TCM Schedule for Wednesday, April 30: Murder and the Law/Special Theme: Acts of Faith - A Higher Calling
Amazing directors, shining performances, compelling stories. Welcome to the final day of April on TCM.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
12:00 AM A Shining Season (1979) The true story of University of New Mexico track star John Baker who, dying of cancer, spent his remaining time coaching a losing girls' track team to a winning season. Dir: Stuart Margolin Cast: Timothy Bottoms, Allyn Ann McLerie, Constance Forslund
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC:
2:00 AM Knute Rockne--All American (1940) Biography of the famed Notre Dame coach and his fight to "win one for the Gipper." Dir: Lloyd Bacon Cast: Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan
Runtime: 98 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y
4:00 AM The Winning Team (1952) Baseball great Grover Cleveland Alexander fights his way back from a blinding injury. Dir: Lewis Seiler Cast: Doris Day, Ronald Reagan, Frank Lovejoy
Runtime: 98 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y
TCM Daytime: Murder and the Law
6:00 AM Millie (1931) A prostitute turns to murder to protect her teenage daughter's honor. Dir: John Francis Dillon Cast: Helen Twelvetrees, Lilyan Tashman, Robert Ames Runtime: 85 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y
7:30 AM Count the Hours! (1953) A lawyer defends a migrant worker in a sensational murder trial. Dir: Don Siegel Cast: Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Dolores Moran Runtime: 76 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
8:45 AM Fury (1936) An innocent man escapes a lynch mob and then returns for revenge. Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel Runtime: 94 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y
10:30 AM Madeleine (1950) A beautiful young woman stands trial for poisoning her lover. Dir: David Lean Cast: Ann Todd, Norman Woland, Ivan Desny Runtime: 101 mins Genre: Crime Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
12:30 PM The Last Wave (1977) An examination of the relationship between white and Aboriginal Australia through the trial of five Aborigines accused of killing another. Corporate tax lawyer David Burton accepts the case just as torrential rains blanket even the most arid regions of the nation, and is instantly beset with prophetic dreams and apocalyptic visions. Convinced of an underground tribal society in Sydney whose existence could exonerate his clients, he unearths information to support this theory, but raises questions of an age-old link between the Sydney tribe and his own family--a link that could leave Australia buried underwater as fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. Dir: Peter Weir Cast: Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil
Runtime: 106 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-14 CC: Y
2:30 PM Twilight of Honor (1963) A struggling lawyer takes on a controversial murder case that could make or break him. Dir: Boris Sagal Cast: Richard Chamberlain, Joey Heatherton, Nick Adams
Runtime: 104 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
4:30 PM I Confess (1953) In this adaptation of a 1902 play, a Jesuit priest is wrongly accused of murder and cannot defend himself because he has vowed to protect the confession of the real criminal. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden
Runtime: 95 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
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6:30 PM Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) A novelist frames himself for murder to prove the fallibility of circumstantial evidence. Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer
Runtime: 80 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
TCM Prime Time: Special Theme: Acts of Faith - A Higher Calling
8:00 PM The Song of Bernadette (1945) A French peasant girl's visions of the Virgin Mary create controversy as pilgrims flock to her small town for healing. Dir: Henry King Cast: William Eythe, Charles Bickford, Vincent Price
Runtime: 156 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y
10:45 PM A Man for All Seasons (1966) Sir Thomas More opposes Henry VIII's divorce, and events lead inexorably to More's execution. Dir: Fred Zinnemann Cast: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern
Runtime: 120 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y
1:00 AM Luther (1974) The evolution of Martin Luther's relationship with the Catholic Church is traced, from his initial disillusionment with the institution through his eventual leadership of the Reformation movement. Dir: Guy Green Cast: Patrick Magee, Mathew Guinness, Bruce Carstairs
Runtime: 110 mins Genre: Biography Rating: null CC: Y
3:00 AM The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927) In 1431, Joan of Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force her to recant her claims of holy visions. Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer Cast: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley
Runtime: 82 mins Genre: Silent Rating: TV-PG CC: N
4:30 AM The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) St. Francis of Assisi sends his followers into the world to spread God's word. Dir: Roberto Rossellini Cast: Aldo Fabrizi, Giuseppe Amato, Jolanda Benvenuti
Runtime: 87 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: N