Finally, it’s spring! Well, I say that for those of you who live in areas where you can actually enjoy the spring time. As I prepared the Turner Classic Movies channel’s April schedule of mystery and crime movies (in March), we have already had several days in the 80s. I’ve mentioned many times that we experience two seasons down here in San Antonio – humid and hot AND tepid and cool – yet still humid. So, we now see ourselves in the humid/hot/tropical-feeling weather. I sure do miss the four seasons!
TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – April 2024
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – April 1, 2024
11:15 AM The Unholy Three (1925)
In this silent film, a ventriloquist masquerades as an old lady to front a crime ring.
Dir: Tod Browning. Cast: Lon Chaney, Mae Busch, Matt Moore
86 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – April 2, 2024
12:15 AM Dinner at Eight (1933)
A high-society dinner party masks a hotbed of scandal and intrigue.
Dir: George Cukor. Cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery
113 mins
****Not a mystery – but quite a funny classic. Jean Harlow is a treasure to watch!*****
5:30 AM 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. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan
80 mins
10:45 AM Heat Lightning (1934)
A lady gas station attendant gets mixed up with escaped murderers.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy. Cast: Aline Macmahon, Ann Dvorak, Preston Foster
63 mins
2:30 PM ‘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
5:30 PM The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937)
Perry Mason tries to find out if a long-lost heiress is the real thing.
Dir: William Clemens. Cast: Donald Woods, Ann Dvorak, Anne Nagel
70 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – April 3, 2024
10:00 PM The Wild One (1953)
A vicious biker gang terrorizes a small town while their leader falls for a local girl.
Dir: Laslo Benedek. Cast: Marlon Brando, Mary Murphy, Robert Keith
79 mins
Thursday – April 4, 2024
4:15 AM The Formula (1980)
A detective is in jeopardy after discovering a synthetic formula for gasoline.
Dir: John G. Avildsen. Cast: George C Scott, Marlon Brando, Marthe Keller
117 mins
6:15 AM Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
A con artist falls for the rich widow he’s trying to fleece.
Dir: Jean Negulesco. Cast: John Garfield, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Walter Brennan
100 mins
10:00 AM Two Smart People (1946)
In New Orleans, a lady crook tries to steal a con man’s hidden loot.
Dir: Jules Dassin. Cast: Lucille Ball, John Hodiak, Lloyd Nolan
93 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – April 5, 2024
6:15 PM The Letter (1940)
A woman claims to have killed in self-defense, until a blackmailer turns up with incriminating evidence.
Dir: William Wyler. Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson
97 mins
8:00 PM Double Indemnity (1944)
An insurance salesman gets seduced into plotting a client’s death.
Dir: Billy Wilder. Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
106 mins
*****A classic mystery movie!*****
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – April 6, 2024
10:08 AM Babbitt (1934)
A small-town businessman bumbles into blackmail and a real-estate swindle.
Dir: William Keighley. Cast: Aline Macmahon, Guy Kibbee, Claire Dodd
74 mins
11:30 AM Money to Loan (1939)
This looks at the criminal lengths that loan sharks go to get individuals to pay back their loans.
Dir: Joseph Newman. Cast: Lester Dorr, Alan Dinehart, Warren Mccollum
21 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – April 7, 2024
12:00 AM Violence (1947)
A female reporter goes undercover within a Neo-Nazi group, then loses her memory.
Dir: Jack Bernhard. Cast: Nancy Coleman, Michael O’shea, Sheldon Leonard
72 mins
10:00 AM Violence (1947)
A female reporter goes undercover within a Neo-Nazi group, then loses her memory.
Dir: Jack Bernhard. Cast: Nancy Coleman, Michael O’shea, Sheldon Leonard
72 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – April 9, 2024
8:00 PM Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
When a group of schoolgirls mysteriously disappear, the survivors find their lives changed forever.
Dir: Peter Weir. Cast: Martin Vaughan, Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray
120 mins
10:00 PM So Long at the Fair (1950)
A woman searches for her missing brother in Paris despite the fact that nobody believes he exists.
Dir: Terence Fisher. Cast: Jean Simmons, Dirk Bogarde
86 mins
11:45 PM 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. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Timothy Dalton, Timothy West
98 mins
Wednesday – April 10, 2024
1:30 AM The Seventh Victim (1943)
A girl’s search for her missing sister puts her in conflict with a band of satanists.
Dir: Mark Robson. Cast: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell
71 mins
3:00 AM The Vanishing (1988)
A young man is obsessed with finding the girlfriend who vanished at a rest stop.
Dir: George Sluizer. Cast: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna Ter Steege
107 mins
*****In English, French, & Dutch*****
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – April 11, 2024
9:00 AM The Last Gangster (1937)
When a notorious gangster gets out of prison, he vows revenge on the wife who left him.
Dir: Edward Ludwig. Cast: Edward G. Robinson, James Stewart, Rose Stradner
81 mins
10:30 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – April 12, 2024
4:45 PM Purple Noon (1961)
Tom Ripley is an angelic-looking young American whose talents for everything but holding down a job are impressive. When he is recruited by a concerned father to travel first class (all expenses paid) to Paris to bring back an errant son, he accepts.
Dir: René Clément. Cast: Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt
118 mins
8:00 PM Bullets or Ballots (1936)
A maverick cop gets thrown off the force in disgrace, and goes to the city’s gang lords and offers to join their side, helping them to get around the police. But in fact, he is still a cop, and is working undercover to break apart the gangs.
Dir: William Keighley. Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton Maclane
77 mins
Sunday – April 14, 2024
12:15 AM The Breaking Point (1950)
A desperate fishing boat captain rents his ship to some gunmen on the lam.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter
97 mins
7:30 AM North by Northwest (1959)
A suave, successful New York advertising executive finds himself, through a case of mistaken identity, embroiled in a web of intrigue and murder that takes him across the country to prove his innocence to the police.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
136 mins
10:00 AM The Breaking Point (1950)
A desperate fishing boat captain rents his ship to some gunmen on the lam.
Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter
97 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – April 15, 2024
2:30 AM Diabolique (1955)
A cruel man’s wife and lover plot to kill him.
Dir: Henri-Georges Clouzot. Cast: Paul Meurisse, Vera Clouzot, Simone Signoret
107 mins
*****In French*****
4:30 AM The Petrified Forest (1936)
When a burned out Brit wanders into a diner and gas station in the middle of the desert, the owner’s daughter falls for him. However, the situations of all concerned change when the restaurant is held up at gunpoint by a desperate gangster.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo. Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin
83 mins
9:45 AM The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
A frustrated wife seduces a drifter into murdering her husband.
Dir: Tay Garnett. Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway
111 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – April 16, 2024
9:00 AM 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
Wednesday – April 17, 2024
2:30 AM 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
4:30 AM 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – April 18, 2024
3:15 PM 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
8:00 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. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan
80 mins
Saturday – April 20, 2024
10:08 AM Burn ‘Em Up O’Connor (1939)
A race car driver tries to solve a series of track-side murders before he’s next.
Dir: Edward Sedgwick. Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Cecilia Parker, Nat Pendleton
70 mins
4:30 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
103 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – April 21, 2024
12:00 AM Born to Kill (1947)
A murderer marries a young innocent then goes after her more experienced sister.
Dir: Robert Wise. Cast: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak
92 mins
6:00 AM Crime and Punishment, U.S.A. (1959)
In an update of the Dostoyevsky classic novel, a murderer believes he can escape the penalties of justice.
Dir: Denis Sanders. Cast: Mary Murphy, Frank Silvera, Marian Seldes
96 mins
10:00 AM Born to Kill (1947)
A murderer marries a young innocent then goes after her more experienced sister.
Dir: Robert Wise. Cast: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak
92 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – April 22, 2024
1:45 PM 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
148 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – April 23, 2024
1:45 AM Shaft (1971)
A slick black detective enlists gangsters and African nationals to fight the mob.
Dir: Gordon Parks. Cast: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi
98 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – April 27, 2024
4:15 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. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Timothy Dalton, Timothy West
98 mins
11:30 AM The Skull Murder Mystery (1932)
In this short, a mysterious Chinese merchant and his eccentric upstairs tenants come under suspicion when the skeleton of a man is dug up in an alley. Vitaphone Release 1348-1349.
Dir: Joseph Henabery. Cast: Paul Guilfoyle, Harry Mestayer, Donald Meek
21 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – April 28, 2024
5:45 PM Harper (1966)
A broken-down private eye sets out to find a rich woman’s missing husband.
Dir: Jack Smight. Cast: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris
121 mins
4:00 AM Hit Man (1973)
A racketeer tears up L.A.’s underworld searching for his brother’s killer.
Dir: George Armitage. Cast: Bernie Casey, Pamela Grier, Lisa Moore
90 mins
8:00 PM The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Four ruthless terrorists take over a New York City subway train and hold the passengers for ransom. They threaten to shoot one each minute until a one million dollar ransom is fully paid.
Dir: Joseph Sargent. Cast: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam
104 mins
Tuesday – April 30, 2024
1:45 PM 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
3:45 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: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Dame May Whitty
117 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 television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for March 2024 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.
Patti says
Thank you, Danna, as always, for putting together this list. It is so appreciated! This morning we woke up to a bit of snow on
the ground and snow flurries! Enjoy your warm weather!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Patti, you’re welcome! I’m glad that the lists like this are helpful for people preparing their schedule.
Cecile Fleetwood says
Sounds like a great lineup of movies for April! Ican waych & enjoy “The Thin Man” series over & over! “North by Northwest” always pulls me in! Looking forward to these movies.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Cecile, it’s always great to be able to look forward to an old favorite, even if you’ve seen it many times before.