I keep thinking we can’t already be this close to end of 2023! It seems like it was this time of year just two months ago, and here we are, already approaching a new year!
On Thursday, November 2, the Turner Classic Movie channel will be showing all three of the 1940s “Whistling” mystery movies. They starred Red Skelton as a bumbling detective with his own radio show. S. Sylvan Simon was the director for each of these movies: Whistling in the Dark – 1941, Whistling in Dixie – 1942, and Whistling in Brooklyn – 1943. Wally Benton (Skelton) somehow manages to sleuth out the murderers in all three of these comedic mystery movies.
***** ***** ***** *****
TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIES – November 2023
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – November 1, 2023
11:15 AM The Public Enemy (1931)
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Dir: William A. Wellman. Cast: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods
74 mins
12:45 PM Love Is a Racket (1932)
A beautiful girl convinces a reporter to cover up her involvement in a murder.
Dir: William A. Wellman. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Ann Dvorak, Frances Dee
72 mins
6:30 PM Midnight Mary (1933)
An abused orphan sinks into a life of crime.
Dir: William Wellman. Cast: Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, Franchot Tone
71 mins
10:00 PM Intruder in the Dust (1949)
Only a young boy and an old woman stand between an innocent black man and a lynch mob.
Dir: Clarence Brown. Cast: David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernandez
89 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – November 2, 2023
12:00 AM Super Fly (1972)
Charismatic, big-time Harlem cocaine dealer Youngblood Priest drives expensive cars and plans one last big score to escape his life of violence. When corrupt cops working for the Mob learn of his plan, they try to make Priest a partner rather than arrest him.
Dir: Gordon Parks Jr. Cast: Ron O’Neal, Carl Lee, Julius Harris
96 mins
12:15 PM Whistling in the Dark (1941)
A radio detective is kidnapped and forced to plan the perfect murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon. Cast: Red Skelton, Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford
77 mins
1:45 PM Whistling in Dixie (1942)
A radio detective’s southern honeymoon is cut short by the discovery of a murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon. Cast: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, George Bancroft
74 mins
3:00 PM Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)
A radio sleuth infiltrates the Brooklyn Dodgers to solve a murder.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon Cast: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, Jean Rogers
87 mins
4:30 PM Washington Melodrama (1941)
A philanthropic businessman is framed for murder during a lobbying trip to Washington.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon. Cast: Frank Morgan, Ann Rutherford, Kent Taylor
78 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – November 3, 2023
11:30 PM The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Dir: Orson Welles. Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane
86 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – November 4, 2023
2:00 PM I See A Dark Stranger (1946)
An Irish woman who hates the English turns Nazi spy.
Dir: Frank Launder. Cast: Deborah Kerr, Trevor Howard, Raymond Huntley
112 mins
10:00 PM The Big Boss (1971)
A young man sworn to an oath of non-violence works with his cousins in an ice factory where they mysteriously begin to disappear.
Dir: Lo Wei. Cast: Bruce Lee, Maria Yi, James Tien
100 mins
***** In Cantonese, Mandarin, & Thai*****
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – November 5, 2023
12:00 AM Abandoned (1949)
When a newspaper crime reporter helps a woman try to find her sister’s illegitimate baby, they discover a baby-adoption racket.
Dir: Joe Newman. Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler
79 mins
10:00 AM Abandoned (1949)
When a newspaper crime reporter helps a woman try to find her sister’s illegitimate baby, they discover a baby-adoption racket.
Dir: Joe Newman. Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler
79 mins
11:45 AM 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. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott
116 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – November 6, 2023
10:15 PM 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – November 7, 2023
8:00 PM Crossfire (1947)
A crusading district attorney investigates the murder of a Jewish man.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk. Cast: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan
85 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – November 8, 2023
4:00 AM Song of the Thin Man (1947)
Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club.
Dir: Edward Buzzell. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Keenan Wynn
86 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – November 9, 2023
12:45 AM Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
An African-American man is hired to find a woman, and gets mixed up in a murderous political scandal.
Dir: Carl Franklin. Cast: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals
102 mins
11:30 AM The Garden Murder Case (1936)
Society sleuth Philo Vance suspects dirty doings behind a mysterious series of suicides.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin. Cast: Edmund Lowe, Virginia Bruce, Benita Hume
62 mins
3:45 PM Bewitched (1945)
A girl enlists a psychic to get rid of her murderous alternate personality.
Dir: Arch Oboler. Cast: Edmund Gwenn, Phyllis Thaxter, Harry H. Daniels Jr.
65 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – November 10, 2023
6:15 PM The Split (1968)
A gang of thieves plots to rob the Los Angeles Coliseum box office during a Rams game.
Dir: Gordon Flemyng. Cast: Jim Brown, Diahann Carroll, Ernest Borgnine
90 mins
8:00 PM Rope (1948)
Two wealthy young men try to commit the perfect crime by murdering a friend.
Dir: Alfred Hitchco*ck. Cast: Dick Hogan, John Dall, Farley Granger
80 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – November 12, 2023
12:00 AM Cry Terror! (1958)
A mad bomber holds an innocent family hostage.
Dir: Andrew L. Stone. Cast: James Mason, Rod Steiger, Inger Stevens
96 mins
2:00 AM Cat O’Nine Tails (1971)
A blind man and a reporter investigate a break-in at a center for genetic research.
Dir: Dario Argento. Cast: James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak
112 mins
4:00 AM Eyes in the Night (1942)
Blind detective Duncan Maclain gets mixed up with enemy agents and murder when he tries to help an old friend with a rebellious stepdaughter.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann. Cast: Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed
80 mins
12:00 PM The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
A daffy socialite gets her friends mixed up in a murder investigation.
Dir: Leigh Jason. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Sam Levene
65 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – November 14, 2023
8:00 PM In a Lonely Place (1950)
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Dir: Nicholas Ray. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
91 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – November 15, 2023
1:30 AM Macao (1952)
A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.
Dir: Josef Von Sternberg. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix
80 mins
3:00 AM The Todd Killings (1971)
Based on the true story of ’60s thrill-killer Charles Schmid (“The Pied Piper of Tucson”).
Dir: Barry Shear. Cast: Robert F. Lyons, Richard Thomas, Belinda Montgomery
93 mins
6:00 AM Before Dawn (1933)
Detectives compete to solve the murders at a mysterious mansion.
Dir: Irving Pichel. Cast: Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Wilson, Warner Oland
60 mins
7:15 AM The Unholy Night (1929)
A mad strangler haunts the London fog.
Dir: Lionel Barrymore. Cast: Ernest Torrence, Roland Young, Dorothy Sebastian
92 mins
10:30 AM Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929)
A mystery writer runs into the real thing when he holes up at a deserted inn.
Dir: Lew Landers. Cast: Phillip Terry, Jacqueline White, Eduardo Ciannelli
64 mins
12:00 PM The Phantom of Crestwood (1933)
Five men have to prove their innocence when a blackmailer is murdered.
Dir: J. Walter Ruben. Cast: Ricardo Cortez, Karen Morley, Anita Louise
76 mins
3:15 PM The Hidden Hand (1942)
The body count rises during the competition for a family inheritance.
Dir: Ben Stoloff. Cast: Craig Stevens, Elisabeth Fraser, Julie Bishop
66 mins
4:30 PM Seven Keys to Baldpate (1947)
A mystery writer runs into the real thing when he holes up at a deserted inn.
Dir: Lew Landers. Cast: Phillip Terry, Jacqueline White, Eduardo Ciannelli
64 mins
5:45 PM Mystery House (1938)
A detective tries to solve a murder in a house full of suspects.
Dir: Noel Smith. Cast: Dick Purcell, Ann Sheridan, Anne Nagel
61 mins
6:45 PM The White co*ckatoo (1935)
Crooks and killers try to stop a young woman from proving her claim to an inheritance.
Dir: Alan Crosland. Cast: Jean Muir, Ricardo Cortez, Ruth Donnelly
73 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – November 17, 2023
6:00 AM Decoy (1946)
A woman saves her gangster boyfriend from the gas chamber to get her hands on his hidden money.
Dir: Jack Bernhard. Cast: Jean Gillie, Edward Norris, Herbert Rudley
76 mins
7:30 AM Too Late For Tears (1949)
A married woman’s discovery of stolen money changes her character for the worse.
Dir: Byron Haskin. Cast: Lizabeth Scott, Don Defore, Dan Duryea
99 mins
9:15 AM The Narrow Margin (1952)
A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster’s moll on a tense train ride.
Dir: Richard Fleischer. Cast: Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White
71 mins
10:30 AM Tension (1950)
A man who had planned to murder his wife’s lover becomes the prime suspect when somebody beats him to it.
Dir: John Berry. Cast: Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse
95 mins
12:15 PM Detour (1945)
A hitchhiker takes on a dead man’s identity only to face blackmail by an unscrupulous woman.
Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer. Cast: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake
68 mins
1:30 PM The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.
Dir: John Huston. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George
100 mins
3:15 PM 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
5:00 PM The Set-Up (1949)
An aging boxer defies the gangsters who’ve ordered him to throw his last fight.
Dir: Robert Wise. Cast: Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias
72 mins
6:15 PM The Naked City (1948)
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Dir: Jules Dassin. Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart
96 mins
8:00 PM Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
Police patrolmen are stalked by a vengeful mobster escaped from prison.
Dir: Gordon Douglas. Cast: Mark Stevens, Edmond O’Brien, Gale Storm
89 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – November 18, 2023
2:00 AM The Incident (1967)
Two rowdy teens board a New York City subway and terrorize the passengers.
Dir: Larry Peerce. Cast: Tony Musante, Martin Sheen, Beau Bridges
107 mins
4:00 AM Alphabet City (1984)
A New York City drug dealer decides to get out of the business, but has to flee from mobsters.
Dir: Amos Poe. Cast: Vincent Spano, Kate Vernon, Michael Winslow
85 mins
3:30 PM Macao (1952)
A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.
Dir: Josef Von Sternberg. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix
80 mins
5:00 PM D.O.A. (1950)
The victim of a slow-acting poison tracks down his own killer.
Dir: Rudolph Maté. Cast: Edmond O’Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler
83 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – November 19, 2023
12:00 AM Strange Bargain (1949)
A young bookkeeper is framed for his boss’s murder.
Dir: Will Price. Cast: Martha Scott, Jeffrey Lynn, Henry Morgan
68 mins
1:45 AM Dressed To Kill (1980)
After wife and mother Kate Miller discusses her sexual frustrations with her psychiatrist, she goes to meet her husband at a museum. At the museum, she meets a strange man who she follows to a cab and then has sex with him at his apartment. After the affair, Kate is brutally murdered in the elevator by a blonde woman.
Dir: Brian De Palma. Cast: Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen
104 mins
4:00 AM Sisters (1972)
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
92 mins
10:00 AM Strange Bargain (1949)
A young bookkeeper is framed for his boss’s murder.
Dir: Will Price. Cast: Martha Scott, Jeffrey Lynn, Henry Morgan
68 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – November 20, 2023
12:15 PM Suspicion (1941)
A young woman marries a charming man after a brief romance but then comes to believe that he is only after her money and will do anything to get it.
Dir: Alfred Hitchco*ck. Cast: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke
99 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – November 21, 2023
7:15 AM The Hunted (1948)
A police detective investigating a jewel robbery discovers evidence that points to his girlfriend as the culprit, although she claims she was framed.
Dir: Jack Bernhard. Cast: Preston Foster, Belita, Pierre Watkin
67 mins
8:45 AM Don’t Turn ‘Em Loose (1936)
A ruthless convict threatens to reveal that the head of the parole board is his father.
Dir: Ben Stoloff. Cast: Lewis Stone, James Gleason, Bruce Cabot
68 mins
10:00 AM Convict’s Code (1939)
A man is framed and sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. When he is released on limited parole, he sets out to clear his name and find the real criminals.
Dir: Lambert Hillyer. Cast: Robert Kent, Anne Nagel, Sidney Blackmer
62 mins
11:15 AM They All Come Out (1939)
The getaway driver for a gang of thieves is captured by the police and sent to a prison, where he contemplates a life of reform.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur. Cast: Rita Johnson, Tom Neal, Bernard Nedell
70 mins
3:15 PM Man to Man (1931)
A young man attempts to overcome the memory of his father, who was sent to jail for committing a murder.
Dir: Allan Dwan. Cast: Phillips Holmes, Grant Mitchell, Lucille Powers
68 mins
10:15 PM Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Desperate losers plan a bank robbery with unexpected results.
Dir: Robert Wise. Cast: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters
95 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – November 22, 2023
4:45 AM Chandler (1971)
A former private eye lands in hot water when he agrees to protect a government witness.
Dir: Paul Magwood. Cast: Warren Oates, Leslie Caron, Alex Dreier
88 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Friday – November 24, 2023
6:00 AM Their Big Moment (1934)
A phony psychic conjures up a real ghost who asks her to solve his murder.
Dir: James Cruze. Cast: Zasu Pitts, Slim Summerville, William Gaxton
68 mins
8:00 PM 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
10:00 PM Gaslight (1944)
Young Paula Alquist has given up a promising singing career to marry Gregory Anton. Deeply in love, she refuses to believe – then cannot convince anyone else – that her new husband is a thief who murdered her aunt, that everyone in her household is plotting to kill her…and that something evil will happen every time she …
Dir: George Cukor. Cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
114 mins
12:00 AM Midnight Lace (1960)
A young woman can’t get anyone to believe she’s being stalked.
Dir: David Miller. Cast: Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin
108 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Saturday – November 25, 2023
4:15 PM High Sierra (1941)
An aging ex-con sets out to pull one more big heist.
Dir: Raoul Walsh. Cast: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis
100 mins
6:00 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
***** ***** ***** *****
Sunday – November 26, 2023
12:00 AM Storm Fear (1956)
A wounded bank robber takes over his brother’s home.
Dir: Cornel Wilde. Cast: Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Dan Duryea
88 mins
4:00 AM The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968)
A kidnapped gangster turns his captors into a crack band of crooks.
Dir: Ken Annakin. Cast: Vittorio De Sica, Raquel Welch, Robert Wagner
110 mins
10:00 AM Storm Fear (1956)
A wounded bank robber takes over his brother’s home.
Dir: Cornel Wilde. Cast: Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Dan Duryea
88 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Monday – November 27, 2023
6:30 PM The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935)
Holmes, retired to Sussex, is drawn into a last case when arch enemy Moriarty arranges with an American gang to kill one John Douglas, a country gentleman with a mysterious past.
Dir: Leslie S. Hiscott. Cast: Arthur Wontner, Lyn Harding, Ian Fleming
75 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Tuesday – November 28, 2023
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. Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando
90 mins
9:45 PM Human Desire (1954)
An unhappy wife seduces a veteran into helping her get rid of her husband.
Dir: Fritz Lang. Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford
90 mins
11:30 PM Naked Alibi (1954)
A chief of police detectives who is fired for brutality tries to get evidence on a man suspected of killing 3 of his officers.
Dir: Jerry Hopper. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame, Gene Barry
86 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Wednesday – November 29, 2023
1:15 AM The Good Die Young (1954)
Four thieves think back on the problems that led them to a daring heist.
Dir: Lewis Gilbert. Cast: Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Richard Basehart
98 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
Thursday – November 30, 2023
8:00 PM His Girl Friday (1940)
Walter Burns is a conniving but irresistible newspaper publisher desperate to woo back the paper’s star reporter, who happens to be his estranged wife. She’s tired of the business and is ready to settle down with a new beau. But (as Walter well knows) she has one weakness, she can’t quite resist a juicy scoop.
Dir: Howard Hawks. Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
92 mins
*****More a comedy than a mystery, but with Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant, and Ralph Bellamy, it’s great fun!*****
11:15 PM The Man Who Lived Twice (1936)
A criminal has plastic surgery done to change his identity but loses his memory during the operation.
Dir: Harry Lachman. Cast: Ralph Bellamy, Marian Marsh, Thurston Hall
73 mins
***** ***** ***** *****
If you’re really looking forward to these or other mystery-themed TV specials coming up in November, 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 October 2023 television mystery movies schedule:
Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for October 2023 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.
