Let’s take a look and see what old, black and white mystery movies will be airing this month. I am an avid fan of old movies, and the TCM channel seems to be the network that I find most of them playing.
Here is the list of the upcoming television mystery movies that I have been able to find which will air on the Turner Classic Movie channel (TCM). (I go through my TCM Now Playing guide to find them.)
As usual, I must tell you that I have not seen all of the movies on this list, so I can’t vouch for all of them. Also, since I live in the Central time zone, it’s just easier for me to list them in that time frame. If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be aired on television during July 2013, please post a comment.
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – July 3, 2013
CHANDLER (1971) 4:45 PM (Central)
A former private eye lands in hot water when he agrees to protect a government witness.
Dir: Paul Magwood Cast: Warren Oates, Leslie Caron, Alex Dreier.
C-86 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – July 4, 2013
THE SCARLET COAT (1955) 8:45 AM (Central)
An American officer goes undercover to unmask a Revolutionary War traitor.
Dir: John Sturges Cast: Cornel Wilde, Michael Wilding, George Sanders
C-101 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – July 5, 2013
SH! THE OCTOPUS (1937) 5:15 AM (Central)
Daffy detectives fight off a giant octopus in a haunted lighthouse.
Dir: William McGann Cast: Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Marcia Ralston
BW-54 mins, TV-G
(Hmmm >>> The word “daffy” in TCM’s description might not be such a good thing. We’ll see…)
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – July 6, 2013
THE FALCON IN SAN FRANCISCO (1945) 9:45 AM (Central)
A society sleuth enlists a little girl’s help in nabbing a mob of silk smugglers.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis Cast: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Edward S. Brophy
BW-66 mins, TV-G
THE BAD SEED (1956) 11:00 PM (Central)
A woman suspects that her perfect little girl is a ruthless killer.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Cast: Gage Clarke, Jesse White, Joan Croyden
C-129 mins, TV-PG, CC
(I don’t know if this one really qualifies as a mystery, but it’s doggone good!)
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – July 9, 2013
THE BIG HEAT (1953) 8:15 AM (Central)
A police detective whose wife was killed by the mob teams with a scarred gangster’s moll to bring down a powerful gangster.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando
BW-90 mins, TV-14, CC
RANSOM! (1956) 11:45 AM (Central)
A wealthy couple tries to cope with the press and the police when their son is kidnapped.
Dir: Alex Segal Cast: Glenn Ford, Donna Reed, Leslie Nielsen
BW-102 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – July 10, 2013
TRADE WINDS (1938) 8:30 PM (Central)
A private eye falls for the murderess he’s pursuing.
Dir: Tay Garnett Cast: Fredric March, Joan Bennett, Ralph Bellamy
BW-94 mins, TV-G
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – July 12, 2013
CONFIDENTIALLY YOURS (1983) 9:00 PM (Central) (Possibly in French?)
An accused man’s secretary tries to find the real killer.
Dir: François Truffaut Cast: Fanny Ardant, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Philippe Laudenbach
BW-111 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format
MISSISSIPPI MERMAID (1969) 11:00 PM (Central) (Possibly in French?)
A plantation owner’s mail-order bride turns out to be a beautiful woman with murder on her mind.
Dir: François Truffaut Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, Michel Bouquet
C-123 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – July 13, 2013
THE FALCON’S ALIBI (1946) 9:45 AM (Central)
A society sleuth sets out on the trail of a society matron’s lost jewels.
Dir: Ray McCarey Cast: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Vince Barnett
BW-63 mins, TV-G
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – July 14, 2013
THE LADY EVE (1941) 1:00 PM (Central)
A lady cardsharp tries to con an eccentric scientist only to fall for him.
Dir: Preston Sturges Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
BW-94 mins, TV-PG, CC
(Definitely not a mystery, but an incredibly good Preston Sturges comedy. Beware, though >>> This might make you a Barbara Stanwyck fan!)
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – July 15, 2013
THE WHOLE TRUTH (1958) 5:00 AM (Central)
A woman tries to prove her cheating husband didn’t murder his mistress.
Dir: John Guillermin Cast: Stewart Granger, Donna Reed, George Sanders
BW-84 mins, TV-PG
THE WRONG BOX (1966) 8:00 PM (Central)
Two elderly brothers plot to kill each other for a fortune.
Dir: Bryan Forbes Cast: John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Michael Caine
C-106 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – July 20, 2013
THE FALCON’S ADVENTURE (1946) 9:45 AM (Central)
A society sleuth rescues a kidnapped woman, then is framed for murder.
Dir: William Berke Cast: Tom Conway, Madge Meredith, Edward S. Brophy
BW-62 mins, TV-G
GASLIGHT (1944) 7:00 PM (Central)
A newlywed fears she’s going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Dir: George Cukor Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – July 24, 2013
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) 6:45 AM (Central)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall
BW-120 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – July 25, 2013
THE WOMAN IN WHITE (1948) 1:30 PM (Central)
Classic mystery about the adventures of a young tutor sent to a ghostly country estate.
Dir: Peter Godfrey Cast: Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet
BW-109 mins, TV-G, CC
THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1969) 7:00 PM (Central)
A headstrong young teacher in a private school ignores the curriculum and influences her impressionable charges with her world view.
Dir: Ronald Neame Cast: Maggie Smith, Robert Stephens, Pamela Franklin
C-116 mins, TV-14
(Not a mystery, but a must-see for Maggie Smith fans.)
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – July 27, 2013
NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE (1939) 9:45 AM (Central)
A famous detective investigates industrial espionage at a plane factory.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Rita Johnson, Henry Hull
BW-59 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – July 28, 2013
COMPULSION (1959) 1:00 PM (Central)
Two wealthy law-school students go on trial for murder in this version of the Leopold-Loeb case.
Dir: Richard Fleischer Cast: Orson Welles, Diane Varsi, Dean Stockwell
BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – July 29, 2013
FEAR (1946) 5:45 PM (Central)
A detective uses psychological warfare to get a confession out of a murderous student.
Dir: Alfred Zeisler Cast: Peter Cookson, Warren William, Anne Gwynne
BW-68 mins, TV-PG
***** ***** ***** *****
If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be airing this month, feel free to post a comment.
(All of the above descriptions were copied from the TCM site. I hope they don’t change their line-up!)
If you would like to see more Television and Movies ideas, click on this link.
A Touch of Frost is yet another example of a British police procedural television show that (to me) makes most of these types of shows made in the USA look overly ambitious and… if you’ll excuse me for saying… idiotic.