 territories. However no laws had been changed and within a few years, saloons were back in business. In 1879, Frances E. Willard ...

Sunday, May 27 - Night Unto Night

Night Unto Night (1949)

Overly melodramatic story starring Ronald Reagan as a scientist with epilepsy who goes to south Florida on doctor's orders and meets a young woman, (Viveca Lindfors) recently widowed, who is haunted by the voice of her dead husband.

Saturday, May 26 - Mystery House

Mystery House (1938)

Banker Hubert Kingery invites fellow officers to his hunting lodge only to announce that one of them has forged critical company documents. Later, he is found shot to death, apparently at his own hand. His daughter, Gwen, is the only one who does not believe it was suicide. She asks help from aunt's nurse, Sarah, who suggests her detective boyfriend, Lance, for the task. When he arrives, he's not sure the death was not a suicide after all. But as he investigates the few available clues, he tries to sort fact from fallacy.

Friday, May 25 - Hu$tle: Picture Perfect

Hustle (2004)

Picture Perfect
S1, Ep3
Mar. 9, 2004

The team focus on the art world and specifically Meredith Gates, an art collector and dealer who is an expert on the works of Mondrian. The plan is to produce a forged Mondrian that would show he experimented with cubism long before Picasso. Having found their forger, they must now provide him with period-specific materials while at the same time setting the trap for Gates. What they do not realize is that they too are being set up and may end up with nothing.

Thursday, May 24 - Three Came to Kill

Three Came to Kill (1960)

Three professional killers break into the house of an airport employee to shoot the plane on which an Asian Prime Minister is due to leave America.

Tuesday, May 22 - Wednesday, May 23 - The Snorkel

The Snorkel (1958)

Paul Decker murders his wife in her Italian villa by drugging her milk and asphyxiating her by gas. He cleverly locks the bedroom from the inside and hides inside a trapdoor in the floor until after the body is discovered by servants. He uses a scuba snorkel connected to tubes on the outside to breathe during the ordeal. Decker's stepdaughter Candy suspects him immediately, especially since no suicide note was found. She also is convinced that he murdered her father years before, but her accusations fall on deaf ears. The ruthless Decker even poisons the family spaniel when the pet takes too great an interest in the mask and realizes he will ultimately have to get rid of Candy too.

Monday, May 21 - She Fell Among Thieves

BBC2 Play of the Week (1977)
TV Series

She Fell Among Thieves
S1, Ep17
Mar. 1, 1978

A villainess concocts a nefarious plot around her stepdaughter and matches wits with an English gentleman adventurer.

Sunday, May 20 - Foyle's War: The Funk Hole

Foyle's War (2002)
TV Series

As World War II rages around the world, a police inspector fights his own war on the home-front in investigating murder, robbery, and espionage on the south coast of England.

The Funk Hole
S2, Ep4
Dec. 7, 2003

Foyle's investigation of the death of a young black marketeer and stolen food is interrupted by his suspension on charges of sedition.

Saturday, May 19 - They Made Me a Fugitive

I Became a Criminal (1947)
They Made Me a Fugitive (original title)

Ex-RAF man Clem Morgan (Trevor Howard) finds civilian life is dull and a struggle for him to ingratiate himself into. Searching for some excitement he is tempted into joining a black market gang fronted by ruthless Narcy (Griffith Jones). But Clem and Narcy don't exactly hit it off and when disaster strikes during a getaway, Clem finds himself set up as a fall-guy. So begins a tale of murder, beatings and revenge.

Friday, May 18 - Saturday, May 19 - House of a Thousand Dolls

House of 1,000 Dolls (1967)
La casa de las mil muñecas

When a vacationing couple in Tangiers run into an old friend there, they discover that he is searching for his missing girlfriend who has been kidnapped by an international gang of white slavers. Nader investigates but before he can come up with anything, his friend is murdered. Meanwhile, nightclub magician Price and his mentalist partner continue their nefarious activities--they hypnotize and kidnap young women for the white slavers, and spirit them to the "House of 1000 Dolls."