Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Friday, Feb. 28 - The Strip
Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.
Friday, February 28, 2020
Thursday, Feb. 27 - An Act of Murder
Fredric March plays Calvin Cooke, a by-the-book judge confronted with an agonizing dilemma when his beloved wife Cathy (Florence Eldridge, March's real wife) is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
Medication is unable to control Cathy's unbearable pain, so Judge Cooke somewhat impulsively commits what he intends as an act of murder-suicide, driving his car off the road on a rainy night while Cathy is obliviously sleeping.
Cathy dies, but the judge survives, and when he's physically recovered he turns himself in on a murder charge. A dedicated defense attorney (Edmond O'Brien) dating the Cookes' daughter (Geraldine Brooks) is appointed by the judge (John McIntire) hearing the case to represent Judge Cooke.
An autopsy raises the question of whether the judge actually killed his wife after all...but even so, he meant to do it.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Wednesday, Feb. 26 - Double Door
A domineering woman, Victoria Van Brett, tries to destroy her brother (Rip)'s marriage to young Anne Darrow.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Tuesday, Feb. 25 - Unexpected Uncle
Seton Mansley (Charles Coburn) is walking down a Florida street when he spies salesgirl Kathleen (Shirley) crying through a shop window. Kathleen has just been fired for her reaction when she was pinched by customer Johnny Kerrigan (James Craig).
Mansley wangles Kathleen's job back and she "adopts" him as her uncle. "Uncle Seton" supervises Kathleen's romance with the apologetic Johnny, trying to determine whether Johnny is proper husband material. At times Johnny's an irresponsible playboy; at other times he works such long hours he has no time for Kathleen.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Monday, Feb. 24 - Tales of Tomorrow: The Invader
A research team led by Dr. Burroughs witnesses a UFO crash into the sea. Burroughs' son Roy makes a dive on the ship, but when he surfaces, his father begins to realize that Roy is not himself.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Sunday, Feb. 23 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Alibi Me
Georgie Minnelli confronts Lucky Moore, his old childhood enemy, for interfering in his pinball machine racket. Georgie waves a gun in Lucky's face, but Lucky isn't intimidated. A cop named Larkin has just been made lieutenant, and Larkin vowed long ago that if either of these hated rivals turns up dead, the other had better have a good alibi. Georgie couldn't possibly get away with it. But Lucky has pushed Georgie too far and his old enemy shoots him dead anyway. Now the young gangster is desperate for an alibi. But getting one won't be easy.
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Saturday, Feb. 22 - Six Bridges to Cross
(Fictionalized account of famous Brink's robbery in 1950. Author Joe Dineen gained confidence of convicted Brink's gang leader Tony Pino, whose thinly-veiled story this is.)
Youth gang leader Jerry Florea is shot fleeing from a crime scene by rookie cop Ed Gallagher. Result: "he'll never have children of his own." Ed and Jerry develop a mutually beneficial friendship: Jerry gets the benefit of the doubt, Ed gets information that brings him rapid promotion. As years and jail terms go by, Ed's friendship with this likable rogue becomes strained, as hope for his reform dwindles.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Friday, Feb. 21 - What a Woman!
The Whirlwind, written by Anthony Street (pen name only), is the best selling novel of the last ten years, its success largely attributed to agent Carol Ainsley - the daughter of an actress and a US senator - she who has already sold the movie rights further to capitalize on the success she's already generated. No one except Street's publisher knows his real identity. Henry Pepper, Associate Editor of Knickerbocker Magazine, is assigned by his boss to write a multi-installment article on the success that is Carol Ainsley.
Carol is amenable to the idea until she learns that Henry does not want to write a standard biography, but rather an in depth profile of her workings, she reluctant to make public many of her working secrets, especially anything that may place her or her company in a bad light. Her next step, which she has the exclusive contract to do, is find the actor to play the hyper-masculine, romantic yet adventurous lead character of the Whirlwind, the identity of that actor who seems to be elusive at least to her and her staff. This difficulty is one of those items that she does not want Henry to know. However, based on what she learns of Street written in the inside jacket of The Whirlwind, she believes he would be the perfect person to portray his own character. She does whatever she can to find, convince and train "Anthony Street" to be the Whirlwind, which may not be as easy as it sounds and which may have unintended consequences. And she has to do it under the watchful eye of Henry, who takes great pleasure in making her life as difficult as possible, he having more than one motive for his madness.
Friday, February 21, 2020
Thursday, Feb. 20 - Intrigue
In post-war China, court-martialed pilot Brad Dunham (George Raft) now flies smuggled goods into the country. He attempts to force his immediate superior, Ramon Perez (Marvin Miller), to pay him more, but Perez resists, so Brad steals the cargo back.
The boss of the black-market operation is Tamara Baranoff (June Havoc), who agrees to Brad's demand of a 50% cut of the operation and fires Ramon as a show of good faith. Meanwhile, an American newspaper reporter, Marc Andrews (Tom Tully), a friend of Brad's, shows up in Shanghai to investigate black-market crime.
Brad meets a social worker, Linda Arnold (Helena Carter), and their friendship makes Tamara jealous. She insists that Brad do something about the prying reporter and steer clear of that other woman. Tamara's criminal rival tips off Marc that his pal Brad is involved with the crime ring.
Marc is knifed by Tamara's rival just as he is delivering a copy of his story exposing the black market. His dying wish is that Brad deliver the story for him, telling Brad that it was Tamara whose testimony led to Brad's unjust court-martial.
Brad distributes her black-market goods to needy citizens. Ramon turns up to ambush Brad, but his gun goes off, killing Tamara instead, and Ramon is placed under arrest. Brad and Linda contemplate a new life together.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Wednesday, Feb. 19 - Ever Since Eve
Marge Winton (Marion Davies) is fed up with having to quit job after job to avoid the advances of lecherous bosses. When she goes to the employment agency, she is surprised to discover that she is too beautiful for one position. So she gives herself a makeover, hiding her blond curls under a dark, severe wig, putting on glasses, and wearing a drab, unflattering dress.
The disguise works. Book publisher Abigail Belldon (Louise Fazenda) hires her as a secretary for lazy writer Freddy Matthews (Robert Montgomery). Freddy would rather go out and party with his girlfriend Camille Lansing than start on his novel. Abigail has already sold the film rights, and the deadline for delivering the book to the film studio is fast approaching. She figures a plain secretary will be one less distraction.
Despite his initial displeasure at Marge's appearance, Freddy gives in and accepts her. However, Camille keeps taking up too much of Freddy's time and attention, and Marge begins to fall for him as well. Thus, Marge has plenty of reason to try to sabotage their relationship. When this is discovered, she quits.
A complication arises when Freddy decides to rehire her. He shows up at her apartment unexpectedly and sees her without her disguise, so she has to pretend to be her roommate Sadie (Patsy Kelly). They spend the entire evening and part of the morning getting acquainted.
With the deadline only days away, however, Marge pretends to go out of town for a couple of weeks. The plan backfires. Instead of writing, Freddie goes after her. Camille finds out and follows as well. Marge has no choice but to show up at the hotel, registering first as the plain secretary, then as Sadie, juggling her two personas to keep Freddie in the dark. She finally gets an outline from him for the last few chapters, which she uses to finish the novel on her own.
Since he gave the outline to "Sadie", and she had no opportunity to give it to Marge, Freddie finally realizes that they are one and the same. He decides to marry her anyway.
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Tuesday, Feb. 18 - The Scarf
John Barrington escapes from an asylum for the criminally-insane and finds refuge on the ranch of turkey-raiser Ezra Thompson. Barrington, who has suffered from amnesia, finds his memory returning slightly and he sets out on his mission of learning the truth about whether or not he really murdered his sweetheart and is actually insane. He goes to Los Angeles to visit his oldest-and-best friend, psychiatrist David Dunbar, who was a witness to Barrington's crime. Dunbar repeats his story to Barrington, convinces Barrington that he did commit the crime, and then betrays him to the police. However, Thompson, Connie Carter and others are not totally convinced of Barrington's guilt.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Monday, Feb. 17 - Hello, Sister!
Peggy and her friend Millie are strolling down Broadway while Jimmy and Mac are trolling Broadway, and the four get together. Jimmy and Peggy get together in many romantic ways and Peggy soon finds that her expected baby needs a father. Since Jimmy is the father (to-be) she informs him, but Jimmy thinks she is lying.
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