I’ve been a fan of the Turner Classic Movies channel for a long time. I love the old black and white classic 1930s and 1940s movies. I used to really enjoy seeing Robert Osborne introducing the old classics. He always had interesting tidbits to tell us, and it seemed like there were more introductions to movies back then.

I always think of “classic movies” as those from the 30s and 40s. I don’t think of the 1950s through 1980s as “classic” – however, I probably should since they are at least 40 years old! The movies really need to stand out when I see (what I consider) “not classic” movies.

Having said all of the above, let me tell you about a movie from the 1970s that, although I may not think is a “classic”, I think you might find interesting. It has an extremely original premise – which I don’t think I have ever seen before. The movie will be airing on Sunday, September 18th. It’s called “The Last of Sheila” and is two hours long. I had DVRd it a while back but kept putting off watching it. I watched it yesterday, and really enjoyed it. (I must warn you that it is not for children.)

So, as they say, if you’re in the neighborhood (of your DVR or TV) you might want to give it a try.

5:45 PM The Last of Sheila (1973)
A game of murder among wealthy vacationers turns into the real thing.
Dir: Herbert Ross. Actors: James Coburn, Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon
120 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – August 2022

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – September 1, 2022

10:00 PM The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.
Dir: John Huston. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George
100 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – September 2, 2022

4:00 AM Key Largo (1948)
A returning veteran tangles with a ruthless gangster during a hurricane.
Dir: John Huston. Actors: Humphrey Bogart,Edward G. Robinson,Lauren Bacall
101 mins

8:00 AM The Big Sleep (1946)
Called into a case involving a wealthy family, detective Philip Marlowe discovers blackmail and murder as he falls for the eldest daughter in the family.
Dir: Howard Hawks. Actors: Humphrey Bogart,Lauren Bacall,John Ridgely
114 mins

10:00 AM Dark Passage (1947)
A man falsely accused of his wife’s murder escapes to search for the real killer.
Dir: Delmer Daves. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett
106 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – September 3, 2022

6:00 AM Gaslight (1944)
A young woman has given up a promising singing career to marry. She refuses to believe that her new husband is a thief and murderer. Something evil happens every time she sees a dimming of the Gaslight…
Dir: George Cukor. Actors: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
114 mins

8:00 PM Double Indemnity (1944)
An insurance salesman gets seduced into plotting a client’s death.
Dir: Billy Wilder. Actors: Fred MacMurray,Barbara Stanwyck,Edward G. Robinson
106 mins

10:00 PM The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
A frustrated wife seduces a drifter into murdering her husband.
Dir: Tay Garnett. Actors: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
111 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – September 4, 2022

2:00 AM A Soldier’s Story (1984)
A black army attorney is sent to an all-black army camp during World War II to investigate the murder of a sergeant and sees first hand the racial strife between the black soldiers and the white officers who run the boot camp.
Dir: Norman Jewison. Actors: Howard E Rollins, Adolph Caesar, Denzel Washington
101 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – September 7, 2022

2:15 AM The Unholy Three (1930)
A ventriloquist, a strong man and a small person form a criminal alliance.
Dir: Jack Conway. Actors: Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, Elliott Nugent
72 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – September 8, 2022

6:15 AM King of the Underworld (1939)
A lady doctor gets mixed up with a criminal gang.
Dir: Lewis Seiler. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Kay Francis, James Stephenson
69 mins

7:30 AM The Doorway to Hell (1930)
Despite his efforts to go straight, a young gangster keeps falling back into crime.
Dir: Archie Mayo. Actors: Lew Ayres, Charles Judels, Dorothy Mathews
78 mins

9:00 AM Keeper of the Flame (1943)
Top-notch reporter Stephen O’Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.
Dir: George Cukor Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Whorf
100 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – September 9, 2022

12:00 AM Marked Woman (1937)
A crusading DA fights to get a nightclub hostess to testify against her gangster boss.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Actors: Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart
96 mins

1:45 AM The Big Shot (1942)
A mob leader escapes prison and flees with his love to a mountain hideaway, where he tries to atone for his sins.
Dir: Lewis Seiler. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Irene Manning
82 mins

3:30 AM The Big Shot (1942)
A mob leader escapes prison and flees with his love to a mountain hideaway, where he tries to atone for his sins.
Dir: Lewis Seiler. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Irene Manning, Richard Travis
82 mins

5:45 AM Brother Orchid (1940)
After a failed hit, a mob chief recuperates in a monastery.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sothern, Humphrey Bogart
90 mins

9:30 AM It All Came True (1940)
A gangster hides out in a boardinghouse full of eccentrics.
Dir: Lewis Seiler. Actors: Ann Sheridan, Jeffrey Lynn, Humphrey Bogart
97 mins

12:45 PM High Sierra (1941)
An aging ex-con sets out to pull one more big heist.
Dir: Raoul Walsh. Actors: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis, Arthur Kennedy
100 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – September 10, 2022

2:00 AM Five Minutes to Live (1961)
A deranged bandit holds a bank president’s wife hostage.
Dir: Bill Karn. Actors: Johnny Cash, Donald Woods, Cay Forrester, Pamela Mason, Vic Tayback
80 mins

6:00 AM Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Detective Philip Marlowe’s search for a two-timing woman leads him to blackmail and murder.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk. Actors: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley
95 mins

12:00 PM I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
A World War I veteran faces inhuman conditions when he’s sentenced to hard labor.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. Actors: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson
72 mins

6:00 PM Get Carter (1971)
A small-time gangster searches for the truth behind his brother’s death.
Dir: Mike Hodges. Actors: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland
112 mins

10:00 PM Wait Until Dark (1967)
A blind woman fights against drug smugglers who’ve invaded her home.
Dir: Terence Young. Actors: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
108 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – September 11, 2022

12:00 AM Obsession (1949)
A jealous husband plots to dispose of his wife’s lover in an acid bath.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk. Actors: Robert Newton, Phil Brown, Naunton Wayne
96 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – September 13, 2022

1:45 PM The Woman on the Beach (1947)
A coast guardsman begins to think his mistress’s blind husband can really see.
Dir: Jean Renoir. Actors: Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan, Charles Bickford
71 mins

3:00 PM The Haunting (1963)
You may not believe in ghosts…but you cannot deny terror! Hill House has a reputation for evil. A mysterious New England mansion has been the scene of grisly murders. Four people spend the night in the mansion and find themselves trapped by The Haunting.
Dir: Robert Wise. Actors: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson
112 mins

5:00 PM The Smiling Ghost (1941)
A newswoman investigates a haunted house.
Dir: Lewis Seiler. Actors: Wayne Morris, Brenda Marshall, Alexis Smith
71 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – September 15, 2022

12:45 AM The Maltese Falcon (1931)
Detective Sam Spade investigates the theft of a priceless statue.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth. Actors: Bebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges
75 mins

7:30 AM Doctor X (1932)
A reporter investigates a series of cannibalistic murders at a medical college.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Actors: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy
76 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – September 16, 2022

2:45 PM The House Across the Street (1949)
Mob pressure sends a crusading reporter from the front page to the advice column.
Dir: Richard Bare. Actors: Wayne Morris, Janis Paige, Bruce Bennett
69 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – September 17, 2022

1:30 PM Act of Violence (1949)
An embittered veteran tracks down a POW camp informer.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann. Actors: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh
82 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – September 18, 2022

5:45 PM The Last of Sheila (1973)
A game of murder among wealthy vacationers turns into the real thing.
Dir: Herbert Ross. Actors: James Coburn, Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon
120 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – September 19, 2022

5:45 PM Dead Ringer (1964)
One of a pair of twins, jealous that the other became wealthy and took away her husband, kills her sister and takes over the latter’s identity.
Dir: Paul Henreid. Actors: Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford
115 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – September 21, 2022

9:45 AM Murder She Said (1961)
When nobody will believe she witnessed a murder, elderly sleuth Miss Marple takes a job as a maid to ferret out clues.
Dir: George Pollock. Actors: Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow
86 mins

11:15 AM The Unsuspected (1947)
The producer of a radio crime series commits the perfect crime, then has to put the case on the air.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Actors: Joan Caulfield, Claude Rains, Audrey Totter
103 mins

1:15 PM The Fallen Sparrow (1943)
Nazi spies pursue a Spanish Civil War veteran in search of a priceless keepsake.
Dir: Richard Wallace. Actors: John Garfield, Maureen O’Hara, Walter Slezak
94 mins

3:00 PM The Scapegoat (1959)
A man is tricked into trading places with a look-alike nobleman with murderous plans.
Dir: Robert Hamer. Actors: Alec Guinness, Bette Davis, Nicole Maurey
92 mins

4:45 PM Strangers on a Train (1951)
A man’s joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
96 mins

6:30 PM The Blue Gardenia (1953)
A telephone operator kills in self-defense but can’t remember the details of the encounter.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Actors: Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern
90 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – September 23, 2022

2:15 AM In a Lonely Place (1950)
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Dir: Nicholas Ray. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
91 mins

4:00 AM The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
A new marriage proves to be more than the husband wanted…
Dir: Peter Godfrey. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith
99 mins

8:45 AM One Fatal Hour (1936)
A radio-station manager tries to keep tabloid journalists from reviving a 20-year-old murder case.
Dir: William McGann. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Beverly Roberts, Linda Perry
64 mins

10:00 AM The Amazing Doctor Clitterhouse (1938)
A doctor plots crimes so he can study criminal psychology.
Dir: Anatole Litvak. Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor, Humphrey Bogart
87 mins

12:45 PM The Big Steal (1949)
A man is on the trail of a thief who stole a $300,000 Army payroll, but there is someone else after him – a woman.
Dir: Don Siegel. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix
71 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – September 25, 2022

8:15 AM The Thin Man (1934)
In New York, a detective, his wife and his dog solve the murder case of an eccentric inventor.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan
80 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – September 27, 2022

12:00 AM Whistling in the Dark (1941)
A radio detective is kidnapped and forced to plan the perfect murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon. Actors: Red Skelton, Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford
77 mins

10:00 AM Scarlet Street (1945)
A middle aged would be painter falls into the clutches of an unscrupulous woman.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea
103 mins

1:00 PM Kind Lady (1951)
A con artist and his criminal cohorts hold an old lady hostage in her own home.
Dir: John Sturges. Actors: Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans, Angela Lansbury
78 mins

2:30 PM Cast a Dark Shadow (1955)
A wife-killer marries an innocent barmaid and plots her death.
Dir: Lewis Gilbert. Actors: Margaret Lockwood, Dirk Bogarde, Kay Walsh
85 mins

6:00 PM The Honeymoon Killers (1969)
Two very-much-in-love con artists–a sadistic, corpulent nurse and a conscience-free ex-con–prey on lonely women as they plot to fleece and slaughter a succession of rich spinsters and widows.
Dir: Leonard Kastle. Actors: Shirley Stoler, Tony Lobianco, Mary Jane Higby
106 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – September 28, 2022

6:00 AM The Longest Night (1936)
A department-store head tries to stop a gangland plot.
Dir: Errol Taggart. Actors: Robert Young, Florence Rice, Ted Healy
51 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – September 29, 2022

1:00 PM The Lodger (1927)
A family running a boarding house suspects their new tenant is Jack the Ripper.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Ivor Novello, Malcolm Keen, Marie Ault
75 mins (This is a silent film.)

8:00 PM They Drive by Night (1940)
Truck driving brothers are framed for murder by a lady psycho.vfg
Dir: Raoul Walsh. Actors: George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino
93 mins

10:00 PM Conflict (1945)
A man murders his wife so he can be free to marry her sister.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet
86 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – September 30, 2022

1:45 AM Bullets or Ballots (1936)
A maverick cop gets thrown off the force in disgrace, and goes to the city’s gang lords and offers to join their side, helping them to get around the police. But in fact, he is still a cop, and is working undercover to break apart the gangs.
Dir: William Keighley. Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton Maclane
77 mins

10:00 AM The Petrified Forest (1936)
When a burned out Brit wanders into a diner and gas station in the middle of the desert, the owner’s daughter falls for him. However, the situations of all concerned change when the restaurant is held up at gunpoint by a desperate gangster.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo Actors: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin
83 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV specials coming up in September, be sure to leave a comment below!

In case you’re interested in seeing the rest of this month’s television mystery movies, here’s the August 2022 television mystery movies schedule:

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for August 2022 on Turner Classic Movies channel

And here is the page on my site with plenty of entries about movies and television shows you may enjoy:

Cozy Mystery List TV and Movie Section – all you have to do is click on the link to go to that page on my site.

Unfortunately, Eddie Muller from Noir Alley isn’t presenting his noir movies this month. I’m always disappointed when he takes off a full month from the Turner Classic Movies channel.

It looks like this month the channel is focusing on one actor each day. This works out great for us when the actor is someone like Joan Crawford – who happened to be in several noir movies. Crawford’s day is Saturday, August 20. For those of you who have favorite actors from years gone by, I have included each day’s actor at the bottom of this blog entry. Your fave may just have a whole day devoted to his/her movies!

***** ***** ***** *****

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – August 2022

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – August 2, 2022

8:30 AM Public Hero No. 1 (1935)
An undercover G-man helps with a jailbreak to learn the mob’s secrets.
Dir: J. Walter Ruben. Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Jean Arthur, Chester Morris
89 mins

11:45 AM The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)
A detective teams with his ex-wife to solve a murder.
Dir: Stephen Roberts. Actors: William Powell, Jean Arthur, James Gleason
80 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – August 4, 2022

8:00 AM The Window (1949)
A boy who always lies witnesses a murder but can’t get anyone but the killer to believe him.
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff. Actors: Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart
73 mins

12:45 PM Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
An actress champions the cause of a man whom she believes has been falsely accused of murdering his wife.
Dir: King Vidor. Actors: Ruth Roman, Richard Todd, Mercedes Mccambridge
91 mins

2:30 PM Mara Maru (1952)
A salvage diver is accused of murder while hunting a mysterious treasure.
Dir: Gordon Douglas. Actors: Errol Flynn, Ruth Roman, Raymond Burr
98 mins

8:00 PM Strangers on a Train (1951)
A man’s joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
96 mins

10:00 PM Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951)
A man who spent his formative years in prison for murder is released and struggles to adjust to the outside world.
Dir: Felix Feist. Actors: Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Lurene Tuttle
90 mins

11:45 PM Down Three Dark Streets (1954)
An FBI Agent takes on the three unrelated cases of a dead agent to track down his killer.
Dir: Arnold Laven. Actors: Broderick Crawford, Ruth Roman, Martha Hyer
85 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – August 5, 2022

1:30 AM 5 Steps to Danger (1957)
A woman who picks up a hitchhiker has a psychiatrist relentlessly following her.
Dir: Henry S. Kesler. Actors: Ruth Roman, Sterling Hayden, Werner Klemperer
81 mins

12:30 PM Journey into Fear (1942) (a spy movie)
A munitions expert gets mixed up with gunrunners in Turkey.
Dir: Norman Foster Actors: Joseph Cotten, Dolores del Rio, Ruth Warrick
69 mins

2:00 PM The Stranger (1946)
A small-town schoolteacher suspects her new husband may be an escaped Nazi war criminal.
Dir: Orson Welles. Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Orson Welles
95 mins

4:00 PM Mr. Arkadin (1955)
An eager young man is hired by Mr. Arkadin, one of the richest men in Europe, to help him uncover clues about his past because he suffers from a severe condition of amnesia and does not know how he became so wealthy.
Dir: Orson Welles. Actors: Orson Welles, Robert Arden, Paola Mori
99 mins

8:00 PM The Third Man (1949)
A man’s investigation of a friend’s death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Dir: Carol Reed. Actors: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles
93 mins

10:00 PM The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Dir: Orson Welles. Actors: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane
86 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – August 6, 2022

6:00 AM Wait Until Dark (1967)
A blind woman fights against drug smugglers who’ve invaded her home.
Dir: Terence Young. Actors: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
108 mins

6:00 PM Charade (1963)
A young woman returns home from vacation to find her elegant apartment stripped and her husband murdered.
Dir: Stanley Donen. Actors: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
114 mins

10:15 PM How to Steal a Million (1966)
A young woman enlists the help of a detective to recover a sculpture that her father, a dealer in phony art, sold to a Paris museum for fear that it will be uncovered as a hoax.
Dir: Billy Wilder. Actors: Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Eli Wallach
127 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – August 8, 2022

7:30 AM The Bishop Misbehaves (1933)
A church official with a taste for mysteries gets mixed up in the real thing.
Dir: E. A. Dupont. Actors: Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Sullivan, Lucile Watson
85 mins

9:15 AM Woman Wanted (1935)
An innocent woman is chased by both gangsters and the police.
Dir: George B. Seitz. Actors: Maureen O’Sullivan, Joel McCrea, Lewis Stone
70 mins

6:30 PM Let Us Live (1939)
Two wrongly convicted men are sentenced to death.
Dir: John Brahm. Actors: Maureen O’Sullivan,Henry Fonda,Ralph Bellamy
68 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – August 9, 2022

12:00 AM The Big Clock (1948)
A corrupt publisher tries to frame a career-driven editor for murder.
Dir: John Farrow. Actors: Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Sullivan
93 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – August 11, 2022

4:15 PM The Outrage (1964)
A murderer, a sexually assaulted wife and the dead man himself present conflicting versions of a brutal crime.
Dir: Martin Ritt. Actors: Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom
97 mins

6:00 PM The Running Man (1963)
A man fakes his death to get back at the insurance company that denied an earlier claim.
Dir: Carol Reed. Actors: Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, Alan Bates
103 mins

8:00 PM The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
A Korean War hero doesn’t realize he’s been programmed to kill by the enemy.
Dir: John Frankenheimer. Actors: Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh
126 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – August 12, 2022

4:15 AM Night Watch (1973)
A woman sees a murder in a neighbor’s window but her husband and the police don’t believe her.
Dir: Brian G. Hutton. Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Billie Whitelaw
105 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – August 14, 2022

4:00 AM The Formula (1980)
A detective is in jeopardy after discovering a synthetic formula for gasoline.
Dir: John G. Avildsen. Actors: George C Scott, Marlon Brando, Marthe Keller
117 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – August 16, 2022

2:00 PM The Last of Sheila (1973)
A game of murder among wealthy vacationers turns into the real thing.
Dir: Herbert Ross. Actors: James Coburn, Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon
120 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – August 17, 2022

12:00 PM Keeper of the Flame (1943)
Top-notch reporter Stephen O’Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.
Dir: George Cukor. Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Whorf
100 mins

8:00 PM Adam’s Rib (1949)
A happily-married, middle-aged husband and wife strain their marriage while serving as trial attorneys on opposite sides of the same headline-making attempted murder-marital case. He is the prosecutor, and she is the defender.
Dir: George Cukor. Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
101 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – August 18, 2022

8:00 AM Behave Yourself! (1951)
A young couple’s dog gets them mixed up in a string of murders.
Dir: George Beck. Actors: Farley Granger, Shelley Winters, William Demarest
81 mins

1:15 PM I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
An ex-con dreaming of one last heist faces dissension within his gang.
Dir: Stuart Heisler. Actors: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson
109 mins

10:15 PM The Night of the Hunter (1955)
After hearing an about-to-be-hanged murderer’s story about some hidden money he left in the care of his two young kids, the murderer’s cell-mate is released and embarks on a journey to find the killer’s family.
Dir: Charles Laughton. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
93 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – August 19, 2022

2:00 AM He Ran All the Way (1951)
A crook on the run hides out in an innocent girl’s apartment.
Dir: John Berry. Actors: John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford
77 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – August 20, 2022

1:30 AM High and Low (1963)
When the son of his chauffeur is kidnapped by mistake, a wealthy man faces the dilemma of paying the ransom.
Dir: Akira Kurosawa. Actors: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoko Kagawa
143 mins
(In Japanese)

5:30 PM What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion.
Dir: Robert Aldrich. Actors: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
132 mins

8:00 PM Mildred Pierce (1945)
A woman’s ambitions for her daughter drastically impact her life.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Actors: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth
113 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – August 21, 2022

12:00 AM Flamingo Road (1949)
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Actors: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet
94 mins

2:00 AM The Damned Don’t Cry (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Dir: Vincent Sherman. Actors: Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran
103 mins

4:00 AM This Woman Is Dangerous (1952)
A female gangster learns she is losing her vision.
Dir: Felix Feist. Actors: Joan Crawford, Dennis Morgan, David Brian
97 mins

3:30 PM Coogan’s Bluff (1968)
An Arizona deputy sheriff is sent to New York City to extradite an escaped killer he tracked down.
Dir: Donald Siegel. Actors: Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, Susan Clark
94 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – August 22, 2022

4:30 PM After Office Hours (1935)
A society newspaperwoman tries to prove to her editor that she can crack a murder case.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard. Actors: Constance Bennett, Clark Gable, Stuart Erwin
75 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – August 23, 2022

6:15 PM The Strip (1951)
A jazz drummer fights to clear his name when he’s accused of killing a racketeer.
Dir: Leslie Kardos. Actors: Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest
85 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – August 24, 2022

12:00 PM The Spiral Staircase (1975)
A mute nurse cares for an old invalid in a house where a killer lurks.
Dir: Peter Collinson. Actors: Jacqueline Bisset, Christopher Plummer, John Phillip Law
86 mins

6:00 PM Bullitt (1968)
A detective is sent by a politician to catch a big-time gangster so he can procure him before a Senate crime committee for selfish gain. When the gangster is killed before this can happen, the detective and the politico clash with each other.
Dir: Peter Yates. Actors: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset
114 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – August 25, 2022

8:45 AM Gambling on the High Seas (1940)
A reporter tries to nail a gambling-ship owner for murder.
Dir: George Amy. Actors: Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman, Gilbert Roland
56 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – August 26, 2022

7:00 AM 21 Days Together (1940)
After accidentally killing his mistress’ husband, a man must decide whether to let another man hang for his crime.
Dir: Basil Dean. Actors: Vivien Leigh, Leslie Banks, Laurence Olivier
75 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – August 27, 2022

7:30 AM The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Recently paroled master criminal Erwin “Doc” Riedenschneider gathers several crooks together in Cincinnati for a heist. The robbery is pulled off successfully until an alert night watchman shoots the team’s safe-cracker.
Dir: John Huston Actors: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen
112 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – August 28, 2022

3:30 PM Suspicion (1941)
A young woman marries a charming man after a brief romance but then comes to believe that he is only after her money and will do anything to get it.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
99 mins

5:30 PM North by Northwest (1959)
A suave, successful New York advertising executive finds himself, through a case of mistaken identity, embroiled in a web of intrigue and murder that takes him across the country to prove his innocence to the police.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
136 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Monday – August 29, 2022

9:00 AM Penthouse (1933)
The mob frames a lawyer for murder, so he enlists a call girl’s help in finding the real killer.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Actors: Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Charles Butterworth
88 mins

8:00 PM The Thin Man (1934)
In New York, a detective, his wife and his dog solve the murder case of an eccentric inventor.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan
80 mins

10:00 PM After the Thin Man (1936)
Married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles try to clear Nora’s cousin of a murder charge.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewartl
110 mins

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – August 30, 2022

9:30 AM Make Your Own Bed (1944)
Detectives masquerade as a butler and maid to get the goods on a crook.
Dir: Peter Godfrey. Actors: Jack Carson, Jane Wyman, Irene Manning
82 mins (Possibly not really a mystery…)

10:00 PM The Good Humor Man (1950)
A good-hearted ice cream man’s efforts to help a young woman turn him into a murder suspect.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Actors: Jack Carson, Lola Albright, Jean Wallace
79 mins (Possibly not really a mystery…)

*****

Days in August with showcased actor: 1= Elvis Presley, 2= Jean Arthur, 3= Sydney Poitier, 4= Ruth Roman, 5= Orson Wells, 6= Audrey Hepburn, 7= Gene Kelly, 8= Maureen O’Sullivan’ 9= William Holden, 10= Greta Garbo, 11= Laurence Harvey, 12= Jane Powell, 13= Marlon Brando, 14= Elizabeth Taylor, 15= Randolph Scott, 16= Raquel Welch, 17= Spencer Tracy, 18= Shelley Winters, 19= Toshiro Mifune, 20= Joan Crawford, 21= Clint Eastwood, 22= Constance Bennett, 23= Mickey Rooney, 24= Jacqueline Bisset, 25= Gilbert Roland, 26= Vivien Leigh, 27= Marilyn Monroe, 28= Cary Grant, 29= Myrna Loy, 30= Jack Carson, 31= Peter Sellers.

***** ***** ***** *****

If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV specials coming up in August, be sure to leave a comment below!

In case you’re interested in seeing the rest of this month’s television mystery movies, here’s the July 2022 television mystery movies schedule:

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for July 2022 on Turner Classic Movies channel

And here is the page on my site with plenty of entries about movies and television shows you may enjoy:

Cozy Mystery List TV and Movie Section – all you have to do is click on the link to go to that page on my site.

The Sister Boniface Mysteries is a British series that is available on BritBox. Sister Boniface is a perky, upbeat, ex-spy, Ph.D. – who does all of the forensics involved in solving a crime. She is the crime scene investigator, the lab technician, and she pretty much takes care of all the technical positions involved. Lorna Watson portrays Sister Boniface in an almost staccato mode. She walks, talks, and moves in a very controlled and planned manner. Sister Boniface is clearly a genius – definitely the smartest person in any room she’s in.

There are four other characters featured in this series, and all of them are very well-portrayed: Max Brown (the inspector), Jerry Iwu (the new detective who thought he was going to work at Scotland Yard, who finds himself in this cozy village), Miranda Raison (the journalist who always seems to be eavesdropping as crimes are being discussed), and Ami Metcalf (the constable).

The name of the village is a telling hint that this is a mystery series: “Great Slaughter”. The Sister Boniface Mysteries series is set in the early 1960s – the same as the Father Brown series. Sister Boniface zips around on her moped scooter and isn’t averse to breaking a few rules. The village setting is exactly what you would expect – beautiful, serene, full of friendly people, tranquil >>> until, of course, the pesky crime occurs!

My husband and I watch Sister Boniface at the end of the day – when we’re sort of unwinding. We know we’ll enjoy it and we know there won’t be any graphic “adult situations” that will jolt like scenes that depict a forensic pathologist pointing out how a mangled body looks on the morgue’s “slab” – while the pathologist is eating a sandwich. You won’t see that here! 

This is another British “feel good” mystery television series that seems to be an oxymoron. You may ask: How in the world can a show that deals with death be a “feel good” TV show? Well, if you watch this show you’ll find out how!