I just finished going through TCM’s Now Playing for January 2014. (TCM stands for the Turner Classic Movie channel.) At first it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to find a lot of mystery movies, but then I saw that Thursday, January 30 has lots and lots of mysteries being shown.
I’m listing the movies in Central time zone. If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be aired on television during January 2014, please post a comment.
***** ***** ***** *****
Julia just posted a comment telling us:
From Saturday, January 4 at 5:00 AM through Monday, January 6 ending at 5:00 AM, the Hallmark Movie Channel will be airing a Diagnosis Murder marathon.
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I just discovered this:
From Sunday, January 19 at 4:00 AM through Monday, January 20 at 4:00 AM the Hallmark Movie Channel will be airing a Mystery Woman marathon.
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Sunday – January 5
7:00 AM
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, TV-G, CC
(Watch for a young Angela Lansbury in the role of Sibyl Vane.)
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – January 6
12:00 PM
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946)
Illicit lovers plot to kill the woman’s older husband.
Dir: Tay Garnett Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
BW-113 mins, TV-PG, CC
5:00 PM
LADY IN THE LAKE (1947)
Philip Marlowe searches for a missing woman in this mystery shot entirely from the detective’s viewpoint.
Dir: Robert Montgomery Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan
BW-103 mins, TV-PG, CC
8:30 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-104 mins, TV-14, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday- January 7
3:00 PM
GILDA (1946)
A gambler discovers an old flame in South America, but she’s married to his new boss.
Dir: Charles Vidor Cast: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready
BW-110 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – January 11
9:30 AM
THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER (1932)
A feisty school teacher sets out to solve a murder in an aquarium.
Dir: George Archainbaud Cast: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Robert Armstrong
BW-65 mins, TV-G, CC
(Based on a Stuart Palmer Hildegarde Withers mystery.)
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – January 12
11:00 AM
VICTOR/VICTORIA (1982)
An unemployed female singer poses as a female impersonator and becomes a star.
Dir: Blake Edwards Cast: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston
C-134 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
(Not a mystery, but a really good movie.)
7:00 PM
ANASTASIA (1956)
A group of exiled Russians claim to have found the living daughter of the Tsar, presumed executed in 1918.
Dir: Anatole Litvak Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Helen Hayes
C-105 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format
9:00 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, TV-PG, CC,
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – January 14
10:30 PM
MARLOWE (1969)
Detective Philip Marlowe probes the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles in search of a woman’s missing sister.
Dir: Paul Bogart Cast: James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O’Connor
C-96 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – January 16
1:30 AM
12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Dir: Sidney Lumet Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley
BW-96 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – January 17
2:30 PM
ABOVE SUSPICION (1943)
A honeymooning couple are asked to spy on the Nazis in pre-war Europe.
Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt
BW-91 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – January 18
9:30 AM
MURDER ON THE BLACKBOARD (1934)
A schoolteacher matches wits with a police detective when they both try to solve a pretty music teacher’s murder.
Dir: George Archainbaud Cast: James Gleason, Edna May Oliver, Bruce Cabot.
BW-72 mins, TV-G
(Another movie this month which is based on a Stuart Palmer Hildegarde Withers mystery.)
7:00 PM
LIFEBOAT (1944)
Survivors of a torpedoed boat take in a German Naval officer from the sub that sank them.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak
BW-97 mins, TV-14, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – January 19
5:00 AM
THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947)
A woman slowly discovers that her artist husband is a deranged killer.
Dir: Peter Godfrey Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith
BW-99 mins, TV-G, CC
(I really enjoyed this movie. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Barbara Stanwyck is in it!)
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – January 20
5:00 PM
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967)
A black police detective from the North forces a bigoted Southern sheriff to accept his help with a murder investigation.
Dir: Norman Jewison Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
C-110 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – January 21
6:00 AM
SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR (1936)
A crooked criminal lawyer discovers his brother has been killed by one of the gangsters he kept out of prison.
Dir: Louis King Cast: Richard Dix, Margaret Callahan, Erik Rhodes
BW-61 mins, TV-G
1:30 PM
BANNERLINE (1951)
An idealistic small-town reporter tries to fight corruption.
Dir: Don Weis Cast: Keefe Brasselle, Sally Forrest, Lionel Barrymore
BW-87 mins, TV-PG
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – January 22
9:45 AM
SCARLET STREET (1945)
A middle aged would be painter falls into the clutches of an unscrupulous woman.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea
BW-102 mins, TV-PG
5:00 PM
THE WRONG MAN (1956)
A musician is mistaken for a vicious thief, with devastating results.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle
BW-105 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – January 23
12:15 PM
ARE YOU LISTENING? (1932)
A radio announcer accidentally kills his wife, then leads an on-air hunt for her killer.
Dir: Harry Beaumont Cast: William Haines, Madge Evans, Anita Page
BW-73 mins, TV-G
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – January 25
5:30 AM
THE THIN MAN GOES HOME (1945)
On a trip to visit his parents, detective Nick Charles gets mixed up in a murder investigation.
Dir: Richard Thorpe Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson
BW-101 mins, TV-G, CC
9:30 AM
MURDER ON A HONEYMOON (1935)
A schoolteacher jumps into detective mode when a fellow airplane passenger gets sick and dies.
Dir: Lloyd Corrigan Cast: Edna May Oliver , James Gleason , Lola Lane .
BW-74 mins, TV-G, CC
(I believe only three of Stuart Palmer‘s Hildegarde Withers mysteries starring Edna Mae Oliver were made into movies, which means that all three are playing this month on TCM.)
11:15 PM
ROLLERCOASTER (1977)
A terrorist spreads a climate of fear by attacking amusement parks across the U.S.
Dir: James Goldstone Cast: George Segal, Richard Widmark, Timothy Bottoms
C-118 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – January 27
2:30 AM
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)
A man’s joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC
2:15 PM
THE VELVET TOUCH (1948)
After accidentally killing her lecherous producer, a famous actress tries to hide her guilt.
Dir: John Gage Cast: Rosalind Russell, Leo Genn, Claire Trevor
BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC
5:30 PM
CAUSE FOR ALARM (1951)
A woman fights to intercept a letter in which her husband tries to prove her guilty of murder.
Dir: Tay Garnett Cast: Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling
BW-74 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – January 29
7:00 PM
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
A Korean War hero doesn’t realize he’s been programmed to kill by the enemy.
Dir: John Frankenheimer Cast: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh
BW-127 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
(Another Angela Lansbury movie.)
9:15 PM
THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946)
Straitlaced waitresses battle saloon girls to win the West for domesticity.
Dir: George Sidney Cast: Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger
C-101 mins, TV-G, CC
[OK, so this is not a mystery by any means, but if you want to see a very young Angela Lansbury (and as I recall – listen to her sing) you won’t want to miss her in this movie playing a “lady of the night”.]
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Thursday – January 30
(Today appears to be author S. S. Van Dine’s Detective Philo Vance’s celebratory day!)
7:15 AM
THE BISHOP MURDER CASE (1930)
Society sleuth Philo Vance investigates a series of murders inspired by Mother Goose rhymes.
Dir: Nick Grindé Cast: Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, Roland Young
BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC
8:45 AM
THE KENNEL MURDER CASE (1933)
Society sleuth Philo Vance investigates a murder tied to a Long Island dog show.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette
BW-73 mins, TV-G, CC
10:00 AM
THE DRAGON MURDER CASE (1934)
Society sleuth Philo Vance looks into a murder near a mysterious “dragon pool.”
Dir: H. Bruce Humberstone Cast: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot
BW-67 mins, TV-PG
11:15 AM
THE CASINO MURDER CASE (1935)
Society sleuth Philo Vance takes on a series of murders at an aging dowager’s mansion.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin Cast: Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook
BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC
12:45 PM
THE GARDEN MURDER CASE (1936)
Society sleuth Philo Vance suspects dirty doings behind a mysterious series of suicides.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin Cast: Edmund Lowe, Virginia Bruce, Benita Hume
BW-61 mins, TV-G, CC
2:00 PM
CALLING PHILO VANCE (1939)
Society sleuth Philo Vance tangles with foreign agents when he investigates the murder of an aircraft manufacturer.
Dir: William Clemens Cast: James Stephenson, Margot Stevenson, Henry O’Neill
BW-62 mins, TV-G, CC
3:15 PM
I LOVE A MYSTERY (1945)
A detective tries to protect a man who has predicted his murder will take place in three days.
Dir: Henry Levin Cast: Jim Bannon, Nina Foch, George Macready
BW-69 mins, TV-PG, CC
4:30 PM
THE DEVIL’S MASK (1946)
A detective tries to identify a shrunken head found in a crashed cargo plane.
Dir: Henry Levin Cast: Anita Louise, Jim Bannon, Michael Duane
BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC
5:45 PM
THE THE UNKNOWN (1946)
A woman with amnesia hires two detectives to keep her alive long enough to claim her inheritance.
Dir: Henry Levin Cast: Karen Morley, Jim Bannon, Jeff Donnell
BW-71 mins, TV-PG, CC
9:15 PM
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)
A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion.
Dir: Robert Aldrich Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
BW-134 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
11:45 PM
DELLA (1964)
A wealthy, reclusive woman holds a dark secret in this rare Joan Crawford film.
Dir: Robert Gist, Cast: Joan Crawford, Paul Burke, Diane Baker
C-68 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – January 31
2:45 AM
THE KARATE KILLERS (1967)
The men from U.N.C.L.E. fight off karate-chopping henchmen to track down a secret formula.
Dir: Barry Shear Cast: Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Jill Ireland.
C-93 mins, TV-PG
6:30 AM
BERSERK! (1967)
A lady ringmaster milks the publicity from a string of murders.
Dir: Jim O’Connolly Cast: Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, Diana Dors
C-96 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
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!)
Oh, and here’s a list of some mystery movies that will be airing on the Hallmark Movie channel on the weekend of January 25 and 26, with a few on Monday, January 27.
If you would like to see more Television and Movies ideas, click on this link.
As it will soon be 2014, I want to hurry up and get your recommendations for the month of December 2013. I don’t know if any of you remember, but last year was the first year that we made a Favorite Cozy Mystery Books list for that particular year. I will be asking for those books pretty soon, but for now, let’s focus on just the month of December 2013.
Since we have just two more days before Christmas, I thought I would post an entry that Alfred suggested. I am guessing that by this time, most of you have everything pretty much organized for Christmas. You have prepared your surroundings the way you want them, you have your menu planned, and you know which functions and/or services you will be attending to celebrate Christmas. What better time to ask Alfred’s question: