Here’s a quick run-down of what I find interesting in February’s TCM lineup! There won’t be any really big marathons or series running this month, but still plenty of individual mystery movies worth watching!
TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – February 2022
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – February 1, 2022
12:30 AM Confession (1937)
A glamorous singer commits murder to protect her daughter’s virtue.
Dir: Joe May. Actors: Kay Francis, Ian Hunter, Basil Rathbone
87 mins
2:15 AM The House on 56th Street (1933)
A woman loses her family after being falsely convicted of a crime.
Dir: Robert Florey. Actors: Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Gene Raymond
68 mins
10:00 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – February 2, 2022
6:00 AM The Wrong Man (1956)
Based on the true story of a musician wrongly accused of robbing an insurance company and the grave effect his predicament has on his family.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle
105 mins
8:00 AM The Long Night (1947)
A veteran tries to free his former love from a sadistic lover.
Dir: Anatole Litvak. Actors: Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price
97 mins
9:45 AM Woman on the Run (1950)
A woman searches for her husband, who ran off after witnessing a mob hit.
Dir: Norman Foster. Actors: Ann Sheridan, Dennis O’Keefe, Robert Keith
77 mins
12:30 PM The Runaway Bride (1930)
A criminal gang goes after the jewels their dying leader stashed in a woman’s handbag.
Dir: Donald Crisp. Actors: Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, David Newell
66 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – February 3, 2021
2:00 AM Ball of Fire (1942)
A group of professors takes in a nightclub singer hiding from the law to protect her gangster boyfriend.
Dir: Howard Hawks. Actors: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka
111 mins
*****Not a mystery, but it’s a delightfully good movie.*****
6:00 AM Harper (1966)
A broken-down private eye sets out to find a rich woman’s missing husband.
Dir: Jack Smight. Actors: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris
121 mins
5:00 PM The Spy in the Green Hat (1966)
Secret agents fight to keep a criminal mastermind from altering the course of the Gulf Stream.
Dir: Joseph Sargent. Actors: Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Maxie Rosenbloom
92 mins
8:00 PM Born Yesterday (1950)
A newspaper reporter takes on the task of educating a crooked businessman’s girlfriend.
Dir: George Cukor. Actors: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden
103 mins
*****Not a mystery, but a very good comedy.*****
11:30 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 – February 4, 2022
1:15 AM Convicted (1950)
A prison warden fights to prove one of his inmates was wrongly convicted.
Dir: Henry Levin. Actors: Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Millard Mitchell
91 mins
6:00 AM The Breaking Point (1950)
A desperate fishing boat captain rents his ship to some gunmen on the lam.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Actors: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter
97 mins
6:15 PM 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – February 5, 2022
12:00 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. Actors: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall
119 mins
6:15 PM Point Blank (1967)
A professional thief seeks revenge on his unfaithful wife and a fellow mobster who double-crossed him.
Dir: John Boorman. Actors: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn
92 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – February 6, 2022
12:00 AM The Turning Point (1952)
A special prosecutor tries to wipe out organized crime in a midwestern town.
Dir: William Dieterle. Actors: William Holden, Edmond O’Brien, Alexis Smith
85 mins
8:00 AM Our Mother’s House (1967)
Afraid of being separated, a family of children keep their mother’s death a secret.
Dir: Jack Clayton. Actors: Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Brooks, Pamela Franklin
105 mins
10:00 AM The Turning Point (1952)
A special prosecutor tries to wipe out organized crime in a midwestern town.
Dir: William Dieterle. Actors: William Holden, Edmond O’Brien, Alexis Smith
85 mins
2:00 PM It Happened One Night (1934)
A spoiled rich girl escapes her father, who wants to stop her from marrying a worthless playboy. En route to New York, she gets involved with an out-of-work newsman and the couple sets off on a hitchhiking expedition.
Dir: Frank Capra. Actors: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly
105 mins
*****Not a mystery – but a very good comedy.*****
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – February 7, 2022
6:30 AM Red Hot Tires (1935)
A race-car driver wrongly convicted of murder escapes prison to prove his innocence.
Dir: D. Ross Lederman. Actors: Lyle Talbot, Mary Astor, Roscoe Karns
61 mins
7:45 AM They All Come Out (1939)
The getaway driver for a gang of thieves is captured by the police and sent to a prison, where he contemplates a life of reform.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur. Actors: Rita Johnson, Tom Neal, Bernard Nedell
70 mins
2:15 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – February 8, 2022
10:15 PM 12 Angry Men (1957)
A jury holdout tries to convince his colleagues to vote not guilty.
Dir: Sidney Lumet. Actors: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley
95 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – February 10, 2022
6:00 AM Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
A newspaperman serves as key witness in a circumstantial murder case.
Dir: Boris Ingster. Actors: Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet
64 mins
7:15 AM The Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Dir: John Brahm. Actors: Laraine Day,Brian Aherne,Robert Mitchum
86 mins
8:45 AM The Woman on Pier 13 (1950)
Communists blackmail a shipping executive into spying for them.
Dir: Robert Stevenson. Actors: Laraine Day, Robert Ryan, John Agar
73 mins
10:15 AM Cornered (1946)
A World War II veteran hunts down the Nazi collaborators who killed his wife.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk. Actors: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel
102 mins
12:15 PM Nocturne (1946)
A police detective refuses to believe a composer’s death was suicide.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin. Actors: George Raft, Lynn Bari, Virginia Huston
87 mins
1:45 PM Angel Face (1953)
A woman murders her family for their money.
Dir: Otto Preminger. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman
91 mins
3:30 PM While the City Sleeps (1956)
Reporters compete to catch a serial killer.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Actors: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders
99 mins
5:15 PM Journey into Fear (1942)
A munitions expert gets mixed up with gunrunners in Turkey. (This is an Orson Welles’ Mercury Production.)
Dir: Norman Foster. Actors: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warrick
69 mins
6:30 PM Crossfire (1947)
A crusading district attorney investigates the murder of a Jewish man.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk. Actors: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan
85 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – February 11, 2022
6:00 AM The Black Book (1949)
Opponents plot to bring down Robespierre during the French Revolution.
Dir: Anthony Mann. Actors: Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart, Richard Hart
90 mins
7:45 AM Scene of the Crime (1949)
A detective tries to solve a policeman’s murder.
Dir: Roy Rowland. Actors: Van Johnson, Arlene Dahl, Gloria De Haven
94 mins
6:00 PM She Played with Fire (1958)
An insurance investigator’s ex-girlfriend draws him into a web of blackmail and murder.
Dir: Sidney Gilliat Actors: Jack Hawkins, Arlene Dahl, Dennis Price
95 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – February 13, 2022
12:00 AM Side Street (1950)
A New York City mailman is chased by both cops and crooks when he steals a shipment of dirty money.
Dir: Anthony Mann. Actors: Farley Granger, Cathy O’Donnell, James Craig
83 mins
2:00 AM The Player (1992)
A frustrated screenwriter menaces a studio executive who eventually kills the writer and gets away with murder.
Dir: Robert Altman. Actors: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward
123 mins
*****I saw this film years ago and can’t remember if this comedy is a mystery…*****
4:15 AM The Gazebo (1960)
A suburban couple tries to cope with a murder victim whose body refuses to stay put.
Dir: George Marshall. Actors: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner
100 mins
10:00 AM Side Street (1950)
A New York City mailman is chased by both cops and crooks when he steals a shipment of dirty money.
Dir: Anthony Mann. Actors: Farley Granger, Cathy O’Donnell, James Craig
83 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – February 14, 2022
2:00 AM Deep Crimson (1996)
This movie is based on the very real “Lonely Hearts Killers” during the 1940s – in Mexico.
Dir: Arturo Ripstein. Actors: Regina Orozco, Daniel Giménez Cacho
114 mins
4:15 AM Purple Noon (1961)
“The Talented Mr. Ripley” (with Matt Damon) is an adaptation of this French film version, which was based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith.
Dir: René Clément. Actors: Alain Delon, Marie Laforêt, Maurice Ronet
118 mins
*****This film is in French.*****
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – February 15, 2022
8:00 PM The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
A daffy socialite gets her friends mixed up in a murder investigation.
Dir: Leigh Jason. Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Sam Levene
65 mins
9:15 PM The Lady Eve (1941)
A lady cardsharp tries to con an eccentric scientist only to fall for him.
Dir: Preston Sturges. Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
97 mins
*****Not a mystery. Another terrific comedy with Barbara Stanwyck.*****
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – February 17, 2022
12:30 AM I Confess (1953)
Based on a 1902 play, a Jesuit priest is wrongly accused of murder and cannot defend himself because he has vowed to protect the confession of the real criminal.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden
95 mins
8:00 PM Laura (1944)
A hard-boiled detective falls hard for a murder victim. Every man who knew her fell in love with her, and now that she’s dead, the obsessed detective can’t get her out of his mind.
Dir: Otto Preminger. Actors: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb
88 mins
11:45 PM Whirlpool (1949)
The wife of a psychoanalyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now being treated by the real doctor is found murdered, with her still at the scene, and suspicion points only one way.
Dir: Otto Preminger. Actors: Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer
98 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – February 19, 2022
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
8:00 PM In the Heat of the Night (1967)
A black detective teams up with a racist white sheriff to solve a murder in a small town in the South. Over time, they begin to find respect for one another.
Dir: Norman Jewison. Actors: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
109 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – February 20, 2022
10:00 AM No Way Out (1950)
A racist gangster forces a black doctor to tend to his injuries.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Actors: Sydney Poitier, Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally
106 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – February 21, 2022
6:30 PM Woman on the Run (1950)
A woman searches for her husband, who ran off after witnessing a mob hit.
Dir: Norman Foster. Actors: Ann Sheridan, Dennis O’Keefe, Robert Keith
77 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – February 23, 2022
12:15 PM The Arnelo Affair (1947)
A neglected wife gets mixed up with an hypnotic charmer and murder.
Dir: Arch Oboler. Actors: John Hodiak, George Murphy, Frances Gifford
86 mins
2:00 PM Dial M for Murder (1954)
A straying husband frames his wife for the murder of the man he’d hired to kill her.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings
105 mins
4:00 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
6:00 PM Night Watch (1973)
An unhappy housewife witnesses what she thinks is a murder through a neighbor’s window but the police nor her husband believe her.
Dir: Brian G. Hutton. Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Billie Whitelaw
105 mins
8:00 PM Mississippi Burning (1988)
This movie is loosely based on the investigation of a 1964 murder in Mississippi.
Dir: Alan Parker. Actors: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand
125 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – February 24, 2022
2:00 PM Murder, She Said (1961)
When nobody will believe she witnessed a murder, (loosely based) 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – February 26, 2022
12:15 AM Night Moves (1975)
An L.A. private detective puts aside his own marital woes while tracing a topless nymphet to the Florida Keys.
Dir: Arthur Penn. Actors: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Susan Clark
99 mins
8:00 PM Blood Simple (1984)
An owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
Dir: Joel Coen. Actors: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya
95 mins
9:45 PM Fargo (1996)
Jerry Lundegaard is a car salesman in Minneapolis who has gotten himself into debt and is so desperate for money that he hires two thugs to kidnap his own wife. Jerry will collect the ransom from her wealthy father, paying the thugs a small portion and keeping the rest to satisfy his debts. The scheme collapses when the thugs shoot a state trooper
Dir: Joel Coen. Actors: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi
97 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – February 27, 2022
12:00 AM 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
2:00 AM Agatha (1979)
Based on the actual 11-day disappearance of famed mystery writer Agatha Christie in 1926, the film fictionalizes her whereabouts during that time.
Dir: Michael Apted. Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Timothy Dalton, Timothy West
98 mins
4:00 AM Murder Most Foul (1964)
Elderly sleuth Miss Marple joins a small-town theatre to investigate a murder. (loosely based)
Dir: George Pollock. Actors: Margaret Rutherford, Ron Moody, Charles Tingwell
90 mins
10:00 AM 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
***** ***** ***** *****
If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV specials coming up in February, 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 2021 television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for January 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.
