Here are the mystery movies I was able to glean from TCM’s Now Playing for October 2013. (TCM stands for the Turner Classic Movie channel.) I didn’t list all of the Halloween-type movies they will be airing, but if you’re interested in the likes of Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and/or Christopher Lee, make sure you check the TCM listings for October. You will be able to find a lot of their movies, some of which are campy enough to make them fun.
Recently I have noticed that TCM is including more movies that don’t come from the Golden Age of Hollywood. (I think of this era as being the 1930s and 1940s, so I guess I ought to call it My Golden Age of Hollywood.) From this month’s mystery movies below, you will see that there are quite a few movies from the 1960s and some that are from even more recent years. [I’m not sure I like this TCM trend, so I’ll be interested in knowing if it continues. Even though the Golden Age (as I define it!) was before I was born, I still am MUCH more interested in the movies from the 1930s and 1940s. Either way, since I’m not on the TCM board of directors, it really doesn’t matter.]
I’m listing the movies in Central time zone. If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be aired on television during October 2013, please post a comment.
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – October 1, 2013
THE OUTRAGE (1964) 3:15 PM
A Mexican bandit’s crimes receive wildly different interpretations from four witnesses.
Dir: Martin Ritt Cast: Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom
BW-96 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) 9:00 PM
An insurance salesman gets seduced into plotting a client’s death.
Dir: Billy Wilder Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
BW-108 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – October 2, 2013
THE BIG SLEEP (1946) 3:30 AM
Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a society girl’s involvement in the murder of a pornographer.
Dir: Howard Hawks Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely
BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – October 3, 2013
DR. CRIPPEN (1963) 2:00 AM
The real-life story of a doctor who was hanged in London in 1910 for poisoning his wife.
Dir: Robert Lynn Cast: Donald Pleasence, Coral Browne, Samantha Eggar
BW-98 mins, TV-PG
BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952) 2:00 PM
A widow discovers her handyman is an escaped mental patient.
Dir: Harry Horner Cast: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Taylor Holmes
BW-77 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – October 5, 2013
MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY (1993) 1:00 PM
A middle-aged couple suspects foul play when their neighbor’s wife suddenly drops dead.
Dir: Woody Allen Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Jerry Adler
C-108 mins, TV-14, CC
HALLMARK MOVIE CHANNEL
MARY HIGGINS CLARK’S THE MYSTERY CRUISE (2013) 8:00 PM
Cast: Gail O’Grady, Larry Miller, Michelle Harrison
(Carol Higgins Clark appears as the rich woman whose dog’s collar is lost.)
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – October 6, 2013
KEEPER OF THE FLAME (1942) 5:00 AM
A reporter digs into the secret life of a recently deceased political hero.
Dir: George Cukor Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Whorf.
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC
IN A LONELY PLACE (1950) 7:00 AM
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Dir: Nicholas Ray Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
BW-93 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – October 9, 2013
DEAD RINGER (1964) 3:30 PM
A woman murders her rich twin and tries to take her place.
Dir: Paul Henreid Cast: Bette Davis , Karl Malden , Peter Lawford .
BW-116 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format
MURDER BY DEATH (1976) 8:30 PM
A criminal madman invites the world’s greatest detectives for a night of dinner and murder.
Dir: Robert Moore Cast: Peter Falk, Truman Capote, Alec Guinness
BW-95 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – October 11, 2013
DANGEROUS MISSION (1954) 12:30 AM
A woman flees westward after witnessing a mob killing.
Dir: Louis King Cast: Victor Mature, Piper Laurie, William Bendix
C-75 mins, TV-G, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – October 12, 2013
MYSTERY STREET (1950) 7:30 AM
Criminal pathologists try to crack a case with nothing but the victim’s bones to go on.
Dir: John Sturges Cast: Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett
BW-93 mins, TV-PG, CC
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (1935) 11:30 PM
A young student murders for money then tries to escape his guilt and a brilliant detective.
Dir: Josef von Sternberg Cast: Peter Lorre, Edward Arnold, Marian Marsh
BW-88 mins, TV-14, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – October 13, 2013
RAFFLES (1939) 9:00 PM
A suave thief falls in love again with his high school sweetheart and finds temptation and a detective on his trail while visiting her family.
Dir: Sam Wood Cast: David Niven, Olivia de Havilland, Dame May Whitty
BW-72 mins, TV-G, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – October 15, 2013
BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (1965) 3:00 PM
A distraught mother searches for her seemingly non-existent daughter, bringing her sanity into question.
Dir: Otto Preminger Cast: Keir Dullea, Carol Lynley, Lucie Mannheim
BW-107 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – October 16, 2013
GASLIGHT (1944) 6:30 AM
A newlywed fears she’s going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Dir: George Cukor Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – October 17, 2013
WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956) 7:00 PM
Reporters compete to catch a serial killer.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders
BW-100 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – October 18, 2013
THE NITWITS (1935) 9:00 AM
Two cigar-stand attendants get mixed up in a murder investigation.
Dir: George Stevens Cast: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Fred Keating
BW-82 mins, TV-G
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – October 19, 3013
THE LEOPARD MAN (1943) 2:30 AM
When a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks
BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC
THE WINDOW (1949) 3:45 AM
A boy who always lies witnesses a murder but can’t get anyone but the killer to believe him.
Dir: Ted Tetzlaff Cast: Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart
BW-74 mins, TV-G, CC
MIRACLES FOR SALE (1939) 11:00 PM
A magician turns detective to investigate murder and a phony seance.
Dir: Tod Browning Cast: Robert Young, Florence Rice, Frank Craven
BW-71 mins, TV-G
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – October 20, 2013
*** Neither of these two movies are mysteries, but they have the Rock Hudson/Doris Day duo, with Tony Randall thrown in for good measure.***
LOVER COME BACK (1961) 7:00 PM
An ad exec in disguise courts his pretty female competitor.
Dir: Delbert Mann Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall
C-107 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format
SEND ME NO FLOWERS (1964) 9:00 PM
When he mistakenly thinks he’s dying, a hypochondriac tries to choose his wife’s next husband.
Dir: Norman Jewison Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall.
C-100 mins, TV-G, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – October 22, 2013
CAST A DARK SHADOW (1955) 11:00 AM
A wife-killer marries an innocent barmaid and plots her death.
Dir: Lewis Gilbert Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, Kay Walsh
BW-83 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
THE LADY VANISHES (1938) 5:15 PM
A young woman on vacation triggers an international incident when she tries to track an elderly friend who has disappeared.|
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas
BW-96 mins, TV-G, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – October 24, 2013
BARRICADE (1950) 5:00 AM
Two fugitives try to prove the head of a mining camp is a murderer.
Dir: Peter Godfrey Cast: Dane Clark, Raymond Massey, Ruth Roman
C-75 mins, TV-PG
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – October 25, 2013
THE RUNNING MAN (1963) 9:15 AM
A man fakes his death to get back at the insurance company that denied an earlier claim.
Dir: Carol Reed Cast: Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, Alan Bates
C-104 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (1954) 11:15 AM
A wrongly convicted man takes a young woman hostage while fighting to clear his name.
Dir: Edwards Sampson Cast: John Ireland, Dorothy Malone, Bruce Carlisle
BW-74 mins, TV-G
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962) 9:45 PM
A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion.
Dir: Robert Aldrich Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
BW-134 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – October 26, 2013
SISTERS (1973) 12:15 AM
A small-time reporter tries to convince the police she saw a murder in the apartment
across from hers.
Dir: Brian De Palma Cast: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning
C-93 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – October 27, 2013
THE BAD SEED (1956) 1:00 PM
A woman suspects that her perfect little girl is a ruthless killer.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Cast: Gage Clarke, Jesse White, Joan Croyden
C-129 mins, TV-PG, CC
MR. SKEFFINGTON (1945) 7:00 PM
A flighty beauty marries a stockbroker for convenience and almost ruins both their lives.
Dir: Vincent Sherman Cast: Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel
BW-146 mins, TV-G, CC *** This is not a mystery, but it is one very good movie.***
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – October 29, 2013
MIAMI EXPOSE (1956) 1:45 PM
A police detective uses the only witness to a gangland murder to smoke out the mobsters.
Dir: Fred F. Sears Cast: Lee J. Cobb, Patricia Medina, Edward Arnold
BW-75 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – October 30, 2013
CHINATOWN (1974) 1:00 AM
A Los Angeles private eye unwittingly sets up an innocent man for murder, then joins his seductive widow to unearth the corruption behind the crime.
Dir: Roman Polanski Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, Perry Lopez
C-130 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
SHADOW OF DOUBT (1935) 6:00 AM
Murder charges threaten an actress’s marriage plans.
Dir: George B. Seitz Cast: Ricardo Cortez, Virginia Bruce, Constance Collier.
BW-74 mins, TV-PG, CC
WHISTLING IN THE DARK (1941) 11:00 AM
A radio detective is kidnapped and forced to plan the perfect murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon Cast: Red Skelton, Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford
BW-78 mins, TV-G, CC
UNDERCURRENT (1946) 5:00 PM
A sheltered woman realizes that either her husband or his mysterious brother is a psychopath.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum
BW-116 mins, TV-PG, CC
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – October 31, 2013
THE CONVERSATION (1974) 12:15 AM
A surveillance expert uncovers a murder plot within a corrupt corporation.
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola Cast: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield
C-114 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
BLOW-UP (1966) 2:15 AM
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, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
***** ***** ***** *****
If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be airing this month, feel free to post a comment.
(All of the above descriptions were copied from the TCM site. I hope they don’t change their line-up!)
If you would like to see more Television and Movies ideas, click on this link.
Patti S. says
I am with you, Danna. I much prefer movies from the 30’s and 40’s,too. I don’t care for the ones after that. OK, maybe a very few from the 1950’s. Thanks so much for the list!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Patti S, I just watched Auntie Mame (19580 for the >>> I don’t know what time. (I just love Rosalind Russell in this movie, and can watch it over and over.) When my husband and I were trying to figure out which movies to take on our trip to see my mother and brother, I mentioned this one (again!) to him. He does not like movies from the 1950s (on), so I thought for sure we wouldn’t take this one.
Long story >>> short >>> We brought it with us and I can’t wait to watch it with him.
I agree with you, there are exceptions to the 1950s (on) movies.
Cyn says
I’ve noticed that trend as well. Do you suppose they need more films since they are on 24 hrs. a day? Also, in all fairness there are younger people (I’m in my 60’s) who haven’t seen the films I saw in my youth! Watched “Random Harvest” at breakfast this morning. Gets to me every time I watch it!
Cyn
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Cyn, my thought is that TCM is trying to get younger viewers. But I think there are a lot of “younger viewers” who know a good movie when they see one.
(Greer Garson is so wonderful to watch. I believe I taped Random Harvest. Will have to check when I get home.)
Julia says
So many good movies to choose from – I only wish they had Neil Simon’s “The Cheap Detective” along with “Murder by Death” as a double feature (Peter Falk is simply too good to resist as a Sam Diamond). Thank you for including the Doris Day films as well – they may not be mysteries but they are excellent romantic comedies and wonderful vehicles for both she and Rock Hudson (and Tony Randall!)
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Julia, a Cheap Detective/Murder by Death double-feature would have been fun.
(I don’t know how many times I have watched those old Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies. The two of them just seemed to be made to be together in those romantic flicks. And Tony Randall as the sidekick made those movies even more fun to watch.)
Donna says
WOW I’ve seen most of these films and will be watching them again! That’s a great lineup of mystery/suspense/thriller!
I agree with y’all on the newer films and don’t want to see something on TCM that I can easily find on another channel or rent online…if I wanted to watch it…which I don’t! My favorite films were made between the silent era and the mid-1960’s. For some reason, it seems like the quality of writing, acting, cinematography, even costumes started going downhill about that time. It’s like they don’t even make films for grown-ups anymore. R-rated and aimed at very immature minds!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Donna, you make a really good point. Those newer movies can be found on a lot of channels. I, too, have my Sage (our DVR) set up to tape all of these movies.
Ann Philipp says
When I noticed the “newer” movies I thought, well, if TCM thinks they’re “classics” maybe I should check them out.
I watched a Steve McQueen movie recently just because it was filmed in San Francisco, and I wanted to look at the city, but I actually got caught up in the story line.
But, I’m kinda on the fence about it – there’s a different feel to newer films that were made in the ’70’s that I don’t always care for. I agree with Donna – if you can find them other places, why put them on TCM?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ann, I think you’re right about the “different feel” to the newer films. And it’s odd, but there are just some actors who I’m not interested in watching.
Candi H says
Thanks – I’m always impressed by how much effort and good work you put into this blog!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Candi H! I hope you’re able to catch a few of these mystery movies.
(Thanks, again.)
Kimmie says
Thanks for the list! Along with setting my DVD for some on your list, I also have it set to record 2 others that I didn’t see mentioned.
1. Manhattan Murder Mystery……starring Woody Allen & Diane Keaton (1993). Airing this Saturday at 1pm on TCM channel.
2. The Mystery Cruise. This is a Hallmark Channel movie pilot, for a possible series in 2014 if all goes well. It is based on the book, ” The Santa Cruise” by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark. Airing this Saturday at 8pm on the Hallmark channel.
Times listed are for the Central Zone.
Kimmie says
“DVR”……stupid auto correct. *sigh*
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you so much, Kimmie, for letting us know about these two mystery movies. I just added them to the October 2013 Mystery Movies schedule. (I remember really enjoying TNT’s Deck the Halls.)
Pat says
I happened to accidentally catch a movie on Sat. afternoon on the Hallmark channel called “The Garage Sale Mystery”. I did not catch the opening and when it ended there was no credits or anything. I enjoyed it and would call it a “cozy” but I do not know if it was based on a real book or series, is a repeating independent program or was a single movie. I checked your TV listings and did not see any thing similar. The premise was (I think) a woman who was a partner in a shop selling items from garage sales. She has a working husband and a two children – a college daughter and a high school son and lives in a nice neighborhood somewhere in an affluent community. She was drawn into a murder of a person she knew who was having a garage sale and she discovered her body. There was a nice younger detective involved but they were calling the death an accidental fall down the stairs. She of course has other thoughts and starts investigating on her own – discreetly, but also working with the detective. It was a very nice and intelligent story. I would like to know if it is based on a series because I would love to read more of the stories. Do you know what this might be? I would appreciate anything that you might know about it. Thanks. Pat
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Yes, Pat, I saw that The Garage Sale Mystery movie was based on Suzi Weinert’s Garage Sale Stalker.
Suzi Weinert
GARAGE SALE MYSTERY SERIES:
Garage Sale Stalker ’11
Garage Sale Diamonds ’13
Pat S. says
Thank you. I shall have to look for her books.