I really enjoy watching the old documentary shorts that they used as filler time in theaters years and years ago. James A. Fitzgerald is the presenter on these old documentaries from the 1930s and 1940s. (No, I wasn’t around for these theater gems way back then!) I not only enjoy seeing what the different destinations of the films were like back then, but I also enjoy seeing what the people were wearing back then. Women in dresses – sometimes wearing hats, men in suits and ties… It certainly was a different world! Anyway, on Thursday, April 5 the Turner Classic Movies channel will be showing a lot of these documentary shorts featuring Mexico. On Wednesday the 4th they’ll be showing shorts on Curaçao, Guatemala, and Havana. There are other documentary shorts sprinkled throughout the month, as well as the rest of the year.
There are a several mystery movies that will be playing this month, however it seems like there aren’t as many as usual.
***** ***** ***** *****
TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – May 2022
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – May 1, 2022
12:30 AM Johnny Angel (1946)
A sailor sets out to solve his father’s murder.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin. Actors: George Raft, Claire Trevor, Signe Hasso
79 mins
10:00 AM Johnny Angel (1946)
A sailor sets out to solve his father’s murder.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin. Actors: George Raft, Claire Trevor, Signe Hasso
79 mins
1:30 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – May 2, 2022
8:30 AM The Vintage (1957)
Two fugitives hide out in a vineyard.
Dir: Jeffrey Hayden. Actors: Pier Angeli, Mel Ferrer, John Kerr
92 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – May 3, 2022
10:15 AM Al Capone (1959)
Chicago’s most notorious gangster rules the city ruthlessly.
Dir: Richard Wilson. Actors: Rod Steiger, Fay Spain, James Gregory
105 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – May 4, 2022
5:45 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. Actors: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen
112 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – May 6, 2022
2:00 AM The Verdict (1982)
An alcoholic lawyer struggles to redeem himself by pursuing a high-stakes malpractice case.
Dir: Sidney Lumet. Actors: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, James Mason
122 mins
6:15 AM Sabotage (1936)
An unhappily married woman discovers her husband is an enemy agent.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. Actors: Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, Desmond Tester
76 mins
7:45 AM Murder on Diamond Row (1937) (aka The Squeaker)
A jewel fence plays both sides of his trade: he turns in the actual thieves that don’t “pay-up”.
Dir: William K. Howard. Actors: Edmund Lowe, Sebastian Shaw, Ann Todd
77 mins
9:15 AM I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. (1951)
When an FBI agent goes undercover in the Communist Party, his wife and friends question his patriotism.
Dir: Gordon Douglas. Actors: Frank Lovejoy, Dorothy Hart, Philip Carey
83 mins
11:15 AM Clouds over Europe (1939)
When enemy agents steal plans for an experimental plane, the test pilot fights to clear his name.
Dir: Tim Whelan. Actors: Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Valerie Hobson
78 mins
12:45 PM Violence (1947)
A female reporter goes undercover within a Neo-Nazi group, then loses her memory.
Dir: Jack Bernhard. Actors: Nancy Coleman, Michael O’Shea, Sheldon Leonard
72 mins
3:45 PM The Double Man (1967)
Russian secret service officials attempt to kidnap a CIA officer and replace him with a double of their own.
Dir: Franklin J. Schaffner. Actors: Yul Brynner, Britt Ekland, Clive Revill
105 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – May 7, 2022
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
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – May 8, 2022
12:15 AM No Man of Her Own (1950)
After a train crash, a poor, unmarried pregnant woman takes the identity of a dead, pregnant passenger. She is welcomed into their rich family.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen. Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Jane Cowl
98 mins
6:00 AM The Catered Affair (1956)
A working-class mother fights to give her daughter a big wedding whether the girl wants it or not.
Dir: Richard Brooks. Actors: Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds
93 mins
*****Not a mystery, however it’s a very good movie – just in time of the summer wedding months…*****
10:00 AM No Man of Her Own (1950)
After a train crash, a poor, unmarried pregnant woman takes the identity of a dead, pregnant passenger. She is welcomed into their rich family.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen. Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Jane Cowl
98 mins
4:00 PM Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
A distraught mother searches for her seemingly non-existent daughter, bringing her sanity into question.
Dir: Otto Preminger. Actors: Keir Dullea, Carol Lynley, Lucie Mannheim
107 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – May 9, 2022
2:15 PM Fast and Furious (1939)
Married book-dealers Joel and Garda Sloane get mixed up with murder during a beauty pageant .
Dir: Busby Berkeley. Actors: Franchot Tone, Ann Sothern, Ruth Hussey
73 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – May 10, 2022
10:15 PM Breathless (1960)
A petty criminal, wanted for the murder of a police officer, returns to Paris where he meets an American girl who hawks newspapers. They become lovers, but eventually the police pressure her into betraying him and revealing his whereabouts.
Dir: Jean-luc Godard. Actors: Jean Seberg, Jean-paul Belmondo, Liliane David
90 mins (in French)
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – May 11, 2022
1:15 PM Z (1969)
A political assassination uncovers a hotbed of corruption.
Dir: Costa-Gavras. Actors: Yves Montand, Jean-louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin
125 mins (in French?)
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – May 13, 2022
8:30 AM You Can’t Buy Luck (1937)
A racehorse owner tries to buy victory by performing good deeds, but gets mixed up in murder instead.
Dir: Lew Landers. Actors: Onslow Stevens, Helen Mack, Vinton Haworth
61 mins
8:00 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. Actors: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
93 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – May 14, 2022
12:15 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
8:30 AM Code of the Secret Service (1939)
Secret Service agents try to solve the theft of treasury banknote plates.
Dir: Noel Smith. Actors: Ronald Reagan, Rosella Towne, Eddie Foy Jr.
58 mins
12:00 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – May 15, 2022
12:30 AM The Killer Is Loose (1956)
A crook tries to avenge his wife’s accidental shooting by a cop.
Dir: Budd Boetticher. Actors: Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey
73 mins
2:15 AM Ransom! (1956)
A wealthy couple tries to cope with the press and the police when their son is kidnapped.
Dir: Alex Segal. Actors: Glenn Ford, Donna Reed, Leslie Nielsen
102 mins
8:30 AM Night Nurse (1931)
A nurse discovers that the children she’s caring for are murder targets.
Dir: William A. Wellman. Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell
72 mins
10:00 AM The Killer Is Loose (1956)
A crook tries to avenge his wife’s accidental shooting by a cop.
Dir: Budd Boetticher. Actors: Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey
73 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – May 18, 2022
11:30 AM 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. Actors: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey
118 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – May 19, 2022
4:00 AM They Drive by Night (1940)
Truck driving brothers are framed for murder by a lady psycho.
Dir: Raoul Walsh. Actors: George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino
93 mins
9:15 PM A Study in Scarlet (1933)
Sherlock Holmes is called in to solve the case when secret society members start dropping like flies.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin. Actors: Reginald Owen, Anna May Wong, June Clyde
70 mins
10:45 PM When Were You Born (1938)
An astrologer tries to help the police catch a killer.
Dir: William McGann. Actors: Margaret Lindsay, Anna May Wong, Lola Lane
65 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – May 20, 2022
7:30 AM Once You Kiss a Stranger (1969)
A mentally unstable woman seduces a golfer. Together, they plot a murder scheme to kill the woman’s psychiatrist and the golfer’s rival.
Dir: Robert Sparr. Actors: Paul Burke, Carol Lynley, Martha Hyer
106 mins
9:30 AM Fingers at the Window (1942)
A magician uses hypnosis to create an army of murderers.
Dir: Charles Lederer. Actors: Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Basil Rathbone
80 mins
1:15 PM High Wall (1947)
Psychiatry provides the key to proving a veteran flyer innocent of his wife’s murder.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt. Actors: Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall
99 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – May 21, 2022
2:30 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
4:15 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
9:15 PM The Underworld Story (1950)
A corrupt newspaperman, blacklisted from his big-city paper, becomes involved with a murder case for a small town paper.
Dir: Cyril Endfield. Actors: Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm
90 mins
11:00 PM Hell Drivers (1957)
An ex-con tries to go clean and gets a job working as a truck driver, but then he discovers that his peers in the union are scamming money by creating phantom drivers on the payroll and splitting the extra cash amongst themselves.
Dir: Cy Endfield. Actors: Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins
108 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – May 22, 2022
1:00 AM My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
A young girl finds herself entrenched in a murder cover-up when she goes to work for a wealthy widow.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis. Actors: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready
65 mins
10:00 AM My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
A young girl finds herself entrenched in a murder cover-up when she goes to work for a wealthy widow.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis. Actors: Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready
65 mins
11:15 AM Keeper of the Flame (1943)
Top-notch reporter Stephen O’Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.
Dir: George Cukor. Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Whorf
100 mins
8:00 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – May 26, 2022
9:15 PM Impact (1949)
After surviving a murder attempt, an auto magnate goes into hiding so his wife can pay for the crime.
Dir: Arthur Lubin. Actors: Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines, Charles Coburn
111 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – May 27, 2022
4:30 PM It’s a Wonderful World (1939)
A runaway poetess helps a fugitive prove himself innocent of murder charges.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke. Actors: Claudette Colbert, James Stewart, Guy Kibbee
86 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – May 29, 2022
12:00 AM Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
A one-armed veteran uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero’s family.
Dir: John Sturges. Actors: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis
81 mins
10:00 AM Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
A one-armed veteran uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero’s family.
Dir: John Sturges. Actors: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis
81 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – May 31, 2022
8:30 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
***** ***** ***** *****
If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV specials coming up in May, 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 April 2022 television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for April 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.
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