2023 List - Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Movies
by ejm-59514 | created - 15 Jan 2023 | updated - 15 Jan 2023 | PublicWatch list of mystery, crime, and thriller movies from the 1920s to the 1950s.
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1. The Phantom (1931)
Approved | 62 min | Horror, Thriller
A group of people are stalked by a masked killer in an old mansion.
Director: Alan James | Stars: Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, Allene Ray, Niles Welch, Tom O'Brien
Votes: 423
2. Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring (1941)
Passed | 70 min | Mystery
The benefactor of the Stack Memorial Hospital dies after an operation. Ellery Queen investigates when it is revealed the cause of death was murder by strangulation.
Director: James P. Hogan | Stars: Ralph Bellamy, Margaret Lindsay, Charley Grapewin, Mona Barrie
Votes: 186
3. The Studio Murder Mystery (1929)
Passed | 62 min | Adventure, Crime, Mystery
Philandering actor Richard Hardell is murdered at a movie studio. His jealous wife Blanche, his director Rupert Borka, and a girl he mistreated, Helen MacDonald, all have substantial reasons for having wanted him dead.
Director: Frank Tuttle | Stars: Neil Hamilton, Doris Hill, Warner Oland, Fredric March
Votes: 203
4. The Benson Murder Case (1930)
Passed | 65 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A ruthless, crooked stockbroker is murdered at his luxurious country estate, and detective Philo Vance just happens to be there. He decides to find out who killed him.
Director: Frank Tuttle | Stars: William Powell, William 'Stage' Boyd, Eugene Pallette, Paul Lukas
Votes: 463
5. Hotel Continental (1932)
Passed | 67 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
(1932, Tiffany) Peggy Shannon, Theodore Von Eltz, Alan Mowbray. A posh hotel is about to close its doors forever. A paroled convict comes back to the hotel to find stolen funds he hid there... See full summary »
Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Peggy Shannon, Theodore von Eltz, J. Farrell MacDonald, Henry B. Walthall
Votes: 79
6. Mystery Liner (1934)
Passed | 62 min | Adventure, Mystery
Police try to solve a murder on board an ocean liner.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Noah Beery, Astrid Allwyn, Edwin Maxwell, Gustav von Seyffertitz
Votes: 511
7. The Shadow (1933)
63 min | Mystery
A group of people in an old dark house are terrorized by a mysterious hooded figure dressed in black who proceeds to kill them off one by one.
Director: George A. Cooper | Stars: Henry Kendall, Elizabeth Allan, Felix Aylmer, Jeanne Stuart
Votes: 233
8. Tomorrow at Seven (1933)
Passed | 62 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
People in an old, dark mansion are menaced by a maniac called "The Black Ace."
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Chester Morris, Vivienne Osborne, Frank McHugh, Allen Jenkins
Votes: 408
9. The Clairvoyant (1935)
Passed | 81 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A fake music-hall clairvoyant meets a woman, and suddenly his predictions seem to come true ...
Director: Maurice Elvey | Stars: Claude Rains, Fay Wray, Mary Clare, Ben Field
Votes: 1,200
10. Doomed Cargo (1936)
Not Rated | 67 min | Crime, Thriller
A wise cracking American P.I. traveling abroad with his love interest and sidekick, stumbles on to a dead body. After it disappears again, he starts to unravel a devious crime ring.
Director: Albert de Courville | Stars: Edmund Lowe, Constance Cummings, Thomy Bourdelle, Henry Oscar
Votes: 421
11. Midnight Intruder (1938)
Approved | 68 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
A former actor poses as the son of a wealthy man and gets involved in a murder in which the real son is a suspect.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Louis Hayward, Eric Linden, J.C. Nugent, Barbara Read
Votes: 151
12. Dark Journey (1937)
Not Rated | 77 min | Adventure, Crime, Romance
During World War I, a German spy and a French spy meet and fall in love.
Director: Victor Saville | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Vivien Leigh, Joan Gardner, Anthony Bushell
Votes: 1,455
13. A Face in the Fog (1936)
Passed | 61 min | Mystery, Thriller
A mysterious killer known as The Fiend uses an unusual bullet as his trademark for his murders.
Director: Robert F. Hill | Stars: June Collyer, Lloyd Hughes, Lawrence Gray, Jack Mulhall
Votes: 224
14. Grief Street (1931)
Passed | 64 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
Alvin Merle, a womanizing Broadway matinée idol, is found strangled in his dressing room. The door is locked from the inside and there is no possible other way into the room. Merle is ... See full summary »
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Barbara Kent, John Holland, Dorothy Christy, Crauford Kent
Votes: 166
15. The Headline Woman (1935)
Approved | 71 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When the daughter of a newspaper publisher is falsely charged with murder, a reporter on her father's paper goes into hiding with her. At first hoping to get an exclusive story, the ... See full summary »
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Heather Angel, Roger Pryor, Jack La Rue, Ford Sterling
Votes: 140
16. Yellow Cargo (1936)
Approved | 63 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
An investigator looks into the activities of a movie producer he believes is involved in smuggling Asians into the U.S.
Director: Crane Wilbur | Stars: Conrad Nagel, Eleanor Hunt, Vince Barnett, Jack La Rue
Votes: 123
17. I'll Name the Murderer (1936)
66 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When a nightclub singer is murdered, a local gossip columnist begins his own investigation.
Director: Raymond K. Johnson | Stars: Ralph Forbes, Marion Shilling, Malcolm McGregor, James Guilfoyle
Votes: 199
18. Sunset Murder Case (1938)
Approved | 59 min | Mystery
Small-time showgirl, loved by two decent men, poses as a stripper to infiltrate a nightclub whose owner is believed responsible for her father's murder.
Director: Louis J. Gasnier | Stars: Sally Rand, Henry King, Esther Muir, Lona Andre
Votes: 195
19. It Couldn't Have Happened (But It Did) (1936)
Approved | 70 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
When a play's two producers are murdered, the playwright tries to solve the crime.
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Reginald Denny, Evelyn Brent, Jack La Rue, Inez Courtney
Votes: 154
20. Corruption (1933)
Passed | 67 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
A young lawyer is elected mayor of the city and promises to rid it of the corruption it's famous for. The problem is that most of the corruption he's vowed to eliminate is caused by the crooked political machine that helped elect him.
Director: Charles E. Roberts | Stars: Evalyn Knapp, Preston Foster, Charles Delaney, Tully Marshall
Votes: 185
21. The Outer Gate (1937)
Approved | 62 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Bob Terry is in love with Lois Borden the daughter of his employer, John Borden. When some bonds are missing from the office, Bob is accused and because of Borden's strong sense of ... See full summary »
Director: Raymond Cannon | Stars: Ralph Morgan, Kay Linaker, Ben Alexander, Eddie Acuff
Votes: 100
22. Sinister Hands (1932)
65 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
During a séance at an elderly millionaire's house, the millionaire is murdered. The detectives investigating the crime discover that everyone who was at the séance had a motive for killing the man.
Director: Armand Schaefer | Stars: Jack Mulhall, Phyllis Barrington, Crauford Kent, Mischa Auer
Votes: 212
23. Gang Bullets (1938)
Approved | 63 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A ruthless but clever gangster who knows every loophole in the law has the tables turned by a dedicated District Attorney and his assistant.
Director: Lambert Hillyer | Stars: Anne Nagel, Robert Kent, Charles Trowbridge, Morgan Wallace
Votes: 214
24. Danger Ahead (1935)
Passed | 65 min | Action, Drama, Crime
A sea captain receives $40,000 from a crook, and the crooks try to steal it from him.
Director: Albert Herman | Stars: Lawrence Gray, Sheila Bromley, J. Farrell MacDonald, Fuzzy Knight
Votes: 121
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