The Turner Classic Movies channel will be presenting the four Miss Marple movies starring Margaret Rutheford during August 2021. These movies very loosely follow Agatha Christie’s books. These movies will start airing on August’s first Thursday night and will end early that Friday morning.
On Thursday, August 26, Turner Classic Movies will be showing Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall comedies. The three movies are not mystery movies, however, if you haven’t seen them yet, you may enjoy them (almost!) as much as I do. (I have them listed on this month’s mystery movie list so you can be sure to set up your DVRs.) Sometimes we all just need movies that are light and amusing…
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TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – August 2021
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Sunday – August 1, 2021
12:30 AM
Hollow Triumph (1948)
A crook on the lam poses as a psychiatrist.
Dir: Steve Sekely. Actors: Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett, Eduard Franz
83 mins
6:00 AM
Marked Woman (1937)
A crusading DA fights to get a nightclub hostess to testify against her gangster boss.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Actors: Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane
96 mins
1:45 PM
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
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – August 2, 2021
12:30 AM
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion.
Dir: Robert Aldrich. Actors: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
132 mins
*****I’m not sure if this qualifies as a mystery…*****
4:45 AM
Satan Met a Lady (1936)
In the second screen version of The Maltese Falcon, a detective is caught between a lying seductress and a lady jewel thief.
Dir: William Dieterle. Actors: Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth
75 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – August 3, 2021
11:15 PM
Vertigo (1958)
A detective falls for the mysterious woman he’s been hired to tail.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes
128 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – August 4, 2021
1:45 AM
Pushover (1954)
A police detective falls for the bank robber’s girlfriend he is supposed to be tailing.
Dir: Richard Quine. Actors: Fred Macmurray, Phil Carey, Kim Novak
88 mins
6:00 AM
Yellow Canary (1943)
A socialite poses as a Nazi spy to mask her activities as a British agent.
Dir: Herbert Wilcox Actors: Anna Neagle, Richard Greene, Nova Pilbeam
84 mins
8:00 PM
Murder She Said (1961)
When nobody will believe she witnessed a murder, 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
*****The next three movies and also this one are loosely based on Agatha Christies Miss Marple books.*****
9:45 PM
Murder at the Gallop (1963)
Elderly sleuth Miss Marple suspects foul play when an old friend is supposedly scared to death by a cat.
Dir: George Pollock/ Actors: Margaret Rutherford, Robert Morley, Flora Robson
81 mins
11:15 PM
Murder Most Foul (1964)
Elderly sleuth Miss Marple joins a small-town theatre to investigate a murder.
Dir: George Pollock. Actors: Margaret Rutherford, Ron Moody, Charles Tingwell
90 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – August 6, 2021
1:00 AM
Murder Ahoy (1964)
Elderly sleuth Miss Marple takes to the seas to investigate murder on a naval training ship.
Dir: George Pollock. Actors: Margaret Rutherford, Lionel Jeffries, Charles Tingwell
93 mins
7:30 AM
The Big Steal (1949)
A man is on the trail of a thief who stole a $300,000 Army payroll, but there is someone else after him – a woman.
Dir: Don Siegel. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix
71 mins
12:30 PM
Angel Face (1953)
A woman murders her family for their money.
Dir: Otto Preminger. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman
91 mins
2:15 PM
Where Danger Lives (1950)
A psychopath draws her doctor into her murderous schemes.
Dir: John Farrow. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains
84 mins
8:00 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. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas
97 mins
10:00 PM
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe takes on the job of finding ex-con Moose Malloy’s girlfriend Velma. Once on the case, Marlowe finds himself in one dangerous situation after another as he follows a trail of lies and betrayals.
Dir: Dick Richards. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland
97 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – August 7, 2021
12:00 AM
Macao (1952)
A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.
Dir: Josef Von Sternberg. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix
80 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – August 9, 2021
6:00 AM
Guilty Hands (1931)
A district attorney tries to frame an innocent girl for the murder he committed.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Kay Francis, Madge Evans
71 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – August 10, 2021
12:45 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – August 13, 2021
10:15 PM
Klute (1971)
A low-key small town detective journeys to New York City to investigate the murder of a friend and discovers that both the killer and the victim were clients of the same high-class call girl.
Dir: Alan J. Pakula. Actors: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi
114 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – August 17, 2021
2:00 AM
They Won’t Believe Me (1947)
A philandering playboy with a wealthy wife and two girlfriends ends up on trial for murder when two of the ladies turn up dead, and he’s the most likely suspect.
Dir: Irving Pichel. Actors: Susan Hayward, Robert Young, Jane Greer
95 mins
10:30 AM
A Woman’s Secret (1949)
A retired singer takes on a protegee only to be betrayed by her.
Dir: Nicholas Ray. Actors: Maureen O’Hara, Melvyn Douglas, Gloria Grahame
85 mins
2:15 PM
The Good Die Young (1954)
Four thieves think back on the problems that led them to a daring heist.
Dir: Lewis Gilbert. Actors: Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Richard Basehart
98 mins
4:00 PM
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Desperate losers plan a bank robbery with unexpected results.
Dir: Robert Wise. Actors: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters
95 mins
6:00 PM
Human Desire (1954)
An unhappy wife seduces a veteran into helping her get rid of her husband.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Actors: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford
90 mins
8:00 PM
The Big Heat (1953)
A hard-boiled and uncorruptable cop investigates a string of murders and single-handedly exposes an organized crime cartel.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Actors: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando
90 mins
10:00 PM
In a Lonely Place (1950)
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Dir: Nicholas Ray. Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
91 mins
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Wednesday – August 18, 2021
12:00 AM
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
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Friday – August 20, 2021
7:00 AM
Kid Glove Killer (1942)
A police scientist investigates the mayor’s murder.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann. Actors: Van Heflin, Marsha Hunt, Lee Bowman
74 mins
8:30 AM
Grand Central Murder (1942)
A detective investigates an actress’s murder in a train car.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon. Actors: Van Heflin, Patricia Dane, Cecilia Parker
72 mins
12:00 PM
Act of Violence (1949)
An embittered veteran tracks down a POW camp informer.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann. Actors: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh
82 mins
1:30 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – August 21, 2021
6:15 PM
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
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – August 22, 2021
12:45 PM
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
A British lawyer gets caught up in a couple’s tangled marital affairs when he defends the husband for murder.
Dir: Billy Wilder. Actors: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton
116 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – August 23, 2021
12:15 AM
Nightmare Alley (1947)
An ambitious carnival worker attempts to scam his way out of the carnival in this brutal noir.
Dir: Edmund Goulding. Actors: Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray
111 mins
2:30 PM
The Unfaithful (1947)
While her husband is away, a woman gets mixed up in murder.
Dir: Vincent Sherman. Actors: Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott
109 mins
9:45 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
11:45 PM
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
A small-town lawyer gets the case of a lifetime when a military man avenges an attack on his wife.
Dir: Otto Preminger. Actors: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara
160 mins
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Wednesday – August 25, 2021
11:00 AM
Crime by Night (1944)
Married detectives investigating a small-town murder uncover a spy ring.
Dir: William Clemens. Actors: Jane Wyman, Jerome Cowan, Faye Emerson
72 mins
12:15 PM
Larceny, Inc. (1942)
An ex-convict and his gang try to use a luggage store to front a bank robbery, but business keeps getting in the way.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford
95 mins
4:00 PM
Stage Fright (1950)
An acting student goes undercover to prove a singing star killed her husband.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding
110 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – August 26, 2021
8:00 AM
The Alphabet Murders (1965)
Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates a series of murders committed in alphabetical order.
Dir: Frank Tashlin. Actors: Tony Randall, Anita Ekberg, Robert Morley
90 mins
12:00 PM
Pillow Talk (1959)
A man and woman carry their feud over the telephone line they share into their real lives.
Dir: Michael Gordon. Actors: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
105 mins
*****Not a mystery movie*****
2:00 PM
Lover Come Back (1961)
Hudson and Day are rival advertising executives, and she constantly tries to derail his shady tactics before the Advertising Review Board, but eventually he woos her and they end up together.
Dir: Delbert Mann. Actors: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
107 mins
*****Not a mystery movie*****
4:00
PM Send Me No Flowers (1964)
A man mistakenly thinks he’s dying of an illness, so he tries to set up his wife with another man.
Dir: Norman Jewison. Actors: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
100 mins
*****Not a mystery movie*****
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – August 28, 2021
6:00 AM
I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
An ex-con dreaming of one last heist faces dissension within his gang.
Dir: Stuart Heisler, Actors: Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, Lori Nelson
109 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – August 29, 2021
2:15 AM
Gorky Park (1983)
A triple murder takes place within the confines of the Soviet Union and touches off an investigation that links the police investigator, the K.G.B., a sinister American businessman and an obligatory femme fatale.
Dir: Michael Apted. Actors: William Hurt, Lee Marvin, Brian Dennehy
128 mins
3:45 PM
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
***** ***** ***** *****
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 2021 television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for July 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.
Sharon in MD says
Thank you, Danna, for compiling another TCM list. I also enjoy the Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall comedies. As I have with most of the classic movies I love, I purchased them in DVD format. Sadly, my cable tv company no longer carries TCM.
I have seen Gorky Park, the movie. If you liked the movie, I highly recommend reading the book. I read the book when it was first published, and it is terrific. I couldn’t put it down.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sharon, you’re very welcome! I’m sorry to hear you don’t get TCM – it seems to have been dropped from a number of cable packages.
I don’t think I’ve read the book for Gorky Park – I’ll have to pick it up some time!