This month the Turner Classic Movies channel is doing something that I don’t think I’ve seen them do before. They are airing movies that start with a specific letter of the alphabet each day. The first of April starts with the letter A, and so forth. If they have done this before, I missed picking up on it. They have had “theme” days before, but this is a new one on me!
***** ***** ***** *****
TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – April 2021
Thursday – April 1, 2021
6:00 AM
Adam’s Rib (1949)
A happily-married, middle-aged husband and wife strain their marriage while serving as trial attorneys on opposite sides of the same headline-making attempted murder-marital case. He is the prosecutor, and she is the defender.
Dir: George Cukor Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, & Judy Holliday
101 mins
10:00 AM
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 Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, & James Stewart
110 mins
12:00 PM
Agnes of God (1985)
A psychiatrist tries to unravel the case of a young nun discovered with a dead baby.
Dir: Norman Jewison Actors: Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, Meg Tilly, & Anne Pitoniak
98 mins
*****Very adult theme.*****
4:15 PM
Algiers (1938)
A thief on the run from the law risks his life for love.
Dir: John Cromwell Actors: Sigrid Gurie, Charles Boyer, & Hedy Lamarr
95 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – April 2, 2021
2:15 AM
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
A defense lawyer takes on a case of a man accused of murdering a bartender who apparently raped his wife.
Dir: Otto Preminger Actors: James Stewart, Lee Remick, & Ben Gazzara
160 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – April 3, 2021
9:00 AM
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
*****This is not a mystery movie, however it is a delightful Judy Holliday comedic movie.*****
2:00 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – April 4, 2021
2:00 AM
Charade (1963)
A young woman returns home from vacation to find her elegant apartment stripped and her husband murdered.
Dir: Stanley Donen Actors: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, & Walter Matthau
114 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – April 5, 2021
1:30 PM
The Fallen Idol (1948)
A neglected child thinks the servant he idolizes has committed murder.
Dir: Carol Reed Actors: Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, & Bobby Henrey
95 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – April 6, 2021
9:30 AM
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
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – April 7, 2021
10:15 AM
Gaslight (1944)
A newlywed fears she’s going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Dir: George Cukor Actors: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, & Joseph Cotten
114 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – April 9, 2021
10:00 AM
Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
When a Nazi officer is assassinated, Czech patriots band together to protect his killer.
Dir: Fritz Lang Actors: Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Brian Donlevy, & Walter Brennan
131 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – April 11, 2021
9:30 AM
I Want to Live! (1958)
True story of the small-time lady crook who fought to escape the gas chamber.
Dir: Robert Wise Actors: Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, & Virginia Vincent
120 mins
8:00 PM
In Cold Blood (1967)
Two vagrants try to outrun the police after committing a savage crime in this real-life shocker.
Dir: Richard Brooks Actors: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, & John Forsythe
134 mins
10:30 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
Tuesday – April 13, 2021
2:00 AM
Johnny Belinda (1948)
A small-town doctor helps a deaf-mute farm girl learn to communicate.
Dir: Jean Negulesco Actors: Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, & Charles Bickford
102 mins
6:00 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – April 15, 2021
4:00 AM
The Letter (1940)
A woman claims to have killed in self-defense, until a blackmailer turns up with incriminating evidence.
Dir: William Wyler Actors: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, & James Stephenson
97 mins
6:00 AM
Libel (1959)
A former POW is accused of being an impostor.
Dir: Anthony Asquith Actors: Dirk Bogarde, Olivia De Havilland, & Paul Massie
100 mins
2:15 PM
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
The famed writer risks his reputation to defend a Jewish army officer accused of treason.
Dir: William Dieterle Actors: Paul Muni, Joseph Schildkraut, & Gale Sondergaard
123 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – April 16, 2021
6:00 PM
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.
Dir: John Huston Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, & Gladys George
100 mins
10:15 PM
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
International spies kidnap a doctor’s son when he stumbles on their assassination plot.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Actors: James Stewart, Doris Day, & Brenda De Banzie
119 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – April 17, 2021
12:30 AM
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
A Korean War hero doesn’t realize he’s been programmed to kill by the enemy.
Dir: John Frankenheimer Actors: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, & Janet Leigh
126 mins
12:15 PM
Midnight Lace (1960)
A young woman can’t get anyone to believe she’s being stalked.
Dir: David Miller Actors: Doris Day, Rex Harrison, & John Gavin
108 mins
4:00 PM
Mildred Pierce (1945)
A woman’s ambitions for her daughter drastically impact her life.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Actors: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, & Zachary Scott
113 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – April 18, 2021
2:30 AM
Mona Lisa (1986)
George is a small-time crook just out of prison who discovers his tough-guy image is out of date. Reduced to working as a minder/driver for high class call girl Simone, he has to agree when she asks him to find a young colleague from her King’s Cross days. That’s when George’s troubles just start.
Dir: Neil Jordan Actors: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, & Michael Caine
104 mins
2:15 PM
Mystery Street (1950)
Criminal pathologists try to crack a case with nothing but the victim’s bones to go on.
Dir: John Sturges Actors: Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, & Bruce Bennett
93 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – April 19, 2021
12:30 AM
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 Actors: Merle Tottenham, Kathleen Harrison, & Dame May Whitty
117 mins
2:45 AM
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
An ex-minister works as a tour guide in a Mexican coastal town, falls into some romantic interludes with a group of schoolteachers, and then meets a beautiful artist at a run-down hotel where the proprietress is in love with him.
Dir: John Huston Actors: Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, & Deborah Kerr
125 mins
11:00 AM
Odd Man Out (1947)
A wounded IRA man faces betrayal on all sides when the British put a price on his head.
Dir: Carol Reed Actors: James Mason, Robert Newton, & Kathleen Ryan
116 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – April 20, 2021
12:30 AM
On the Waterfront (1954)
A young dock worker takes on the mobster who rules the docks.
Dir: Elia Kazan Actors: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, & Lee J. Cobb
108 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – April 21, 2021
6:00 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 Actors: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, & Donna Reed
110 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – April 23, 2021
4:00 PM
Rear Window (1954)
A photographer with a broken leg uncovers a murder while spying on the neighbors in a nearby apartment building.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Actors: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, & Wendell Corey
112 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – April 25, 2021
2:15 AM
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Young Charlie is a small-town girl consumed with finding out whether her unhinged Uncle Charlie is a serial killer.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Actors: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, & Macdonald Carey
108 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – April 27, 2021
1:45 AM
Star Witness (1931)
An old man who witnessed a crime is threatened by gangsters.
Dir: William A. Wellman Actors: Walter Huston, Frances Starr, & Grant Mitchell
68 mins
4:30 AM
A Stolen Life (1946)
A twin takes her deceased sister’s place as the wife of the man they both love.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt Actors: Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, & Dane Clark
107 mins
12:30 PM
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 Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, & Lizabeth Scott
116 mins
2:30 PM
The Stranger (1946)
A small-town schoolteacher suspects her new husband may be an escaped Nazi war criminal.
Dir: Orson Welles Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, & Orson Welles
95 mins
4:15 PM
Strangers on a Train (1951)
A man’s joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Actors: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, & Robert Walker
96 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – April 28, 2021
11:30 PM
The Thin Man (1934)
In New York, a detective, his wife and his dog solve the murder case of an eccentric inventor.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke Actors: William Powell, Myrna Loy, & Maureen O’sullivan
80 mins
Thursday – April 29, 2021
1:15 AM
The Third Man (1949)
A man’s investigation of a friend’s death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Dir: Carol Reed Actors: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, & Orson Welles
93 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – April 30, 2021
2:15 AM
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
***** ***** ***** *****
If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed tv specials coming up in April, 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 March 2021 television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for March 2021 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.
Vicki says
I remember TCM doing that years ago. It used to be the way they ran movies all the time, except for tributes for certain things such as birthdays. It was fun because if you had a certain movie series you liked, they’d play a bunch of those movies all n a row, instead of just one movie, scattered out months apart. I hope you enjoy this alphabetical
I look forward to every blog you post with movie suggestions.Your blog has been extremely helpful for catching favorite movies!!! Thank you!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Vicki, I’m not surprised that they’ve done this before – it’s definitely a change.
Lin Moilan says
Just found an addition to your list by state .. Kentucky … Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries by Tonya Kappes. Ex wife of Ponzi scheme husband ends us with a campground in Kentucky. A nice change from 4 women sitting around a table knitting.
And I just discovered the Dorothy Martin series. Who wouldn’t want a husband like Alan Nesbitt!! & we like London & the English countryside settings.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Lin, thanks – I’ll have to add that one!
S. Maier says
Where can I watch the Dorothy Martin Mystery movies? I tried searching but could only find the books.
Thank you very much!