Afternoon Film Festival was a series of British theatrical feature-films aired by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network from January 1956 through the summer of 1957 each weekday from 3:00 to 5:00 pm (EST).

[1] ABC signed Allyn Edwards—and later, the veteran actor Donald Woods—to host each Afternoon feature,[2] and on Monday, January 16, 1956, the anthology premiered with Alfred Hitchcock's espionage thriller The Lady Vanishes (1938).

One of ABC's competitors, for example, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), was featuring its Matinee Theater in the same daily time slot as Festival.

This was a timely and interesting series of live one-hour television dramas, often highlighting controversial domestic themes, geared to divert housewives from their daily chores.

In fact, a sizable plurality of respondents expressed concern that "these shows might provide a dumping ground for Grade B, C, and D pictures...Television should be more than a fifth-rate movie house.

"[13] In September 1956, the Afternoon Film Festival's time-slot was reduced from two hours to 90 minutes; and at mid-season, there followed an announcement from ABC that the series would be cancelled some time in the near-future.