greenbudgie

A nasty landlady is peeved because her late husband has left most of his estate to her stepdaughter. She takes it out on her boarders who are three lady pensioners. She raises their rent exorbitantly. One of the ladies has a cat which is then found poisoned to death. The boarders suspect their landlady is the killer. The landlady has been a thieving magpie helping herself to items from their rooms. For a moment the old ladies plan drastic revenge. But then the landlady is found poisoned to death anyway. This British mystery from Eternal Films has a fine senior cast. I enjoyed stage actress Ellen Pollock who plays a widow fantasizing about some rich grand past. Also entertaining is jeweler Mervyn Johns who keeps his safe permanently wide open. This is not Ladykillers or Arsenic And Old Lace but it is likely to appeal to fans of those movies.

A wealthy socialite loses her second husband who is killed in the locked study in their house. Her daughter is concerned because a book Murder By Madame points a finger at her mother concerning the death of her first husband. Daughter (Joan Woodbury) asks Chan to sort it out. Chan finds there is a secret stairway leading from the study. The murderer appears to have been after a cat statuette which Chan believes secretly contains a valuable diamond. A jewel thief's fence is murdered just as Chan was about to question him. I reckon this is an enjoyable entry in Monogram's Chan series. There is creepy fog scenes as Alexander Laszlo's mysterioso music starts up. This was Laszlo's first work for Monogram. Birmingham Brown is on fine form with some really good witticisms. A dead man's lookalike turns up in this one which I like.

This is the only episode I've seen of this one season summer replacement show. Frank Lovejoy stars as a jokey private eye. In this episode he gets held by the Algerian police concerning the robbery of their government's money. They intentionally allow him to escape so he can detect the looters. There's a blonde he calls Omaha who seems innocent enough. He had met her aboard the train which had been carrying the stolen money. They had shared the same compartment with a couple of passengers who later make him an offer too good to be true. Frank Lovejoy is very lighthearted in this. He reminds me a little of the policeman Rocky King from Rosco Karn's earlier TV series. But this is even lighter so it fits well into 1950s cozy crime style for TV. The adverts included are so soapy. The co-sponsors for this series was Tide washing powder.