Monday, July 30 - And Soon the Darkness

And Soon the Darkness (1970)

Jane and Cathy, two English women in their early twenties, are on a cycling tour. While traveling in rural France, they begin to disagree about the route. Cathy would prefer to take things in at a leisurely pace, while Jane is trying to stick to strict schedule. After arguing, they part ways. When her friend fails to rejoin her, Jane begins to worry and returns to the last place she saw her. Cathy has vanished. Alone and with a limited knowledge of French, Jane doesn't know who to trust as she frantically searches for her missing friend.

Sunday, July 29 - The Gamblers

The Gamblers (1970)

Card cheats travel by cruise ship to the Adriatic coast to fleece a wealthy aristocrat.

Saturday, July 28 - The Spanish Gardener

The Spanish Gardener (1956)

The story of a British diplomat called Harrington Brande who is relocated to Cataluña, Spain, after his marriage falls by the way side. Taking his young son Nicholas with him, Harrington is perturbed when Nicholas forms a loving and trusting friendship with the estate gardener Jose. Bitten by jealousy and tortured by his own inadequacies as a father, Brande becomes nasty and spiteful, and it gets to the point where he will stop at nothing to break up the friendship. All of which is keenly observed by the shifty, and often drunk butler, whom it seems has a very vested interest in the family proceedings.

Friday, July 27 = These Wilder Years

These Wilder Years (1956)

Detroit business tycoon, Steve Bradford, tells his board of directors without explanation that he is taking a leave of absence. He travels to his small hometown, where it turns out that his goal is to find a son he put up for adoption 20 years before.

Steve turns to Ann Dempster, who runs an orphanage, explaining how he has achieved success in life, but feels a void left by his absent and unknown son. Ann explains that she is ethically required to conceal the identity of foster children and parents. Steve tries charming her, cajoling, even bribing, to no avail, then brings in his lawyer, James Rayburn, to seek other ways of finding the boy.

Although he has befriended Ann, he betrays her with a charge of fraud, resulting in a courtroom hearing that could cost her both her vocation and reputation. A furious Ann digs up records that prove how Steve specifically expressed no wish to ever see his child 20 years before.

At the orphanage, meantime, he strikes up an acquaintance with a young lady, Suzie, expecting a baby, abandoned by the child's father. Steve takes a personal interest in the girl, particularly after she is involved in an auto accident and needs surgery that she fears could endanger the baby.

With the case dismissed, and Steve overcome with guilt goes bowling where he is approached by a young man who turns out to be his missing son, claiming he'd been following the progress of the trial. They have a heart to heart and part with no plans to be in each other's lives. Steve believes that this seemingly coincidental meeting was privately arranged by Ann out of the goodness of her heart which turns out to be true. Steve adopts Suzie so she doesn't have to give up her child. Suzie names her son after him.

Thursday, July 26 - Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Haunted Gainsborough

Sherlock Holmes (1954–1955): The Case of the Haunted Gainsborough (Season 1 | Episode 35 - aired 4 July 1955)

Malcolm MacGregan will lose his family's Scottish castle if he can't make the mortgage payment, by midnight.

Malcolm McGreggan seeks Holmes's help in solving a mystery of an apparent ghost who always prevent the selling of the painting of his ancestor. (Presumably, the painting is by the aforementioned Gainsborough.)

Wednesday, July 25 - Playmates

Playmates (1941)

Lulu Monahan (Patsy Kelly), the press agent for John Barrymore (John Barrymore),is attempting to get a sponsor for a radio program. To that end, she and the agent for bandleader Kay Kyser (Kay Kyser), plant a story that the great Shakespearean actor, over his heartfelt objections, will teach Kyser how to play Shakespeare, which isn't the same as playing Paducah, which soon becomes evident.

Tuesday, July 24 - Miss Sadie Thompson

Miss Sadie Thompson (1953)

In the Pacific after the war, a U.S. Marine unit that includes Sgt. Phil O'Hara (Aldo Ray) is awaiting discharge when missionary Alfred Davidson (Jose Ferrer), physician Dr. Robert McPhail (Russell Collins) and singer Sadie Thompson (Rita Hayworth) arrive at the base. The soldiers are delighted by the spirited, friendly Sadie, and Phil falls in love with her. Davidson, however, unearths a secret in Sadie's past and, blocking her attempt to leave the island, demands that she repent.

Monday, July 23 - Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)

When his castle is exorcised, Dracula plots his revenge against the Monsignor who performed the rites by attempting to make the holy man's young niece his bride.

Sunday, July 22 - Back from Eternity

Back from Eternity (1956)

A South American plane loaded with an assortment of characters crash lands in a remote jungle area in the middle of a storm. The passengers then discover they are in an area inhabited by vicious cannibals and must escape before they are found. Pilot Robert Ryan is able to get the plane back into flying condition; unfortunately he discovers that the plane will only be able to carry five of its eleven passengers to safety. Fortunately, 3 are already dead and old people and murderers are expendable.

Saturday, July 21 - Cry of the Banshee

Cry of the Banshee (1970)

Monomaniacal witch hunter Lord Edward Whitman (Vincent Price) cruelly persecutes the peasants in his corner of Elizabethan England, manufacturing charges and meting out punishment without regard to justice. While trying to wipe out a coven of witches, he fails to take into account the possibility that real witches might have real power. He is unprepared when Oona (Elisabeth Bergner), the head of the coven, transforms a trusted member of Whitman's household into a vehicle of demonic vengeance.

Friday, July 20 - Star of Midnight

Star of Midnight (1935)

Friend Tim Winthrop asks criminal lawyer and amateur detective Clay Dalzell to find his girl, Alice, who disappeared a year earlier without a trace. When they go to the theater with Clay's would-be fiancée, Donna Mantin, Tim recognizes the star, Mary Smith, as his girl, and yells "Alice," after which she bolts from the stage and disappears once again. Reporter Tommy Tennant knows why she bolted, but before he can tell Clay the reason, he is shot dead and Clay is wounded slightly in Clay's apartment. The many suspects include Roger Classon and his wife, Jerry, who are looking for Alice to testify and save Roger's friend from the electric chair for a murder he didn't commit; Abe Ohlman, the producer of Mary's show; and gangster Jimmy Kinland who seems to know more than he's telling. It's up to Clay, with the help of Donna, to trap the murderer and find Alice.

Thursday, July 19 - The Crowd Roars

The Crowd Roars (1938)

Tommy McCoy, the son of a destitute former Vaudeville star, earns money by singing in pool halls. When his father Brian discovers his talent for boxing, he pushes Tommy into the ring but continually gambles away his son's winnings. Tommy's accidental killing of one of his old friends during a boxing match earns him the moniker "Killer McCoy" and forces him to consider leaving boxing altogether. However, his spendthrift father has already sold his contract to Jim Carson, a respected investment banker who runs a booking operation on the side under the name of Cain. Tommy's growing love for Carson's daughter Sheila threatens to bring the separate worlds into collision.