Thrills! Drama! Mystery! Suspense! Part 1: The 1930's...
by azathothpwiggins | created - 11 Aug 2021 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicThis decade is packed with these films. Some are genuine classics, while others are waiting to be rediscovered! Of course, not all are superb, but even most of the lesser movies are still fun to watch!...
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1. M (1931)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Votes: 168,466 | Gross: $0.03M
2. The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
PG-13 | 63 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.
Directors: Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 14,011 | Gross: $0.97M
3. The Old Dark House (1932)
Passed | 72 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Seeking shelter from a storm, five travelers are in for a bizarre and terrifying night when they stumble upon the Femm family estate.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart
Votes: 13,105 | Gross: $0.03M
4. Discarded Lovers (1932)
Not Rated | 60 min | Mystery
Hollywood star Irma Gladden piles up the haters as she goes along her merry way-until she's found dead in her car.
Director: Fred C. Newmeyer | Stars: Natalie Moorhead, Russell Hopton, J. Farrell MacDonald, Barbara Weeks
Votes: 136
5. Gorilla Ship (1932)
Approved | 59 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A man, his wife and his best friend are aboard a yacht at sea that later gets shipwrecked. The husband soon starts to resent the attention paid to his wife by his friend.
Director: Frank R. Strayer | Stars: Ralph Ince, Vera Reynolds, Reed Howes, Wheeler Oakman
Votes: 67
6. The Sphinx (1933)
Passed | 64 min | Adventure, Crime, Mystery
A man known to be a mute is suspected of committing a murder, as he was noticed at the scene. However, witnesses saw and heard him talking as he was leaving the scene of the crime. The ... See full summary »
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Lionel Atwill, Sheila Terry, Theodore Newton, Paul Hurst
Votes: 528
7. The Intruder (1933)
Passed | 66 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A murder is committed aboard a cruise ship just before it sinks in a storm. The survivors, including the killer, land on a mysterious jungle island.
Director: Albert Ray | Stars: Lila Lee, Monte Blue, Gwen Lee, Arthur Housman
Votes: 146
8. The Mystic Hour (1934)
Passed | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A hero in a robbery comes up against a crime boss and the crooked guardian of the girl he loves.
Director: Melville De Lay | Stars: Charles Hutchison, Lucille Powers, Montagu Love, Charles Middleton
Votes: 63
9. The House of Mystery (1934)
Passed | 62 min | Mystery
An ancient curse and a killer ape are contained inside an old dark mansion.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Ed Lowry, Verna Hillie, John Sheehan, Brandon Hurst
Votes: 398
10. The Ghost Walks (1934)
Passed | 69 min | Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
During a stormy night at an old dark mansion, people who claim to see ghosts roaming the halls are later found murdered.
Director: Frank R. Strayer | Stars: John Miljan, June Collyer, Richard Carle, Henry Kolker
Votes: 631
11. Woman in the Dark (1934)
Passed | 68 min | Crime, Drama
A paroled prisoner hits a man who's attacking a woman, then runs away, scared that he killed the man (he did not). From the book "Woman in the Dark" by Dashiell Hammett.
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy, Melvyn Douglas, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 607
12. 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
13. Green Eyes (1934)
Passed | 68 min | Mystery
The owner of a large mansion in the country throws a costume party for some of his friends. However, the party turns sour when he is found stabbed to death in a closet. The police and a guest try to discover who committed the murder.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Shirley Grey, Charles Starrett, Claude Gillingwater, John Wray
Votes: 341
14. The Pace That Kills (1935)
PG | 68 min | Crime, Drama
A drug dealer on the run from the law meets an innocent young girl and her brother and turns them into "cocaine fiends."
Director: William A. O'Connor | Stars: Lois January, Noel Madison, Sheila Bromley, Dean Benton
Votes: 701
15. Phantom Ship (1935)
Approved | 62 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
During a horrific storm at sea, the crew realizes that there is a murderer among them who is killing them off one by one.
Director: Denison Clift | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Shirley Grey, Arthur Margetson, Edmund Willard
Votes: 1,053
16. 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: 1,198
17. A Scream in the Night (1935)
Approved | 58 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A colonial police detective in an Eastern seaport seeks a stolen gem, and infiltrates the underworld by posing as a look-alike wharfside bar owner.
Director: Fred C. Newmeyer | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Zara Tazil, John Ince, Manuel López
Votes: 243
18. The Riverside Murder (1935)
64 min | Crime, Mystery
Shortly before an important meeting of five investors, one of them, Robert Norman, is shot dead in his study. The police come in to solve the crime, while headstrong journalist Claire ... See full summary »
Director: Albert Parker | Stars: Basil Sydney, Judy Gunn, Zoe Davis, Alastair Sim
Votes: 366
19. Maria Marten, or the Murder in the Red Barn (1935)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama
In 1820s rural England, a young girl is tricked by a villainous Squire's promises of marriage, and when she becomes pregnant and disappears, a gypsy lad is blamed.
Director: Milton Rosmer | Stars: Tod Slaughter, Sophie Stewart, D.J. Williams, Clare Greet
Votes: 443
20. The House of Secrets (1936)
Passed | 70 min | Horror, Mystery
Two men stumble into an old mansion, and get involved with a crazed scientist, torture chambers and sinister medical experiments.
Director: Roland D. Reed | Stars: Leslie Fenton, Muriel Evans, Noel Madison, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 520
21. The Avenging Hand (1936)
64 min | Crime, Drama
A Chicago gangster is pleasantly surprised by violent crime in London. When he discovers crooks are after a mysterious package, and murder an innocent match-seller for it, he turns detective.
Directors: Frank Richardson, Victor Hanbury | Stars: Noah Beery, Kathleen Kelly, Louis Borel, Charles Oliver
Votes: 124
22. Murder on the Road (1936)
Passed | 57 min | Drama
Fired from the force, a cop attempts to solve a string of truck holdups.
Director: Harry S. Webb | Stars: Richard Talmadge, Lois Wilde, Roger Williams, George Walsh
Votes: 87
23. Night Key (1937)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Thriller
The inventor of a new top-of-the-line burglar alarm system is kidnapped by a gang in order to get him to help them commit robberies.
Director: Lloyd Corrigan | Stars: Boris Karloff, Warren Hull, Jean Rogers, Alan Baxter
Votes: 1,100
24. The Wrong Road (1937)
Passed | 62 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Bank teller Jimmy Caldwell and his fiance, Ruth Holden, grow weary of struggling to make ends meet and decide to rob Jimmy's bank. The selfish young couple agree that even if they spend ten... See full summary »
Director: James Cruze | Stars: Richard Cromwell, Helen Mack, Lionel Atwill, Horace McMahon
Votes: 308
25. Non-Stop New York (1937)
69 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A young woman finds herself as the intended victim of a murder plot on a transatlantic flight from London to New York.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: John Loder, Anna Lee, Francis L. Sullivan, Frank Cellier
Votes: 435
26. The Ticket of Leave Man (1937)
Approved | 71 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A man is accused of a series of murders that were actually committed by a crazed killer called "The Tiger." He must prove his innocence and catch the murderer.
Director: George King | Stars: Tod Slaughter, John Warwick, Marjorie Taylor, Frank Cochran
Votes: 216
27. The Devil's Party (1938)
Approved | 65 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Adults who grew up as slum kids meet later in life, but murder disrupts their reunion.
Director: Ray McCarey | Stars: Victor McLaglen, William Gargan, Paul Kelly, Beatrice Roberts
Votes: 319
28. Tower of London (1939)
Approved | 92 min | Drama, History
In the 15th century Richard Duke of Gloucester, aided by his club-footed executioner Mord, eliminates those ahead of him in succession to the throne, then occupied by his brother King ... See full summary »
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Barbara O'Neil, Ian Hunter
Votes: 2,229
29. Mad Youth (1939)
Approved | 76 min | Drama
A rich society mother hires a male escort, but he falls for her daughter instead. The mother-daughter conflict forces the daughter to run off to stay with a friend who is enslaved by a prostitution ring.
Director: Melville Shyer | Stars: Mary Ainslee, Betty Compson, Willy Castello, Betty Atkinson
Votes: 262
30. Probation (1932)
67 min | Drama
A reckless young society girl whose uncle is a judge is assigned a young offender as her chauffeur to try to help straighten her out.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Sally Blane, John Darrow, J. Farrell MacDonald, Clara Kimball Young
Votes: 89
31. 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
32. The Phantom Fiend (1932)
Passed | 67 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
A landlady suspects that her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.
Director: Maurice Elvey | Stars: Ivor Novello, Elizabeth Allan, A.W. Baskcomb, Barbara Everest
Votes: 360
33. Love Bound (1932)
Passed | 60 min | Drama, Mystery
A gold-digging woman wins a big settlement against an older married man, which threatens to destroy the man's family. His son, discovering that the woman is part of a ring of blackmailers ... See full summary »
Director: Robert F. Hill | Stars: Jack Mulhall, Natalie Moorhead, Clara Kimball Young, Edmund Breese
Votes: 151
34. A Shriek in the Night (1933)
Unrated | 66 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
Pat Morgan and Ted Kord are rival newspaper reporters always trying to outscoop each other. They join together to solve a series of murders being committed in an apartment building.
Director: Albert Ray | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, Harvey Clark, Purnell Pratt
Votes: 1,091
35. Shadow of Chinatown (II) (1936)
Approved | 71 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Feature version of the 1936 serial "Shadow of Chinatown."
Director: Robert F. Hill | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Bruce Bennett, Joan Barclay, Luana Walters
Votes: 170
36. The Rogues' Tavern (1936)
Approved | 70 min | Horror, Mystery
A mad killer is on the loose in a hotel on a dark, gloomy night.
Director: Robert F. Hill | Stars: Wallace Ford, Barbara Pepper, Joan Woodbury, Clara Kimball Young
Votes: 556
37. The Whispering Shadow (1933)
Passed | 225 min | Action, Crime, Family
A mysterious criminal known as The Whispering Shadow commits crimes by means of a gang he controls by television and radio rays. Jack Norton, whose brother was murdered by The Whispering ... See full summary »
Directors: Colbert Clark, Albert Herman | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Viva Tattersall, Malcolm McGregor, Henry B. Walthall
Votes: 242
38. The Lost Jungle (II) (1934)
Passed | 68 min | Adventure
Feature version of the 1934 Mascot serial "The Lost Jungle".
Directors: David Howard, Armand Schaefer | Stars: Clyde Beatty, Cecilia Parker, Syd Saylor, Warner Richmond
Votes: 213
39. The Public Enemy (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell
Votes: 23,017 | Gross: $1.01M
40. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis
Votes: 14,434 | Gross: $1.42M
41. The Invisible Menace (1938)
Approved | 55 min | Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
An army private and his new bride are trying to honeymoon on an island occupied by the military and a murderer.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Boris Karloff, Marie Wilson, Eddie Craven, Regis Toomey
Votes: 455
42. Night Nurse (1931)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A nurse enlists the help of a petty criminal to foil a sinister plot to murder two children.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable
Votes: 4,491
43. Five Came Back (1939)
Passed | 75 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A plane has engine trouble while flying over a jungle inhabited by cannibals.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, John Carradine
Votes: 2,358
44. The 39 Steps (1935)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A man in London tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle
Votes: 61,538
45. Young and Innocent (1937)
Not Rated | 83 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
A man on the run from a murder charge enlists the help of a beautiful stranger who must put herself at risk for his cause.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney, Percy Marmont, Edward Rigby
Votes: 10,857
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