Classic Film and Television Home Page
A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection
Also, please see my lists of recommended best episodes of TV series and British TV mysteries, 1980's and contemporary. These include recommended episode lists of Burke's Law, Perry Mason, Mannix, Cannon, Poirot, Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, Castle, Murdoch Mysteries, Frankie Drake Mysteries, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Hallmark Mysteries, Monk, Psych, Death in Paradise, Endeavour, Father Brown.
If a film is adapted from a work by a well-known mystery writer, I have added the writer's name at the end of the listing.
The Grim Game (Irvin Willat, 1919) Arthur B. Reeve
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)
Schloss Vogelöd / The Haunted Castle (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1921)
The Bat (Roland West, 1926) Mary Roberts Rinehart
London After Midnight (Tod Browning, 1927)
The Studio Murder Mystery (Frank Tuttle, 1929)
Miss Pinkerton (Lloyd Bacon, 1932) Mary Roberts Rinehart
The Penguin Pool Murder (George Archainbaud, 1932) Stuart Palmer
From Headquarters (William Dieterle, 1933)
The Kennel Murder Case (Michael Curtiz, 1933) S.S. Van Dine
Murder on the Campus (Richard Thorpe, 1933) Whitman Chambers
Bombay Mail (Edward L. Marin, 1934) Lawrence G. Blochman
The Dragon Murder Case (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1934) S.S. Van Dine
Remember Last Night? (James Whale, 1935) Adam Hobhouse
Murder in the Fleet (Edward Sedgwick, 1935)
The Plot Thickens (Ben Holmes, 1936) Stuart Palmer
Two in the Dark (Benjamin Stoloff, 1936) Gelett Burgess
The Princess Comes Across (William K. Howard, 1936)
The Witness Chair (George Nicholls, Jr., 1936)
Murder with Pictures (Charles Barton, 1936) George Harmon Coxe
London by Night (Wilhelm Thiele, 1937) Will Scott
The Mad Miss Manton (Leigh Jason, 1937)
The Patient in Room 18 (Bobby Connolly, Crane Wilbur, 1938) Mignon G. Eberhart
The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938) Ethel Lina White
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (William Clemens, 1939)
Gallant Sons (George B. Seitz, 1940)
The Case of the Black Parrot (Noel M. Smith, 1941) Burton E. Stevenson
I Wake Up Screaming (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1941) Steve Fisher
Journey into Fear (Orson Welles, Norman Foster, 1942) Eric Ambler
Murder in the Big House (B. Reeves Eason, 1942)
A Night to Remember (Richard Wallace, 1942) Kelley Roos
Ministry of Fear (Fritz Lang, 1943) Graham Greene
Mystery Broadcast (George Sherman, 1943)
A Scream in the Dark (George Sherman, 1943)
Murder in Times Square (Lew Landers, 1943)
Dangerous Blondes (Leigh Jason, 1943) Kelley Roos
Phantom Lady (Robert Siodmak, 1944) Cornell Woolrich
Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944) Vera Caspary
Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger, 1945)
The Falcon in San Francisco (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945)
Crime Doctor's Courage (George Sherman, 1945)
Crime Doctor's Warning (William Castle, 1945)
The Falcon's Adventure (William Berke, 1946)
Green for Danger (Sidney Gilliat, 1946) Christianna Brand
Undercurrent (Vincente Minnelli, 1946)
The Spiral Staircase (Robert Siodmak, 1946) Ethel Lina White
Crack-Up (Irving Reis, 1946) Fredric Brown
The Verdict (Don Siegel, 1946) Israel Zangwill
Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell, 1947)
Blackmail (Lesley Selander, 1947) Robert Leslie Bellem
Backlash (Eugene Forde, 1947)
High Tide (John Reinhardt, 1947) Raoul Whitfield
Secret Beyond The Door (Fritz Lang, 1948) Rufus King
The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1948) Sherwood King
The Naked City (Jules Dassin, 1948)
Bodyguard (Richard Fleischer, 1948)
Follow Me Quietly (Richard Fleischer, 1949)
Intruder in the Dust (Clarence Brown, 1949) William Faulkner
Mystery Street (John Sturges, 1950)
Stage Fright (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950) Selwyn Jepson
Backfire (Vincent Sherman, 1950)
Hunt the Man Down (George Archainbaud, 1950)
The Tattooed Stranger (Edward Montagne, 1950)
Woman on the Run (Norman Foster, 1950) Sylvia Tate
Lightning Strikes Twice (King Vidor, 1951)
Suspense: The Crooked Frame (Robert Mulligan, 1952) William P. McGivern
Suspense: The Blue Panther (Robert Mulligan, 1952) Norbert Davis
The Blue Gardenia (Fritz Lang, 1953) Very Caspary
Dangerous Crossing (Joseph M. Newman, 1953) John Dickson Carr
Spaceways (Terence Fisher, 1953)
Studio One: Sentence of Death (Matt Harlib, 1953) Thomas Walsh
Blackout / Murder by Proxy (Terence Fisher, 1954) Helen Nielsen
Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles, 1955)
The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955)
Murder Is My Beat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1955)
Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955) Mickey Spillane
The Trouble With Harry (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955)
23 Paces to Baker Street (Henry Hathaway, 1956) Philip MacDonald
Cheyenne: Big Ghost Basin (Joseph Kane, 1957) Steve Frazee
Maverick: Ghost Rider (Leslie H. Martinson, 1957)
Mystery Writers Theatre: And the Birds Still Sing (Gerd Oswald, 1957) Craig Rice
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) Wade Miller
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac
Witness For the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1958) Agatha Christie
Maverick: Black Fire (Leslie H. Martinson, 1958)
Cheyenne: Dead to Rights (Leslie H. Martinson, 1958)
Edge of Eternity (Don Siegel, 1959)
The Man in the Net (Michael Curtiz, 1959) Patrick Quentin
The Third Voice (Hubert Cornfield, 1960)
Diagnosis: Unknown, A Case of Radiant Wine (Fielder Cook, 1960) Lawrence G. Blochman
Homicidal (William Castle, 1961)
Scream of Fear (Seth Holt, 1961)
Twenty Plus Two (Joseph M. Newman, 1961) Frank Gruber
The Dick Powell Theater: Who Killed Julie Greer? (Robert Ellis Miller, 1961)
The Burning Court (Julien Duvivier, 1962) John Dickson Carr
The Notorious Landlady (Richard Quine, 1962)
Jigsaw (Val Guest, 1962) Hillary Waugh
Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963)
High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) Ed McBain
A Shot in the Dark (Blake Edwards, 1964)
Murder Ahoy (George Pollock, 1964)
Smokescreen (Jim O'Connolly, 1964)
The Moon-Spinners (James Neilson, 1964) Mary Stewart
Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte (Robert Aldrich, 1964)
Bunny Lake Is Missing (Otto Preminger, 1965) Evelyn Piper
Who Killed the Cat? (Montgomery Tully, 1966) Arnold Ridley & Mary Cathcart Borer
The Champagne Murders (Claude Chabrol, 1967)
In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison, 1967) John Ball
Run a Crooked Mile (Gene Levitt, 1969)
The Spider's Stratagem (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970) Jorge Luis Borges
How Awful About Allan (Curtis Harrington, 1970) Henry Farrell
Ten Days Wonder (Claude Chabrol, 1971) Ellery Queen
Incident in San Francisco (Don Medford, 1971)
The Adventures of Nick Carter (Paul Krasny, 1972)
Goodnight, My Love (Peter Hyams, 1972)
Home for the Holidays (John Llewellyn Moxey, 1972)
The Nine Tailors (Raymond Menmuir, 1974) Dorothy L. Sayers
Judge Dee in the Monastery Murders (Jeremy Kagan, 1974) Robert van Gulik
Amy Prentiss: Baptism of Fire (Jeffrey Hayden, 1974)
Ellery Queen: The Mad Tea Party (James Sheldon, 1975) Ellery Queen
Tendre poulet / Dear Detective (Philippe De Broca, 1977)
Colour Scheme (Arthur Thompson, 1977) Ngaio Marsh
Joi Baba Felunath (Satyajit Ray, 1979) Satyajit Ray
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (Tony Wharmby, John Davies, 1980) Agatha Christie
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (Clive Donner, 1981)
The Draughtsman's Contract (Peter Greenaway, 1982)
Evil Under the Sun (Guy Hamilton, 1982) Agatha Christie
Eddie and the Cruisers (Martin Davidson, 1983)
Simon and Simon: The List (Burt Kennedy, 1983)
Scarecrow and Mrs. King: Affair at Bromfield Hall (William Wiard, 1984)
Blue City (Michelle Manning, 1986) Ross Macdonald
Out of Bounds (Richard Tuggle, 1986)
Power (Sidney Lumet, 1986)
Suspect (Peter Yates, 1987)
Ground Zero (Michael Pattinson, Bruce Miles, 1987)
Outrageous Fortune (Arthur Hiller, 1987)
Slamdance (Wayne Wang, 1987)
Masques (Claude Chabrol, 1987)
True Believer (Joseph Ruben, 1989)
Peacemaker (Kevin S. Tenney, 1990)
Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective (Christopher Lewis, 1990) Robert Leslie Bellem
Fourth Story (Ivan Passer, 1990)
High Heels (Pedro Almodóvar, 1991)
Mystery Date (Jonathan Wacks, 1991)
The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992)
Thunderheart (Michael Apted, 1992)
Princess Caraboo (Michael Austin, 1994)
Black Dju (Pol Cruchten, 1996)
The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson (Francis Megahy, 1996)
Red Corner (Jon Avnet, 1997)
Suzhou River (Lou Ye, 2000)
Gosford Park (Robert Altman, 2001)
Le Pacte des loups / The Brotherhood of the Wolf (Christophe Gans, 2001)
Unconditional Love (P.J. Hogan, 2002)
Firehouse Dog (Todd Holland, 2007)
Undercover Bridesmaid (Matthew Diamond, 2012)
Along Came a Nanny (Michael Scott, 2014)
Knives Out (Rian Johnson, 2019)
Note: I do not like such tough guy films as The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941), Murder, My Sweet (Edward Dmytryk, 1944), The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1945), Harper (Jack Smight, 1966), Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974), L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997). In fact, these seem to me to be among the most overrated films ever made. So they are not on my list. The Big Sleep, directed by the great Howard Hawks, does have its merits, especially in its original version.
Also excluded: avant-garde works in which a mystery is raised, only never to be solved, such as L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960), Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967), Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1974), Twin Peaks (David Lynch, 1990-1992) and The Return (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003). These fascinating works have considerable merit, but lie beyond the scope of the above list, which concentrates on true mystery films.
Many crime thrillers have small elements of mystery, without being principally mystery tales. I have excluded such works from the above list. Admittedly, this is a judgment call. For example, take The Wrong Man (Alfred Hitchcock, 1957). Mainly, this is a non-mystery film, showing what happens when an innocent man is falsely accused of a crime. There is a small mystery element: who is the real culprit of the crime? Eventually, this perpetrator is revealed. This mystery aspect of the film takes up only a tiny percentage of its running time. Because of this, I have classified The Wrong Man as a suspense film, not as a mystery, and excluded it from the above list.
An honorable mention should be made of three good movies directed by Vincente Minnelli: The Pirate (1948), The Band Wagon (1953) and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962). All three are primarily non-mystery films; all three have well crafted, if tiny, mysteries embedded in their plots.