Here we are in the sweltering days of summer! Every once in a while it’s just good to kick back, lie on your sofa, drink a cold beverage, and watch a mystery movie in the coolness of your air conditioned home. (Anyway, it’s sweltering down here in San Antonio, and it’s great to take a little time to enjoy a good, old, black and white mystery movie in a consistently cool room.)

This month, I am including the entire Masterpiece Mystery! schedule. It begins tonight (I know, short notice!) and will run all the way through November, ending with dramatization of P.D. James’ Death Comes to Pemberley Mystery!

I have gone through my TCM Now Playing guide, and have come up with these mystery movies that will be airing during July 2014 on the Turner Classic Channel.

This month marks the 100th anniversary of WWI (July 1914 – November 1918), so there are many WWI movies airing during the month. Also, I want to point out that there are several movies based on Agatha Christie’s mystery novels that will be airing during July 2014. And for all of you Nancy Drew fans (and let’s face it, many of us came to Cozy Mysteries through the Nancy Drew portal!) there will be four Nancy Drew movies sprinkled through the July 2014 mystery movie line-up.

If any of you know of a good mystery movie that will be airing during July on another channel, please post a comment. We’d all love to know about it. Thank you!

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

PBS Masterpiece Mystery! (Central Time zone)

PBS will begin their 2014 schedule of Masterpiece Mystery! today, June 29, 2014. Here is what is in store for us:

Sundays – June 29 to Sundays – July 20, 2014

8:00 PM
ENDEAVOUR: Season 2
The young Constable Morse is back showing us how he became Inspector Morse. (Based on Colin Dexter‘s Inspector Morse mysteries.)

*****

Sundays – July 27 to Sundays – August 3, 2014

8:00 PM
HERCULE POIROT: Season 12
Agatha Christie‘s Hercule Poirot will have the spotlight as we watch The Big Four (my least favorite of her novels) and Dead Man’s Folly.

*****

Sundays – August 24 to Sundays -September 7, 2014

8:00 PM
BREATHLESS
This is a “medical drama” set in 1960s London.

*****

Sunday – September 21 & Sunday – September 28, 2014

8:00 PM
MISS MARPLE
Agatha Christie‘s Miss Marple returns in three mysteries: A Caribbean Mystery, Greenshaw’s Folly and Endless Night. (Since this is only slated for two nights, I’m not sure if they will be consolidating the novels, or if two of them will only run one hour.)

*****

Sundays – October 5 to Sundays – October 19, 2014

8:00 PM
INSPECTOR LEWIS: Season 7
Inspector Lewis nad his sidekick, Hathaway will be returning. Remember that at the end of last season, Lewis was retiring, and Hathaway was working on being promoted to Inspector. (Based on Colin Dexter‘s Inspector Morse mysteries.)

*****

Sundays – October 26 to Sundays – November 2, 2014

8:00 PM
DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY
Remember when I told you that P.D. James had ventured into a Jane Austen novel? Well this will bring that novel to life. Elizabeth and Darcy will be holding a ball at Pemberley, and what do you suppose happens?

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

July 2014 Turner Classic Movies Channel Mystery Movies (Central time zone):

Wednesday – July 2, 2014

1:15 AM
THE FORBIDDEN STREET (1949)
A wealthy British woman in Victorian London marries an impoverished artist from the slums and becomes victimized by a blackmail plot.
Dir: Jean Negulesco Cast: Dana Andrews, Maureen O’Hara, Dame Sybil Thorndike.
BW-91 mins

4:30 AM
THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943)
Nazi spies pursue a Spanish Civil War veteran in search of a priceless keepsake.
Dir: Richard Wallace Cast: John Garfield, Maureen O’Hara, Walter Slezak.
BW-94 mins, CC

8:00 AM
SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE (1932)
Strange crimes committed by a hypnotized woman are solved by a French detective.
Dir: Edward Sutherland Cast: Gwili Andre, Gregory Ratoff, Frank Morgan.
BW-58 mins

10:15 AM
NINE LIVES ARE NOT ENOUGH (1941)
A reporter tries to solve a series of boardinghouse murders.
Dir: A. Edward Sutherland Cast: Ronald Reagan, Joan Perry, James Gleason.
BW-63 mins

11:30 PM
SECRET COMMAND (1944)
A surprise visit from his brother almost blows an undercover agent out of the water.
Dir: Eddie Sutherland Cast: Pat O’Brien, Carole Landis, Chester Morris.
BW-82 mins

3:45 PM
MOONLIGHT MURDER (1936)
A murderer strikes an opera company.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin Cast: Chester Morris, Madge Evans, Leo Carrillo.
BW-66 mins

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

Thursday – July 3, 2014

3:30 AM
THE RAVEN (1963)
A widowed sorcerer discovers his late wife is alive and living with his mortal enemy.
Dir: Roger Corman Cast: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff.
C-86 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

2:45 PM
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall.
BW-120 mins, CC

5:00 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 Cast: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury.
BW-110 mins, CC

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

Friday – July 4, 2014

10:15 AM
THE SCARLET COAT (1955)
An American officer goes undercover to unmask a Revolutionary War traitor.
Dir: John Sturges Cast: Cornel Wilde, Michael Wilding, George Sanders.
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

3:15 PM
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
Spirited musical biography of the song-and-dance man who kept America humming through two world wars.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston.
BW-126 mins, CC
*****Happy Fourth of July! This is a classic, must-see movie for today, if you live in the USA.*****

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

Saturday – July 5, 2014

9:30 AM
NANCY DREW…DETECTIVE (1938)
A teen-aged sleuth investigates a wealthy woman’s disappearance.
Dir: William Clemens Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, James Stephenson.
BW-66 mins, CC

9:30 PM
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1967)
A fortune hunter agrees to wed a temperamental woman so his friend can court her sister.
Dir: Franco Zeffirelli Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Cyril Cusack.
C-122 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
*****I love this version of Shakespeare’s play. The chemistry between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is explosive! Not a mystery.*****

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

Tuesday – July 8, 2014

9:15 AM
A FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE (1940)
An insurance investigator gets caught between cops and crooks when he hides the beneficiary of a million-dollar policy.
Dir: Terry Morse Cast: Roger Pryor, Lucile Fairbanks, Eddie Foy Jr..
BW-53 mins

10:15 AM
LADY GANGSTER (1942)
A district attorney tries to reform a gangster’s moll who’s been sent up the river.
Dir: Florian Roberts Cast: Faye Emerson, Julie Bishop, Frank Wilcox.
BW-62 mins

1:30 PM
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.
BW-103 mins, CC

3:15 PM
THE BIG STEAL (1949)
Seduction and murder follow the theft of an Army payroll.
Dir: Don Siegel Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix.
BW-71 mins, CC

4:30 PM
THE PRIZE (1963)
An American Nobel Prize-winner mixes it up with spies when he travels to Stockholm to collect his award.
Dir: Mark Robson Cast: Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer.
C-135 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Wednesday – July 9, 2014

1:30 AM
OUR MAN IN HAVANA (1960)
A salesman in Cuba takes up spying to support his spendthrift daughter.
Dir: Carol Reed Cast: Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O’Hara.
BW-107 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

11:00 AM
A FINE PAIR (1969)
A detective gets involved with a beautiful jewel thief.
Dir: Francesco Maselli Cast: Rock Hudson, Claudia Cardinale, Tomas Milian.
C-115 mins

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

Friday – July 11, 2014

7:00 PM
PATHS OF GLORY (1957)
A military lawyer comes to question the status quo when he defends three men accused of cowardice.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick Cast: Fred Bell, John Stein, Harold Benedict.
BW-88 mins, CC

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

Saturday – July 12, 2014

6:15 AM
MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE (1947)
A baby photographer mistaken for a private eye ends up framed for murder.
Dir: Elliott Nugent Cast: Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre.
BW-86 mins, CC

9:45 AM
NANCY DREW, REPORTER (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth sets out to prove a young girl innocent of murder charges.
Dir: William Clemens Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, Frank Thomas Jr..
BW-68 mins, CC,

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

Sunday – July 13, 2014

2:45 AM
LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE (1951)
An actress champions the cause of a man whom she believes has been falsely accused of murdering his wife.
Dir: King Vidor Cast: Ruth Roman, Richard Todd, Mercedes McCambridge.
BW-90 mins

1:00 PM
PILLOW TALK (1959)
A man and woman carry their feud over the telephone line they share into their real lives.
Dir: Michael Gordon Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall.
C-102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
*****Another Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie I really enjoy! Not a mystery.*****

5:00 PM
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954)
A straying husband frames his wife for the murder of the man he’d hired to kill her.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings.
C-105 mins, CC

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

Monday – July 14, 2014

7:00 PM
FOR THE DEFENSE (1930)
An attorney, who specializes in springing criminals out of prison, is faced with a moral dilemma when his girlfriend drunkenly kills a pedestrian with her car and another man takes the blame.
Dir: John Cromwell Cast: William Powell, Kay Francis, Scott Kolk .
BW-65 mins

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

Tuesday – July 15, 2014

6:15 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 Cast: Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth.
BW-74 mins, CC

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

Wednesday – July 16, 2014

12:45 PM
WITNESS TO MURDER (1954)
A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder.
Dir: Roy Rowland Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill.
BW-82 mins,

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

Thursday – July 17, 2014

5:15 PM
JIMMY THE GENT (1934)
An unscrupulous detective makes a killing locating missing heirs.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: James Cagney, Bette Davis, Allen Jenkins.
BW-68 mins, CC

7:00 PM
THE CRIMINAL CODE (1931)
A convict trying to reform is torn between conflicting loyalties when he witnesses a murder behind bars.
Dir: Howard Hawks Cast: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings.
BW-96 mins

9:00 PM
CONVICTED (1950)
A prison warden fights to prove one of his inmates was wrongly convicted.
Dir: Henry Levin Cast: Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Millard Mitchell.
BW-91 mins, CC

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

Friday – July 18, 2014

11:30 AM
STAMBOUL QUEST (1934)
A notorious enemy spy falls for an American medical student during World War I.
Dir: Sam Wood Cast: Myrna Loy, George Brent, Lionel Atwill.
BW-86 mins, CC

1:00 PM
EVER IN MY HEART (1933)
During World War I, a woman suspects her husband of being a German spy.
Dir: Archie Mayo Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, Ralph Bellamy.
BW-68 mins, CC

2:15 PM
BRITISH INTELLIGENCE (1940)
A lady spy uses a British nobleman’s home in her undercover work for the Germans.
Dir: Terry Morse Cast: Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Bruce Lester.
BW-61 mins

5:00 PM
RENDEZVOUS(1935)
A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.
Dir: William K. Howard Cast: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes.
BW-94 mins, CC

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

Saturday – July 19, 2014

9:45 AM
NANCY DREW…TROUBLE SHOOTER (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth tries to clear one of her father’s friends of a murder charge.
Dir: William Clemens Cast: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel.
BW-68 mins

3:15 PM
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 Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis.
C-82 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Sunday – July 20, 2014

9:00 AM
LIFEBOAT (1944)
Survivors of a torpedoed boat take in a German Naval officer from the sub that sank them.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak.
BW-97 mins, CC

5:00 PM
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)
A bogus preacher marries an outlaw’s widow in search of the man’s hidden loot.
Dir: Charles Laughton Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish.
BW-93 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

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

Monday – July 21, 2014

10:15 AM
THE FLORENTINE DAGGER (1935)
A playwright descended from the Borgias becomes a murder suspect.
Dir: Robert Florey Cast: Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay, C. Aubrey Smith.
BW-69 mins

7:00 PM
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945)
Guests at a remote island mansion realize a crazed killer is stalking them.
Dir: René Clair Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward.
BW-97 mins
*****Agatha Christie mystery movie.*****

9:00 PM
EVIL UNDER THE SUN (1982)
A detective trying to solve a case finds himself on an exclusive island frequented by the rich and famous.
Dir: Guy Hamilton Cast: Peter Ustinov, Colin Blakely, Jane Birkin.
C-117 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
*****Agatha Christie mystery movie.*****

11:00 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 Cast: Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow.
BW-86 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
*****Agatha Christie mystery movie. However, a little different take on it.*****

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

Tuesday – July 22, 2014

12:30 AM
TEN LITTLE INDIANS (1966)
Party guests at a remote mansion have been brought together to pay for past crimes.
Dir: George Pollock Cast: Hugh O’Brian, Shirley Eaton, Fabian.
C-90 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
*****Agatha Christie mystery movie.*****

2:30 AM
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1958)
A British lawyer gets caught up in a couple’s tangled marital affairs when he defends the husband for murder.
Dir: Billy Wilder Cast: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton.
BW-116 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
*****Agatha Christie mystery movie.*****

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

Thursday – July 24, 2014

1:15 AM
BLOW-UP(1966)
A photographer discovers a murder in the background of a candid photo.
Dir: Michelangelo Antonioni Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, David Hemmings.
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

5:30 PM
STRONGER THAN DESIRE (1939)
A lawyer’s wife keeps mum as her husband defends an innocent woman for the crime she committed.
Dir: Leslie Fenton Cast: Virginia Bruce, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Bowman.
BW-78 mins, CC

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

Friday – July 25, 2014

1:00 AM
OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas.
BW-97 mins, CC

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

Saturday – July 26, 2014

9:45 AM
NANCY DREW AND THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth helps two old ladies deal with the “haunting” of their mansion.
Dir: William Clemens Cast: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel.
BW-60 mins, CC

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

Sunday – July 27, 2014

11:15 AM
THE LADYKILLERS (1955)
An eccentric bandit gang moves into a little old lady’s boardinghouse to plot a major heist.
Dir: Alexander Mackendrick Cast: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom.
C-91 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

7:00 PM
CAT PEOPLE (1942)
A newlywed fears that an ancient curse will turn her into a bloodthirsty beast.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur Cast: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph.
BW-73 mins, CC

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

Tuesday – July 29, 2014

5:30 AM
DODSWORTH (1936)
A husband whose wife left him looks for new love in Europe.
Dir: William Wyler Cast: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas.
BW-101 mins, CC
*****I love this William Wyler movie. Not a mystery.*****

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

Wednesday – July 30, 2014

7:00 PM
DETECTIVE STORY (1951)
A rigid police detective accidentally uncovers his wife’s illegal past.
Dir: William Wyler Cast: Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix.
BW-103 mins, CC

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

Thursday – July 31, 2014

9:00 AM
ANOTHER THIN MAN (1939)
Not even the joys of parenthood can stop married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles from investigating a murder on a Long Island estate.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Grey.
BW-103 mins, CC

2:15 PM
A LADY WITHOUT PASSPORT (1950)
A secret service agent falls in love with an illegal immigrant.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis Cast: Hedy Lamarr, John Hodiak, James Craig.
BW-74 mins, CC

5:15 PM
PENELOPE (1966)
A neglected wife turns to bank robbery to get her husband’s attention.
Dir: Arthur Hiller Cast: Natalie Wood, Ian Bannen, Dick Shawn.
C-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

7:00 PM
THE TWELVE CHAIRS (1970)
A fallen aristocrat, a priest and a con artist search for a treasure of jewels hidden inside one of twelve dining chairs.
Dir: Mel Brooks Cast: Ron Moody, Frank Langella, Dom DeLuise.
C-93 mins, CC, Letterbox Format
*****OK, I don’t really remember this movie, but I believe it’s a take-off on the old, black and white mystery movies.*****

10:30 PM
HIGH ANXIETY (1977)
A man must come to terms with his own “high anxiety” in this loving parody of the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Dir: Mel Brooks Cast: Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman.
C-94
*****This is another movie that I saw years ago, so I don’t really remember it, but this definitely is a take-off!*****

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

(All of the above TCM descriptions were copied from the TCM site.)

If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be aired on television during July 2014, please post a comment.

If you would like to see more Television and Movies ideas, click on this link.