TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – August 2025

You know how you immediately associate a particular actor/actress with a fiction character you’re very familiar with? Well, that is how I feel about Edna May Oliver in Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers (Cozy) mystery series! As far as I’m concerned, Edna May Oliver IS Miss Withers! (The same thing goes for Joan Hickson in Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple (Cozy) mystery series movies.)

Well, here’s some very good news for all of you Cozy Mystery television-watchers! On Monday, August 18 the Turner Classic Movies channel will be showing 3 Hildegarde Withers movies: Penguin Pool Murder (1932), Murder on the Blackboard (1934), and The Plot Thickens (1936). The first two movies star Edna May Oliver and the 3rd one stars ZaSu Pitts. (As much as I enjoy movies with ZaSu Pitts, I just don’t associate her with Miss Withers.) And, on Tuesday, August 19, the Turner Classic Movies channel will continue our viewing enjoyment with Murder on a Honeymoon (1935) starring Edna May Oliver, and Forty Naughty Girls (1938) with ZaSu Pitts.

Be sure to set your recording machines to these fun Cozy Mystery movies!

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

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – August 2025

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

SATURDAY, August 2

12:30 AM Portrait in Black (1960)
A woman and her lover kill her husband and are targeted by someone who knows of their crime.
Dir: Michael Gordon. Cast: Lana Turner, Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart
112 mins

2:30 AM Johnny Eager (1942)
A handsome racketeer seduces the DA’s daughter for revenge, then falls in love.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold
107

9:45 AM The Spiral Staircase (1975)
Helen has been incapable of speech since seeing her husband die – will she become the target of a deranged serial killer targeting disabled people?
Dir: Peter Collinson. Cast: Jacqueline Bisset, Christopher Plummer, John Phillip Law
86 mins

6:00 PM The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
The famous Pink Panther diamond has been stolen from the museum and retired jewel thief Sir Charles Litton is immediately blamed. In danger of being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, Litton reluctantly works with Inspector Jacques Clouseau to find out who the real crook is.
Dir: Blake Edwards. Cast: Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, Catherine Schell
113 mins
*****More a comedy than a mystery.*****

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

SUNDAY, August 3

2:00 PM Charade (1963)
A young woman returns home from vacation to find her elegant apartment stripped and her husband murdered.
Dir: Stanley Donen. Cast: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
114 mins

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

10:15 PM How to Steal a Million (1966)
A legendary art collector lends his prized (replica) Cellini Venus to a prestigious Paris museum. Before tests can be done which would prove the Venus is a fake, though, the collector’s daughter enlists the services of a “society burglar” to steal the million dollar statue.
Dir: William Wyler. Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Eli Wallach
127 mins
*****More a heist comedy than a crime movie.*****

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

TUESDAY, August 5

11:30 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. Cast: Joan Caulfield, Claude Rains, Audrey Totter
103 mins

3:30 PM Mr. Skeffington (1945)
A flighty beauty marries a stockbroker for convenience and almost ruins both their lives.
Dir: Vincent Sherman. Cast: Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel
146 mins
*****Not a mystery but it’s a terrific movie with great acting.*****

8:00 PM Notorious (1946)
A U.S. agent recruits a German expatriate to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring in Brazil.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
101 mins

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

THURSDAY, August 7

6:00 AM The Tall Target (1951)
A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President Lincoln during a train ride.
Dir: Anthony Mann. Cast: Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou
78 mins

7:30 AM Edge of the City (1957)
An army deserter and a black dock worker join forces against a corrupt union official.
Dir: Martin Ritt. Cast: John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, Jack Warden
85 mins

1:30 PM The Sheriff (1971)
A rape case tears apart a small California town as a black sheriff and his white deputy go after an insurance salesman suspected of attacking a black coed.
Dir: David Lowell Rich. Cast: Ossie Davis, Kaz Garas, Kyle Johnson
74 mins

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

FRIDAY, August 8

12:15 AM The Incident (1967)
Two rowdy teens board a New York City subway and terrorize the passengers.
Dir: Larry Peerce. Cast: Tony Musante, Martin Sheen, Beau Bridges
107 mins

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

SATURDAY, August 9

2:15 AM They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
A small-town sheriff attempts to clear a Doberman of murder charges.
Dir: James Goldstone. Cast: James Garner, Katharine Ross, Hal Holbrook
97 mins

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

MONDAY, August 11

6:00 AM Little Caesar (1930)
A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Glenda Farrell
80 mins

11:15 AM Smart Blonde (1936)
An ambitious reporter forces her policeman boyfriend to let her help with a murder case.
Dir: Frank McDonald. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Winifred Shaw
59 mins

12:30 PM Fly Away Baby (1937)
Reporter Torchy Blane takes to the skies to track down a band of killers.
Dir: Frank McDonald. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Gordon Oliver
60 mins

1:45 PM The Adventurous Blonde (1937)
Reporter Torchy Blane walks out on her own wedding to solve the case of a murdered actor.
Dir: Frank McDonald. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Anne Nagel
61 mins

3:00 PM Blondes at Work (1938)
Even a jail term for contempt can’t keep reporter Torchy Blane from investigating the case of a murdered department store owner.
Dir: Frank McDonald. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy
60 mins

4:15 PM Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)
Female reporter Torchy Blane tries to crack a counterfeiting case.
Dir: William Beaudine. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy
63 mins

5:30 PM Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939)
A daring female reporter sets out to catch a blackmailer.
Dir: William Beaudine. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy
58 mins

6:45 PM Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939)
After digging up dirt on local politicians, a newswoman decides to run for office.
Dir: Ray McCarey. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy
60 mins

8:00 PM Girl Missing (1933)
A new bride disappears from her honeymoon hotel the same night a dead body pops up.
Dir: Robert Florey. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Ben Lyon, Mary Brian
69 mins

9:15 PM Hi, Nellie! (1934)
A crusading newspaper editor keeps digging into corruption, even when he’s forced to write advice to the lovelorn.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy.Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Ned Sparks
75 mins

10:45 PM I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
When broke, a would-be architect is wrongly arrested and convicted for a small-time holdup, he is sent to prison to work on a chain gang. After enduring years of hard labor that kills many prisoners, he escapes and builds a successful new life. But his landlady learns the truth and blackmails him into marriage, …
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy/ Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson
93 mins

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

TUESDAY, August 12

6:00 AM The Big Boodle (1957)
Tough guy fights Cuban gangsters and counterfeiters.
Dir: Richard Wilson. Cast: Rossana Rory, Errol Flynn, Dr. Francisco Canero
84 mins

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

WEDNESDAY, August 13

6:15 PM The Trouble with Harry (1955)
A corpse creates a world of trouble for several passersby who each believe they may have caused the death.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick
99 mins

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

THURSDAY, August 14

11:00 AM Suddenly (1954)
Gunmen take over a suburban home to plot a presidential assassination.
Dir: Lewis Allen. Cast: Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason
75 mins

6:00 PM 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. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen
112 mins

8:00 PM The Killing (1956)
Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and marries his fiancee, Fay. But when George tells his restless wife, Sherry, about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he …
Dir: Stanley Kubrick. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
84 mins

9:45 PM Crime Wave (1954)
A reformed parolee is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter.
Dir: André De Toth. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk
74 mins

11:15 PM Five Steps to Danger (1957)
A man’s car trip from L.A. to Texas turns into a Cold-War espionage drama after his car breaks down and he accepts a lift from a stranger.
Dir: Henry S. Kesler. Cast: Ruth Roman, Sterling Hayden, Werner Klemperer
81 mins

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

FRIDAY, August 15
It looks like this is the Turner Classic Movies channel Christmas in July morning!

2:30 AM Winter Kills (1979)
An assassinated president’s brother investigates the unsolved crime.
Dir: William Richert. Cast: Jeff Bridges, Anthony Perkins, John Huston
96 mins

4:15 AM A Carol for Another Christmas (1964) (Christmas)
Three ghosts teach an industrialist the importance of international peacekeeping.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Gazzara
85 mins
*****I’m “taping” this to watch in December. It’s supposed to be based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol….*****

6:00 AM Holiday Affair (1949) (Christmas)
A young widow is torn between a boring businessman and a romantic ne’er-do-well.
Dir: Don Hartman. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey
87 mins

7:45 AM Little Women (1949) (Christmas)
The four daughters of a New England family fight for happiness during and after the Civil War.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O’Brien
121 mins

8:00 PM Psycho (1960)
A woman on the run gets mixed up with a repressed young man and his violent mother.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin
109 mins
*****Take your shower before you watch this movie!*****

10:00 PM Touch of Evil (1958)
A narcotics agent risks his wife’s life to investigate a crooked cop.
Dir: Orson Welles. Cast: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles
95 mins

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

SATURDAY, August 16

12:00 AM Act of Violence (1949)
An embittered veteran tracks down a POW camp informer.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann. Cast: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh
82 mins

1:30 AM Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955)
The jazz band’s leader gets mixed up with a gangster in ’20s Kansas City.
Dir: Jack Webb. Cast: Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O’Brien
95 mins

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

SUNDAY, August 17

12:00 AM Death Wish (1974)
A New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad after his wife is murdered by street punks.
Dir: Michael Winner. Cast: Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia
93 mins

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

MONDAY, August 18

6:00 AM 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
66 mins
*****Based on Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers series.*****

7:15 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: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Bruce Cabot
71 mins
*****Based on Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers series.*****

8:30 AM The Plot Thickens (1936)
Schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers suspects a deadly link between two seemingly unrelated murders.
Dir: Ben Holmes. Cast: James Gleason, ZaSu Pitts, Owen Davis Jr.
69 mins
*****Based on Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers series.*****

9:45 AM We’re Only Human (1935)
A cop, who plays by his own rules, brings down a notorious gangster.
Dir: James Flood. Cast: Preston Foster, Jane Wyatt, James Gleason
69 mins

11:00 AM The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)
A detective teams with his ex-wife to solve a murder.
Dir: Stephen Roberts. Cast: William Powell, Jean Arthur, James Gleason
80 mins

12:30 PM A Date with the Falcon (1942)
The gentleman detective postpones his wedding to find a cache of stolen diamonds.
Dir: Irving Reis. Cast: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, James Gleason
63 mins

10:00 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. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
93 mins

11:45 PM Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
The Brewster sisters are spinster pillars of Brooklyn society, except for their secret penchant for poisoning old male callers with their homemade elderberry wine, to end the men’s loneliness!
Dir: Frank Capra. Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey
118 mins

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

TUESDAY, August 19

2:00 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
74 mins
*****Based on Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers series.*****

3:15 AM Forty Naughty Girls (1938)
A schoolteacher turns detective to solve a theatrical murder.
Dir: Edward Cline. Cast: James Gleason, ZaSu Pitts, Marjorie Lord
63 mins
*****Based on Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers series.*****

4:00 PM The Conspirators (1944)
A guerilla leader falls in love with a mysterious woman in World War II Lisbon.
Dir: Jean Negulesco. Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet
101 mins

10:15 PM Algiers (1938)
A thief on the run from the law risks his life for love.
Dir: John Cromwell. Cast: Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, Sigrid Gurie
95 mins

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

WEDNESDAY, August 20

6:00 AM The Doorway to Hell (1930)
Despite his efforts to go straight, a young gangster keeps falling back into crime.
Dir: Archie Mayo. Cast: Lew Ayres, Charles Judels, Dorothy Mathews
78 mins

7:30 AM Lady Killer (1933)
A criminal on the run becomes a Hollywood movie star.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth. Cast: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay
76 mins

9:00 AM He Was Her Man (1934)
A safecracker goes straight to get back at some fellow crooks.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Victor Jory
70 mins

10:15 PM The Mayor of Hell (1933)
A racketeer goes straight to run a reform school.
Dir: Archie Mayo. Cast: James Cagney, Madge Evans, Arthur Byron
80 mins

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

THURSDAY, August 21

2:00 AM ‘G’ Men (1935)
A mob protege joins the FBI when a friend is gunned down.
Dir: William Keighley. Cast: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Ann Dvorak
85 mins

4:00 PM Psyche 59 (1964)
After being blinded in a mysterious fall, a woman fears her husband is involved with her younger sister.
Dir: Alexander Singer. Cast: Patricia Neal, Curt Jurgens, Samantha Eggar
94 mins

6:00 PM The Night Digger (1971)
A drifter with a deadly secret ignites passions in two lonely women.
Dir: Alastair Reid. Cast: Patricia Neal, Pamela Brown, Nicholas Clay
98 mins

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

SUNDAY, August 24

6:00 PM 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. Cast: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle
105 mins

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

TUESDAY, August 26

8:00 AM A Dandy in Aspic (1968)
A double agent has to take out an enemy spy who’s really himself.
Dir: Jimmy Komisarjevsky. Cast: Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay, Mia Farrow
107 mins

11:45 AM The Night of the Generals (1967)
During World War II, a couple of prostitutes doubling as German agents are murdered and a German intelligence officer, assigned to the case, pursues one of his compatriots, a General, whom he suspects is the killer.
Dir: Anatole Litvak. Cast: Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay
148 mins

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

WEDNESDAY, August 27

12:00 PM A Woman’s Face (1941)
Plastic surgery gives a scarred female criminal a new outlook on life.
Dir: George Cukor. Cast: Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, Conrad Veidt
105 mins

2:00 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
90 mins

4:00 PM 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. Cast: Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran
103 mins

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

FRIDAY, August 29

2:00 PM The Woman in White (1948)
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
109 mins

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

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

SATURDAY, August 30

6:00 AM Out of the Past (1947)
A private eye tries to escape his past by running a gas station in a small town, but it catches up to him.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas
97 mins

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

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 television mystery movies schedule:

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for July 2025 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.