Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV
Here is the new release for January 20 to January 26! Short “list” this week, but at least it should be a good one.
Miranda James (aka Dean James, Jimmie Ruth Evans, & Honor Hartman): Careless Whiskers (This will be the 12th in the Cat in the Stacks Mystery Series.)
Yikes! I have just finished my February 2020 Turner Classic Movies mystery movies blog entry, but where’s Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley? I just take it for granted that these weekly treats will show up late Saturday nights and early Sunday mornings. However, I can’t find them! And, what’s worse is that February 2020 doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of mystery movies for those of us who look forward to them. What a big let down! Instead, TCM is focusing on Oscar winning movies. (I sort of remember the same thing happening last year.) Oscar winning movies are great, but so are noir alley movies!
***** ***** ***** *****
9:00 AM
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1941)
A scientist’s investigations into the nature of good and evil turn him into a murderous monster.
Dir: Victor Fleming Cast: Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner.
BW- 113 mins, CC
11:00 AM
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.
Dir: John Huston Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George.
BW- 100 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
10:45 AM
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
An advertising man is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason.
C- 136 mins, CC
9:15 PM
THE CHINA SYNDROME (1979)
A television newswoman stumbles onto deadly secrets at a nuclear power plant.
Dir: James Bridges Cast: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Rita Taggart.
C- 122 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
2:00 PM
KING SOLOMON’S MINES (1950)
A spirited widow hires a daredevil jungle scout to find a lost treasure in diamonds.
Dir: Compton Bennett Cast: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson.
C- 102 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
12:15 AM
CROSSFIRE (1947)
A crusading district attorney investigates the murder of a Jewish man.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk Cast: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan.
BW- 86 mins, CC
4:30 AM
NONE SHALL ESCAPE (1944)
A Nazi officer on trial for war crimes thinks back on his past.
Dir: Andre DeToth Cast: Marsha Hunt, Alexander Knox, Henry Travers.
BW- 86 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
2:30 AM
MISTER BUDDWING (1966)
A man suffering from amnesia confronts a series of women in his search for his memory.
Dir: Delbert Mann Cast: James Garner, Jean Simmons, Suzanne Pleshette.
BW- 99 mins, CC
2:30 PM
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1945)
A man remains young and handsome while his portrait shows the ravages of age and sin.
Dir: Albert Lewin Cast: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed.
BW- 110 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
1:00 AM
THE PLAYER (1992)
A rising producer tries to cover up the accidental killing of a screenwriter who was stalking him.
Dir: Robert Altman Cast: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward.
C- 124 mins, Letterbox Format
5:45 AM
MYSTERY STREET (1950)
Criminal pathologists try to crack a case with nothing but the victim’s bones to go on.
Dir: John Sturges Cast: Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett.
BW- 93 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
3:15 AM
THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946)
Years after a murder drove them apart, an heiress tries to win back her lost love.
Dir: Lewis Milestone Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott.
BW- 115 mins, CC
11:00 AM
JULIE (1956)
A stewardess is stalked by her psychotic estranged husband.
Dir: Andrew L. Stone Cast: Doris Day, Louis Jourdan, Barry Sullivan.
BW- 97 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
11:15 AM
FURY (1936)
An innocent man escapes a lynch mob then returns for revenge.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel.
BW- 92 mins, CC
7:00 PM
THE FIRM (1993)
Dir: Sydney Pollack Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman.
BW- 155 mins, CC
9:45 PM
A FEW GOOD MEN (1992)
When a Marine dies on a US Navy base, two fellow Marines stand trial for murder.
Dir: Rob Reiner Cast: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore.
C- 138 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
3:00 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 Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles.
BW- 105 mins, CC
5:00 PM
GASLIGHT (1944)
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, CC
9:00 PM
KEY LARGO (1948)
A returning veteran tangles with a ruthless gangster during a hurricane.
Dir: John Huston Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall.
BW- 100 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
1:00 AM
ICE STATION ZEBRA (1968)
A sub commander on a perilous mission must ferret out a Soviet agent on his ship.
Dir: John Sturges Cast: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan.
C- 149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
3:45 AM
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955)
A one-armed veteran uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero’s family.
Dir: John Sturges Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis.
C- 81 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
9:30 PM
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
A fledgling FBI agent enlists a psychopath’s help in catching a serial killer.
Dir: Jonathan Demme Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn.
C- 118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
7:45 AM
RAFFLES (1930)
A distinguished British gentleman hides his true identity as a notorious jewel thief.
Dir: Harry d’Abbadie D’Arrast Cast: Ronald Colman, Kay Francis, Bramwell Fletcher.
BW- 71 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
5:00 PM
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)
A gang of small time crooks plots an elaborate jewel heist.
Dir: John Huston Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen.
BW- 112 mins, CC
8:45 PM
THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
In the first Inspector Clouseau film, the bumbling French police detective tries to stop a notorious jewel thief from nabbing a princess’ diamond.
Dir: Blake Edwards Cast: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Capucine.
C- 115 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
11:15 AM
EXPERIMENT PERILOUS (1944)
A small-town doctor tries to help a beautiful woman with a deranged husband.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur Cast: Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas.
BW- 91 mins, CC
2:45 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 Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart.
BW- 112 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
7:00 AM
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957)
A British lawyer gets caught up in a couple’s tangled marital affairs when he defends the husband for murder.
Dir: Billy Wilder Cast: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton.
BW- 116 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
4:00 AM
KIND LADY (1951)
A con artist and his criminal cohorts hold an old lady hostage in her own home.
Dir: John Sturges Cast: Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans, Angela Lansbury.
BW- 78 mins, CC
3:00 PM
SUSPICION (1941)
A wealthy wallflower suspects her penniless playboy husband of murder.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke.
BW- 99 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
5:00 PM
THAT MAN FROM RIO (1964)
A pilot gets mixed up in an international search for stolen art.
Dir: Philippe de Broca Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Françoise Dorléac, Jean Servais.
C- 116 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
1:30 AM
THE PROFESSIONALS (1966)
A corrupt rancher hires four soldiers of fortune to rescue his wife from kidnappers.
Dir: Richard Brooks Cast: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan.
C- 118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
3:45 AM
THE NAKED SPUR (1953)
A captive outlaw uses psychological tactics to prey on a bounty hunter.
Dir: Anthony Mann Cast: James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan.
C- 92 mins, CC
8:30 PM
NIGHT MUST FALL (1937)
A charming young man worms his way into a wealthy woman’s household, then reveals a deadly secret.
Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: Merle Tottenham, Kathleen Harrison, Dame May Whitty.
BW- 116 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
3:00 PM
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940)
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- 121 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
9:00 PM
THE KISS OF DEATH (1947)
An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.
Dir: Henry Hathaway Cast: Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray.
BW- 99 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
12:15 PM
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN (1972)
A self-appointed judge cleans up a corrupt western town twice.
Dir: John Huston Cast: Paul Newman, Roy Jenson, Gary Combs.
C- 123 mins, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
***** ***** ***** *****
If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed tv specials coming up in January, 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 January 2020 television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for January 2020 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 above movie descriptions were taken off the TCM website.)
There will be one new series starting in February 2020 by an established site author.
Maria DiRico (aka Ellen Byron) will be releasing Here Comes the Body, the first in her new Catering Hall Mystery Series. This series will star newly single Mia Carina, who was recently widowed after her unfaithful husband’s boat sank. She takes this opportunity to return to her childhood neighborhood of Astoria, a part of Queens in New York City, where she plans on working at Belle View, her father’s catering hall. Unfortunately, some of her family’s less than savory history has come back to haunt Mia and her father, and when a body is discovered at a bachelor’s party they catered – and Mia’s father seems the most obvious culprit to the police. Though this will be the first series under the name Maria DiRico, site visitors are more likely to recognize the name Ellen Byron, the author of the Cajun Country Mystery Series starring Maggie Crozat, the manager of an old family plantation turned into a bed and breakfast in Louisiana.
For more new Cozy Mystery Series, check out the New Cozy Mystery Book Series page on the site.
Here is the list of new releases for January 13 to January 19!
Sarah Fox: Much Ado About Nutmeg (This will be the 6th in the Pancake House Mystery Series.)
Peter Robinson: Many Rivers to Cross (This will be the 26th in the Inspector Banks Mystery Series.)
