The Worldwide Film Noir Tradition - Antecedents
by skobic | created - 10 Jun 2014 | updated - 10 Jun 2014 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Votes: 70,020
Germany
2. Hintertreppe (1921)
50 min | Drama
A crippled mailman is in love with a maid who lives in the same building he does in one of the city's poor neighborhoods. She, however, is in love with a wealthy, handsome young man. ... See full summary »
Directors: Leopold Jessner, Paul Leni | Stars: Henny Porten, Fritz Kortner, William Dieterle, Eugene Dieterle
Votes: 308
Germany
3. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Not Rated | 242 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Arch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel
Votes: 9,172
Germany
4. The Street (1923)
74 min | Drama
Presents two distinct plot lines until the two eventually merge: the first is that of the bored middle-aged man seeking a departure from monotony in his life; the second is that of the ... See full summary »
Director: Karl Grune | Stars: Anton Edthofer, Aud Egede-Nissen, Leonhard Haskel, Lucie Höflich
Votes: 476
Germany
5. The Joyless Street (1925)
125 min | Drama
In post-WWI Vienna, Greta (Greta Garbo), her kid sister, and retired dad try to make it through tough times.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Asta Nielsen, Greta Garbo, Ágnes Eszterházy, Werner Krauss
Votes: 1,720
Germany
6. The Student of Prague (1926)
110 min | Drama, Horror
For Balduin, going out to beer parties with his fellow students and fighting out disputes at the tip of the sword have lost their charms. He wants to find love; but how would he, a ... See full summary »
Director: Henrik Galeen | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Elizza La Porta, Fritz Alberti, Ágnes Eszterházy
Votes: 767
Germany
7. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A landlady suspects that her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: June Tripp, Ivor Novello, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney
Votes: 13,375
UK
8. A Page of Madness (1926)
Not Rated | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa | Stars: Masuo Inoue, Ayako Iijima, Yoshie Nakagawa, Hiroshi Nemoto
Votes: 4,568
Japan
9. Asphalt (1929)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Joe May's sensual drama of life in the Berlin underworld is in many ways the perfect summation of German filmmaking in the silent era: a dazzling visual style, a psychological approach to ... See full summary »
Director: Joe May | Stars: Albert Steinrück, Else Heller, Gustav Fröhlich, Betty Amann
Votes: 1,686
Germany
10. The Docks of New York (1928)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova, Clyde Cook
Votes: 5,029
11. The Great Gabbo (1929)
Passed | 92 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
An insanely, egocentric ventriloquist, even though he is possessed by his wooden dummy, is in love with a dancer who is in love with another. The dummy gives advice to the ventriloquist.
Directors: James Cruze, Erich von Stroheim | Stars: Erich von Stroheim, Donald Douglas, Betty Compson, Marjorie Kane
Votes: 1,003
12. Blackmail (1929)
Not Rated | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After killing a man in self-defense, a young woman is blackmailed by a witness to the killing.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anny Ondra, John Longden, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton
Votes: 11,948
UK
13. Chinatown Nights (1929)
Passed | 83 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Society woman Joan Fry falls in love with Chuck Riley, the white leader of a powerful gang in Chinatown, and he quickly drags her down into the depths with him. But seeing her so much in ... See full summary »
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Wallace Beery, Florence Vidor, Warner Oland, Jack McHugh
Votes: 147
14. Thunderbolt (1929)
Passed | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A criminal known as Thunderbolt is imprisoned and facing execution. Into the next cell is placed Bob Moran, an innocent man who has been framed and who is in love with Thunderbolt's girl. ... See full summary »
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: George Bancroft, Fay Wray, Richard Arlen, Eugenie Besserer
Votes: 880
15. Der Andere (1930)
90 min | Crime, Drama
Psychological drama based on the popular Jekyll and Hyde theme.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Fritz Kortner, Käthe von Nagy, Heinrich George, Hermine Sterler
Votes: 40
Germany
16. Der blaue Engel (1930)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Music, Romance
An elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti
Votes: 16,288 | Gross: $0.08M
Germany
17. La Chienne (1931)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama
Maurice Legrand, a meek cashier married to a nagging wife, has a secret passion: he's a Sunday painter. He falls in love with Lulu, a young woman dominated by Dédé, the pimp who she works for. Dédé pushes Lulu into a relationship with him.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Michel Simon, Janie Marèse, Georges Flamant, Roger Gaillard
Votes: 4,837
France
18. Der Mann, der den Mord beging (1931)
93 min | Drama
The Marquis de Sévigné is put in a difficult position when he falls for the lovely Lady Falkland, a married woman whose husband, the strict Lord Falkland, subjects her to constant abuse.
Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Trude von Molo, Heinrich George, Friedl Haerlin
Votes: 57
Germany
19. 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: 168,365 | Gross: $0.03M
Germany
20. Panic in Chicago (1931)
77 min | Drama
Chicago gangsters use cunning and a series of false identities in a violent battle for dominance, all while attempting to dodge the police.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Olga Tschechowa, Hans Rehmann, Ferdinand Hart, Hilde Hildebrand
Votes: 27
Germany
21. Voruntersuchung (1931)
95 min | Drama
During an inquest after a woman is killed, the judge suspects his own son.The woman's lover had been friendly with the son and he was also supposed to be married to the judge's daughter.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Albert Bassermann, Gustav Fröhlich, Hans Brausewetter, Charlotte Ander
Votes: 94
Germany
22. City Streets (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Man joins a gang to free his girlfriend from prison.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas, William 'Stage' Boyd
Votes: 1,872
23. Guilty Hands (1931)
Passed | 69 min | Drama, Crime
A district attorney commits the perfect murder when he kills his daughter's womanizing fiancé and then tries framing the fiancé's lover.
Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Lionel Barrymore | Stars: Lionel Barrymore, Kay Francis, Madge Evans, William Bakewell
Votes: 966
24. Two Seconds (1932)
67 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A condemned murderer, in the process of being executed, relives the events that led to his being sentenced to die in the electric chair.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Vivienne Osborne, Guy Kibbee, Preston Foster
Votes: 1,300
25. Night Court (1932)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Romance
Judge and his mistress are investigated on suspicions of corruption.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Phillips Holmes, Walter Huston, Anita Page, Lewis Stone
Votes: 431
26. Night World (1932)
58 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Story of the goings-on at a Prohibition-era nightclub.
Director: Hobart Henley | Stars: Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff, Dorothy Revier
Votes: 468
27. 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: 14,432 | Gross: $1.42M
28. Lilac (1932)
90 min | Crime, Drama
Lilac is consorting with the criminal scum of Paris but then she falls in love with a handsome detective...
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Marcelle Romée, André Luguet, Jean Gabin, Madeleine Guitty
Votes: 213
France
29. Razzia in St. Pauli (1932)
74 min | Crime, Drama
Illustrates both the powerlessness of the ordinary worker as well as an intimate portrait of the joys and sorrows of a small group of people in the harbor section of Hamburg.
Director: Werner Hochbaum | Stars: Gina Falckenberg, Friedrich Gnaß, Wolfgang Zilzer, Charly Wittong
Votes: 91
Germany
30. The Tempest (1932)
101 min | Crime, Drama
After a petty crook is freed, he gets right back into trouble, first by stealing a fur for his former girlfriend and then by getting in fights with two different men who have tried to take his place with her, one of whom lands up drowning.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Emil Jannings, Anna Sten, Trude Hesterberg, Franz Nicklisch
Votes: 46
Germany
31. Tumultes (1932)
92 min | Crime, Drama
Fresh out of prison a small-time crook finds his girlfriend's dropped him, which sends him into a murderous rage.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Charles Boyer, Florelle, Clara Tambour, Thomy Bourdelle
Votes: 120
Germany
32. Blood Money (1933)
Passed | 65 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
Bill Bailey (George Bancroft) is a Los Angeles, California bail bondsman who lives in a world of complete, casual corruption, where all he has to do is pick up the phone to get the charges ... See full summary »
Director: Rowland Brown | Stars: George Bancroft, Judith Anderson, Frances Dee, Chick Chandler
Votes: 415
33. Heroes for Sale (1933)
Passed | 76 min | Drama, Romance, War
A veteran fights drug addiction to make his way in the business world.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Loretta Young, Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, Gordon Westcott
Votes: 2,516
34. The Sin of Nora Moran (1933)
Passed | 65 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
A young woman with a difficult past is sentenced for a murder she didn't commit, but revealing the truth could hurt people she loves.
Director: Phil Goldstone | Stars: Zita Johann, John Miljan, Alan Dinehart, Paul Cavanagh
Votes: 775
35. The World Gone Mad (1933)
Passed | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A district attorney and a reporter try to find the killer of a D.A. who uncovered a massive stock fraud.
Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Pat O'Brien, Evelyn Brent, Neil Hamilton, Mary Brian
Votes: 597
36. Keisatsukan (1933)
121 min | Crime, Drama
Itami, a young policeman, meets his high school friend, Tetsuo, a gangster, at a roadblock. As they rekindled their friendship, a complex relationship is established between them.
Director: Tomu Uchida | Stars: Eiji Nakano, Isamu Kosugi, Taisuke Matsumoto, Sôji Ubukata
Votes: 148
Japan
37. Song of the Streets (1933)
Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A gang of poverty-ridden juvenile delinquents progress from petty theft to hard crime, but a kindly judge manages to set most of them on the right path after they are finally apprehended.
Director: Victor Trivas | Stars: Vladimir Sokoloff, Madeleine Ozeray, Marcelle Worms, Jean-Pierre Aumont
Votes: 79
France
38. The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934)
Approved | 80 min | Drama, Mystery
A brilliant but impoverished writer, who is a pacifist, goes to work for a publisher and writes anti-war editorials. When he discovers that the publisher has betrayed him and is in league ... See full summary »
Director: Edward Ludwig | Stars: Claude Rains, Joan Bennett, Lionel Atwill, Juanita Quigley
Votes: 196
39. Crime Without Passion (1934)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama
Prominent lawyer shoots unfaithful girlfriend during quarrel, has to establish alibi.
Directors: Lee Garmes, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur | Stars: Claude Rains, Margo, Whitney Bourne, Stanley Ridges
Votes: 596
40. Fog Over Frisco (1934)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
The lifestyles of Arlene and Valkyr Bradford, half-sisters from a respected San Francisco family, diverge markedly as Arlene takes up with criminals.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Bette Davis, Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 1,751
41. Heat Lightning (1934)
Passed | 63 min | Crime, Drama
A lady gas station attendant gets mixed up with escaped murderers.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, Preston Foster, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 1,025
42. Le grand jeu (1934)
120 min | Drama, Romance
Pierre (Pierre Richard-Willm), a young lawyer, has enormous debts due to his mistress Florence (Marie Bell), and her whims of luxury life. Pierre has gone too far and put the family firm in... See full summary »
Director: Jacques Feyder | Stars: Marie Bell, Pierre Richard-Willm, Charles Vanel, Georges Pitoëff
Votes: 426
France
43. La rue sans nom (1934)
82 min | Drama
Early example of poetic realism: A grubby poor neighborhood, where buildings are slated to be taken down, reacts to the arrival of a young woman, whose father has spent time in prison.
Director: Pierre Chenal | Stars: Constant Rémy, Gabriel Gabrio, Paule Andral, Paul Azaïs
Votes: 16
France
44. Bordertown (1935)
Approved | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In Mexico, a former lawyer becomes the invaluable second-in-command to a casino owner, whose wife begins to fall for him.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Margaret Lindsay, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 2,001
45. Dark World (1935)
73 min
It is a psychological drama involving conflict between two brothers.
Director: Bernard Vorhaus | Stars: Tamara Desni, Leon Quartermaine, Hugh Brooke, Olga Lindo
UK
46. The Murder Man (1935)
Passed | 69 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When a crooked businessman is fatally shot, a hotshot New York newspaper reporter specializing in murder stories narrows in on the dead man's associate.
Director: Tim Whelan | Stars: Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Virginia Bruce, Lionel Atwill
Votes: 1,282
47. The Scoundrel (1935)
Passed | 76 min | Drama, Fantasy
A ruthless, cynical, hated publisher is killed in a plane crash, doomed to be a "restless" spirit for being unloved. A heavenly power gives him a month on Earth to find one person to shed a tear for him before his fate is sealed.
Directors: Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur | Stars: Noël Coward, Julie Haydon, Stanley Ridges, Martha Sleeper
Votes: 445
48. 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: 61,504
UK
49. Below the Deadline (1936)
Approved | 64 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After a good-natured Irish cop is framed for a diamond robbery and murder and presumed dead in a train wreck, he gets plastic surgery and returns to expose the real killers.
Director: Charles Lamont | Stars: Cecilia Parker, Russell Hopton, Theodore von Eltz, Thomas E. Jackson
Votes: 159
50. Crown v. Stevens (1936)
TV-G | 66 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
When an ex-dancer marries a man for his money she is suprised find he is a real skinflint. She owes a lot of money to a loan-shark who is after her. However, her husband does carry a lot of insurance ...
Director: Michael Powell | Stars: Beatrix Thomson, Patric Knowles, Glennis Lorimer, Reginald Purdell
Votes: 380
UK
51. Fury (1936)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot
Votes: 13,721
52. Sabotage (1936)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Thriller
A Scotland Yard undercover detective is on the trail of a saboteur who is part of a plot to set off a bomb in London. But when the detective's cover is blown, the plot begins to unravel.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, Desmond Tester, John Loder
Votes: 18,723
UK
53. Twice Branded (1936)
72 min | Drama, Crime
A young businessman (James Mason) is being duped by business swindlers but his jailbird father is determined to save him.
Director: Maclean Rogers | Stars: Robert Rendel, Lucille Lisle, James Mason, Eve Gray
Votes: 42
UK
54. The Lower Depths (1936)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A charismatic thief makes friends with a bankrupt baron who comes to live in the thief's slum. Meanwhile the thief seeks the love of a young woman, who is held emotionally captive by her slumlord family.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Suzy Prim, Louis Jouvet, Jany Holt
Votes: 3,678
France
55. The Green Cockatoo (1937)
Approved | 65 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young girl is travelling to London to find work. Arriving at the station, she meets a man who has been stabbed by a member of a gang of crooks involved with greyhound racing.
Director: William Cameron Menzies | Stars: John Mills, Rene Ray, Robert Newton, Charles Oliver
Votes: 313
UK
56. A Night of Terror (1937)
86 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A lottery winner breaks up with her fiancé and marries a fortune hunter who proves to be dangerous.
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Ann Harding, Basil Rathbone, Binnie Hale, Bruce Seton
Votes: 640
UK
57. 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: 10,850
UK
58. Chéri-Bibi (1938)
110 min | Drama
An innocent young man ,burglar Cheri-Bibi and his gangsters are sent to a penal colony.
Director: Léon Mathot | Stars: Pierre Fresnay, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Marcel Dalio, Suzet Maïs
Votes: 29
France
59. The Strange Monsieur Victor (1938)
103 min | Crime, Drama
An innocent man spends time in prison for murder, then escapes and falls in love with the wife of the real perpetrator.
Director: Jean Grémillon | Stars: Raimu, Pierre Blanchar, Madeleine Renaud, Marcelle Géniat
Votes: 347
France
60. Pépé le Moko (1937)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A wanted gangster is both king and prisoner of the Casbah. He is protected from arrest by his friends, but is torn by his desire for freedom outside. A visiting Parisian beauty may just tempt his fate.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Jean Gabin, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre, Fernand Charpin
Votes: 8,071 | Gross: $0.15M
France
61. Le puritain (1938)
85 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A religious fanatic finds his entire life and philosophy turned upside-down as he falls in love with a girl and kills her in a jealous rage. His search is for peace of mind and a desire to ... See full summary »
Director: Jeff Musso | Stars: Pierre Fresnay, Jean-Louis Barrault, Viviane Romance, Louis-Jacques Boucot
Votes: 91
France
62. Night Must Fall (1937)
Passed | 116 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
When a rich but cantankerous dowager on an isolated estate hires an engaging handyman, her niece/companion becomes suspicious of his motives.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, May Whitty, Alan Marshal
Votes: 2,939
63. You Only Live Once (1937)
Passed | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The public defender's secretary and an ex-convict get married and try to make a life together, but a series of disasters sends their lives spiraling out of control.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Barton MacLane, Jean Dixon
Votes: 7,646
64. A 111-es (1938)
80 min | Crime, Drama
Count Sandor Vajk casts off a former lover, Olga Komarowska, who dies. Joe Selfridge, a magician, sets out to avenge the dead girl. He employs hypnotism, illusions and Vera, the sister of ... See full summary »
Director: Steve Sekely | Stars: Mária Lázár, Jenö Törzs, Pál Jávor, Gyula Csortos
Votes: 32
Hungary
65. Footsteps in the Sand (1939)
Approved | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A murder case sparks a sensationalist press frenzy as it becomes clear that the killer only strikes when there is a full moon.
Director: Paul L. Stein | Stars: Joan Marion, Raymond Massey, Elliott Mason, Walter Hudd
Votes: 56
UK
66. La Bête Humaine (1938)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama
In this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Julien Carette, Simone Simon, Fernand Ledoux
Votes: 8,422
France
67. Hatred (1938)
67 min | Drama
Justin Mollenard is a sailor and arms smuggler who does not support the hypocrisy of society. He has a wife in Dunkirk who reproaches him the fact of having neglected the family for many years.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Harry Baur, Albert Préjean, Gabrielle Dorziat, Gina Manès
Votes: 330
France
68. Marked Girls (1938)
102 min | Drama
Juliette, an innocent woman, is wrongly sentenced to prison for attempted murder. After her release, she married an industrialist to whom she did not speak of her tumultuous past.
Director: Roger Richebé | Stars: Viviane Romance, Renée Saint-Cyr, Marguerite Deval, Jean Worms
Votes: 28
France
69. Port of Shadows (1938)
Not Rated | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a foggy, French port city.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Michèle Morgan, Pierre Brasseur
Votes: 9,957 | Gross: $0.03M
France
70. Carrefour (1938)
84 min | Drama
A amnesiac industrialist is tricked into a game of mistaken identity.
Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Charles Vanel, Jules Berry, Suzy Prim, Tania Fédor
Votes: 135
France
71. Closed Door (1939)
105 min | Drama
Nina Miranda leaves after spending 20 years imprisoned for a murder that she insists she did not commit and recalls the time of her youth. He remembers the boyfriend who chose his love ... See full summary »
Directors: John Alton, Luis Saslavsky | Stars: Libertad Lamarque, Angelina Pagano, Agustín Irusta, Ángel Magaña
Votes: 51
Argentina
72. Hotel du Nord (1938)
83 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
On the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Annabella, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Louis Jouvet, Arletty
Votes: 3,235
France
73. They Drive by Night (1938)
84 min | Crime, Thriller
A convict, just out of prison, is implicated in a murder and goes on the run, hitching a ride with a truck driver.
Director: Arthur B. Woods | Stars: Emlyn Williams, Anna Konstam, Allan Jeayes, Ernest Thesiger
Votes: 364
UK
74. Dangerous to Know (1938)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama
A gangster tries to fix things so that he can marry a rich society woman.
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Anna May Wong, Akim Tamiroff, Gail Patrick, Lloyd Nolan
Votes: 235
75. The Last Turning (1939)
90 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Frank, a hobo, ends up in a garage-truck stop in the middle of nowhere. Nick Marino, its older, kind and naive owner, is married to Cora, a sexy and mercenary woman half his age. Frank, ... See full summary »
Director: Pierre Chenal | Stars: Fernand Gravey, Michel Simon, Marcel Vallée, Auguste Bovério
Votes: 301
France
76. Le Jour Se Leve (1939)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Jean Gabin, Jacqueline Laurent, Arletty, Jules Berry
Votes: 8,272 | Gross: $0.03M
France
77. Let Us Live (1939)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Two innocent men are wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The fiancée of one of them convinces a police detective of their innocence, and together they try to find the real killer before the men's execution date.
Director: John Brahm | Stars: Maureen O'Sullivan, Henry Fonda, Ralph Bellamy, Alan Baxter
Votes: 676
78. Personal Column (1939)
106 min | Musical, Romance, Thriller
After one of her fellow taxi dancers is murdered by an unknown man who she met through a personal column advert, Adrienne Charpentier is recruited by the police to answer a series of similar adverts to try to track down the killer.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Maurice Chevalier, Pierre Renoir, Marie Déa, Erich von Stroheim
Votes: 410
France
79. Rio (1939)
Passed | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A crazed man escapes from prison to kill his wife's lover.
Director: John Brahm | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Victor McLaglen, Sigrid Gurie, Robert Cummings
Votes: 195
80. Blind Alley (1939)
Passed | 69 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Gangster Hal Wilson takes psychiatrist Dr. Shelby hostage. While captive, the doctor analyzes Wilson as though he were a patient.
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Chester Morris, Ralph Bellamy, Ann Dvorak, Joan Perry
Votes: 816
81. Dangerous Masquerade (1939)
69 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A down-and-out writer being hounded by collectors stumbles upon dead man lying under a fallen tree limb. Little did he know the man had been murdered, and he concocts a scheme of exchanging... See full summary »
Director: Harold French | Stars: Robert Newton, Betty Lynne, Peter Gawthorne, John Warwick
Votes: 79
UK
82. Dead Men Tell No Tales (1938)
70 min | Crime, Thriller
Dead Men Tell No Tales is a 1938 British thriller film directed by David MacDonald and starring Emlyn Williams, Sara Seegar and Hugh Williams. It is based on the 1935 novel The Norwich ... See full summary »
Director: David MacDonald | Stars: Emlyn Williams, Sara Seegar, Hugh Williams, Marius Goring
Votes: 14
UK
83. Dust Be My Destiny (1939)
Passed | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Embittered after serving time for a burglary he did not commit, Joe Bell is soon back in jail, on a prison farm. His love for the foreman's daughter leads to a fight between them, resulting... See full summary »
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: John Garfield, Priscilla Lane, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh
Votes: 960
84. I Met a Murderer (1939)
Approved | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Farmer Mark Warrow lives an unhappy existence with his shrewish wife Martha. His only happiness comes from his dog. When his wife loses her temper and kills his beloved pet, Warrow snaps ... See full summary »
Director: Roy Kellino | Stars: James Mason, Sylvia Coleridge, William Devlin, Pamela Mason
Votes: 204
UK
85. I Stole a Million (1939)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A grizzled cabbie is scammed out of his life savings by a fake finance company. He tries to no avail to get police assistance.
Director: Frank Tuttle | Stars: George Raft, Claire Trevor, Dick Foran, Henry Armetta
Votes: 125
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