Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Film-Noir Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "private-detective"
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1. Out of the Past (1947)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming
Votes: 40,957
2. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Votes: 166,701 | Gross: $2.11M
3. The Big Sleep (1946)
Passed | 114 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail and what might be love.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers
Votes: 90,580 | Gross: $6.54M
4. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Passed | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A major heist goes off as planned, but then double crosses, bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore
Votes: 30,008
5. Born to Kill (1947)
Approved | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A calculating divorcée risks her chances at wealth and security with a man she doesn't love by getting involved with the hotheaded murderer romancing her foster sister.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak, Phillip Terry
Votes: 6,092
6. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Not Rated | 106 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit".
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez
Votes: 22,102
7. The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders
Votes: 33,368 | Gross: $0.01M
8. Lady in the Lake (1946)
Passed | 105 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
The lady editor of a crime magazine hires Phillip Marlowe to find the wife of her boss. The private detective soon finds himself involved in murder.
Director: Robert Montgomery | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully
Votes: 6,376
9. Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Approved | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger
Votes: 14,717
10. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Unrated | 116 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A man is reunited with his childhood friend and her husband who believes he knows the truth about the death of her rich aunt years earlier.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas
Votes: 11,101
11. Ministry of Fear (1944)
Passed | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Stephen Neale has just been released from an asylum during World War II in England when he accidentally stumbles onto a deadly Nazi spy plot and tries to stop it.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond, Hillary Brooke
Votes: 8,962
12. The Dark Corner (1946)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A secretary tries to help her boss who's been framed for murder.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix, Mark Stevens
Votes: 5,215
13. The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Assistant district attorney Cleve Marshall falls for the mysterious Thelma Jordon when she seeks help solving robberies of her aunt's estate.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel
Votes: 3,186
14. I, the Jury (1953)
Approved | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Dectective Mike Hammer is determined to catch and kill the person who shot his close friend dead, so he follows clues that lead to a beautiful, seductive woman.
Director: Harry Essex | Stars: Biff Elliot, Preston Foster, Peggie Castle, Margaret Sheridan
Votes: 651
15. The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
Approved | 100 min | Comedy, Crime, Film-Noir
Nick and Nora head to Nick's hometown of Sycamore Springs to spend some time with his parents. His father, a prominent local physician, was always a bit disappointed with Nick's choice of ... See full summary »
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven
Votes: 6,282 | Gross: $3.86M
16. Terror by Night (1946)
Approved | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When the fabled Star of Rhodesia diamond is stolen on a London to Edinburgh train and the son of its owner is murdered, Sherlock Holmes must discover which of his suspicious fellow passengers is responsible.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Alan Mowbray, Dennis Hoey
Votes: 6,925
17. The Maltese Falcon (1931)
Passed | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Bebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel
Votes: 3,353
18. Quicksand (1950)
Approved | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After taking 20 dollars from his employer to go on a date with plans to repay it the next day, an auto mechanic falls into increasingly disastrous circumstances for more and more money which rapidly spirals out of his control.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, Barbara Bates, Peter Lorre
Votes: 2,678
19. Pitfall (1948)
Not Rated | 86 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
Married insurance adjuster John Forbes falls for femme fatale Mona Stevens while her boyfriend is in jail and all suffer serious consequences as a result.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr
Votes: 4,545
20. The House of Fear (1945)
Passed | 69 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of deaths at a castle with each foretold by the delivery of orange pips to the victims.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Aubrey Mather, Dennis Hoey
Votes: 5,541
21. Manhandled (1949)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The secretary to a psychiatrist finds herself caught up in the murder of a patient's wife and realizes that her life is also in danger.
Director: Lewis R. Foster | Stars: Dan Duryea, Dorothy Lamour, Sterling Hayden, Irene Hervey
Votes: 921
22. Somewhere in the Night (1946)
Passed | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
George Taylor returns from WWII with amnesia. Back home in Los Angeles, while trying to track down his old identity, he stumbles onto a 3-year old murder case and a hunt for a missing $2 million.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: John Hodiak, Nancy Guild, Lloyd Nolan, Richard Conte
Votes: 3,525
23. Naked Alibi (1954)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A chief of police detectives fired for brutality, tries to get evidence on a man suspected of killing 3 of his officers.
Director: Jerry Hopper | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame, Gene Barry, Marcia Henderson
Votes: 1,519
24. They Won't Forget (1937)
Passed | 95 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A politically ambitious district attorney, unscrupulous tabloid journalists, and regional prejudice combine to charge a teacher with the murder of his student.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson, Edward Norris, Otto Kruger
Votes: 1,943
25. I Love Trouble (1948)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
P.I. Stu is hired to investigate the past of a millionaire Johnson's wife who is missing. Stu finds that the wife had left her home town with an actor, went to college using a stolen identity and purloined $40,000 from a night club.
Director: S. Sylvan Simon | Stars: Franchot Tone, Janet Blair, Janis Carter, Adele Jergens
Votes: 1,045
26. Behind Green Lights (1946)
Passed | 64 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
Police lieutenant Sam Carson investigates a political murder after the victim is dumped at the door of police headquarters.
Director: Otto Brower | Stars: Carole Landis, William Gargan, Richard Crane, Mary Anderson
Votes: 1,110
27. Back to the Wall (1958)
93 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A wealthy industrialist discovers his wife is having an affair and decides to exact revenge by blackmailing her under an assumed identity.
Director: Édouard Molinaro | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Gérard Oury, Philippe Nicaud, Claire Maurier
Votes: 565
28. High Tide (1947)
Approved | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A fast-moving automobile fails to make a sharp turn of the highway from Malibu to Los Angeles. It overturns and its occupants, Tim Slade, Newspaper man turned private investigator, and Hugh... See full summary »
Director: John Reinhardt | Stars: Lee Tracy, Don Castle, Julie Bishop, Anabel Shaw
Votes: 641
29. World for Ransom (1954)
Approved | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In Singapore, a private detective and the British authorities are on the trail of a crime syndicate that kidnaps a nuclear physicist with the aim of selling him to the highest bidder.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Dan Duryea, Gene Lockhart, Patric Knowles, Reginald Denny
Votes: 629
30. The Brasher Doubloon (1947)
Passed | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Detective Philip Marlowe encounters a variety of characters while checking on why Leslie Murdock stole a rare doubloon from his mother.
Director: John Brahm | Stars: George Montgomery, Nancy Guild, Conrad Janis, Roy Roberts
Votes: 1,387
31. The Come On (1956)
83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Unscrupulous con woman gets involved in murder.
Director: Russell Birdwell | Stars: Anne Baxter, Sterling Hayden, John Hoyt, Jesse White
Votes: 278
32. The Inner Circle (1946)
Approved | 57 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
A private detective finds himself with a perfect new secretary. But after a notorious gossip columnist turns up murdered, she may prove too good to be true.
Director: Philip Ford | Stars: Adele Mara, Warren Douglas, William Frawley, Ricardo Cortez
Votes: 556
33. The Captive City (1952)
Approved | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A small town newspaperman's investigation into a local bookie operation turns up a web of organized crime.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: John Forsythe, Joan Camden, Harold J. Kennedy, Marjorie Crossland
Votes: 1,263
34. The Fat Man (1951)
Passed | 78 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A dentist's murder is investigated by hefty sleuth Brad Runyan.
Director: William Castle | Stars: J. Scott Smart, Julie London, Rock Hudson, Clinton Sundberg
Votes: 559
35. Homicide for Three (1948)
Passed | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
On their honeymoon,a young navy officer and his wife are having difficulties in finding a hotel room in Los Angeles until a lady lends them her suite. There, they receive a mysterious ... See full summary »
Director: George Blair | Stars: Warren Douglas, Audrey Long, Grant Withers, Lloyd Corrigan
Votes: 141
36. Native Son (1951)
91 min | Drama, Film-Noir
In 1940s Chicago, a young black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the teenage daughter of the couple and then tries to cover it up.
Director: Pierre Chenal | Stars: Richard Wright, Jean Wallace, Gloria Madison, Nicholas Joy
Votes: 497
37. Behind Locked Doors (1948)
Approved | 62 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A well-known judge has become a fugitive from the police, with a large reward on his head. A reporter believes that the judge is hiding in a private sanitarium, so she seeks out a private ... See full summary »
Director: Budd Boetticher | Stars: Lucille Bremer, Richard Carlson, Douglas Fowley, Ralf Harolde
Votes: 1,006
38. The Falcon in San Francisco (1945)
Approved | 66 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
The Falcon and his friend Goldie Locke check into what appears to be a silk-smuggling racket in San Francisco.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: Tom Conway, Paula Corday, Edward Brophy, Sharyn Moffett
Votes: 802
39. The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943)
Passed | 67 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Posing as an insurance investigator, Tom Lawrence investigates a murder of a teacher disguised as a suicide at a women's college.
Director: William Clemens | Stars: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Paula Corday, Amelita Ward
Votes: 907
40. Norman Conquest (1953)
75 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A private detective solves a murder of which he has been accused, and tracks down a gang of jewel smugglers.
Director: Bernard Knowles | Stars: Tom Conway, Eva Bartok, Joy Shelton, Sidney James
Votes: 191
41. Pier 23 (1951)
Approved | 58 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
Private detective finds himself framed for the murders of a wrestler and a crooked referee, then for the murder of a mystery man posing as a new parolee from Alcatraz.
Director: William Berke | Stars: Hugh Beaumont, Ann Savage, Edward Brophy, Richard Travis
Votes: 158
42. The Crooked Web (1955)
Approved | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Government agent tries to trick a suspect into returning to Germany, the scene of his crimes.
Director: Nathan Juran | Stars: Frank Lovejoy, Mari Blanchard, Richard Denning, John Mylong
Votes: 511
43. The Mandarin Mystery (1936)
Approved | 66 min | Comedy, Crime, Film-Noir
Two murders are committed and a $50,000 Chinese Mandarin stamp is stolen, tossed around and eventually recovered as an aggregation of costly-stamp counterfeiters are uncovered through the mastermind investigation by Ellery Queen.
Director: Ralph Staub | Stars: Eddie Quillan, Charlotte Henry, Rita La Roy, Wade Boteler
Votes: 458
44. Shed No Tears (1948)
Passed | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A wife convinces her husband to fake his death so they can collect on the life insurance. However, he doesn't know that she has been having an affair for some time, and she has plans for the money - and they don't include him.
Director: Jean Yarbrough | Stars: Wallace Ford, June Vincent, Mark Roberts, Frank Albertson
Votes: 469
45. Bury Me Dead (1947)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Barbara Carlin attends her own funeral and returns home suspecting that her husband, Rod Carlin, had tried to do away with her, and is also (rightfully) curious as to just who was the woman... See full summary »
Director: Bernard Vorhaus | Stars: Cathy O'Donnell, June Lockhart, Hugh Beaumont, Mark Daniels
Votes: 403
46. Grand Central Murder (1942)
Passed | 73 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Classic whodunit mystery film about a gold-digging variety show actress who has many enemies and is found dead in her private railroad car at Grand Central Station in New York.
Director: S. Sylvan Simon | Stars: Van Heflin, Patricia Dane, Cecilia Parker, Virginia Grey
Votes: 1,066
47. The Falcon in Danger (1943)
Approved | 69 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
After a passenger plane crash lands at a local airport, the rescue crew is shocked to find there is no one aboard.
Director: William Clemens | Stars: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Elaine Shepard, Amelita Ward
Votes: 793
48. Danger Zone (1951)
Approved | 56 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Claire Underwood hires San Francisco private-detective Dennis O'Brien to purchase a saxophone case at an auction, and O'Brien is promptly slugged and the case is stolen by Larry Dunlap. ... See full summary »
Director: William Berke | Stars: Hugh Beaumont, Edward Brophy, Richard Travis, Tom Neal
Votes: 142
49. The Falcon Strikes Back (1943)
Approved | 66 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Tom Lawrence, who has inherited his brother's sobriquet of "The Falcon," is framed for the theft of war bonds and murder.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Tom Conway, Harriet Nelson, Jane Randolph, Edgar Kennedy
Votes: 808
50. Mysterious Intruder (1946)
Passed | 61 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
Amid murders and kidnappings, a private detective is hired to find a missing girl whose family inheritance contains two rare collectible song recordings worth a lot of money.
Director: William Castle | Stars: Richard Dix, Barton MacLane, Nina Vale, Regis Toomey
Votes: 645