The 40 most popular 1930s mystery movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Covered Tracks
1938 · 1h 21m · DE
Séraphine and her mother arrive in Paris to visit the 1867 World Exhibition. In an overcrowded city they must be accommodated in separate hotels. During the night the mother, who wasn't feeling very well, gets suddenly worse. When next morning Séraphine goes to meet her every trace of her presence has disappeared and everybody denies having ever met her. The bewildered young woman must find someone who believes her. Previous version of So Long at the Fair (1950).


Midnight Mystery
1930 · 1h 9m · US
A fog-shrouded house provides the setting for a weekend party prank gone wrong and the resulting murder being blamed on an innocent man.
Unknown Woman
Unknown Woman
1935 · 1h 6m · US
A young attorney, Larry Condon, is on a retainer by a nightclub-owning gangster, to carry and deliver what he thinks are legal papers but he is innocently carrying around millions of dollars in stolen bonds. He meets Helen Griffith when she is arrested in a raid on a gambling house and befriends her. She talks him into taking her to the nightclub of the man he is working for and, while there and unobserved by anyone by Larry, he sees her going through the files and desk of the owner. Who is this mystery woman he just got released from jail, and what is she up to?


Tom Sawyer, Detective
1938 · 1h 8m · US
The further adventures of Twain's most beloved fictional characters of Tom Sawyer and his friend, Huckleberry Finn.


Doctor X
1932 · 1h 16m · US
A wisecracking reporter investigates the cannibalistic 'Moon Killer' murders tied to a medical academy, culminating in a chilling reenactment experiment.


Passing Shadows
1934 · 46m · UK
The film stars Edmund Gwenn, who plays a chemist, whose son Lawrence (played by Barry MacKay) is attacked on a train. He appears to have shot the man.


Schloß Vogelöd
1936 · DE
Remake of the silent film of 1921: The lord of a castle disappears after the return of two feuding brothers from a noble family. Suspicion falls on the recently returned brothers.


The 39 Steps
1935 · 1h 26m · UK
Richard Hanney has a rude awakening when a glamorous female spy falls into his bed - with a knife in her back. Having a bit of trouble explaining it all to Scotland Yard, he heads for the hills of Scotland to try to clear his name by locating the spy ring known as The 39 Steps.


Ghost Parade
1931 · 18m · US
A series of strange, inexplicable, and increasingly frightening events takes place in Mosby Manor.


Wings over Africa
1936 · 1h 3m · UK
Two prospectors in Africa, Tony Cooper and Dalton come across a skeleton that has nearly been picked clean by vultures. They find a letter on the body addressed to a clerk in London named Wilkins . Cooper goes to Wilkins in London and tells him that his brother, whose body they had found, has left a map and a deed to a large diamond mine. Wilkins decides to go to Africa with Cooper to find the mine and, in order to speed up and finance their venture, they give a third interest to Carol Reade and her partner John Trevor), who operate a barnstorming airplane service. In Africa, close to the mine location, they are greeted by some tough gentlemen named Collins and Quincy who have terrorized the natives and lorded over the region, who quickly discover the reason for the party's mission. They join, unasked, in the race for the diamonds. The race is interrupted by the death of Trevor who is found knifed in his bunk.


Before Dawn
1933 · 1h · US
After the death of a gangster, those familiar with his million dollar stash start mysteriously dying. Police detectives with the help of a clairvoyant try to determine who, living or dead, is responsible.


The Lady Vanishes
1938 · 1h 36m · UK
On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in a hotel in a fictional European country, young Iris befriends elderly Miss Froy. When the train resumes, Iris suffers a bout of unconsciousness and wakes to find the old woman has disappeared. The other passengers ominously deny Miss Froy ever existed, so Iris begins to investigate with another traveler and, as the pair sleuth, romantic sparks fly.


The Man Who Knew Too Much
1934 · 1h 16m · UK
While vacationing in St. Moritz, a British couple receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet.


The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
1933 · 2h 2m · DE
After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor's preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse's notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor's whereabouts, and capture him for good.


Rose Hobart
1936 · 20m · US
Cornell employs clips from 1931's jungle melodrama East of Borneo – more specifically, clips of its lead actress, Rose Hobart – to disquieting effect. Through Cornell's collage editing, Hobart becomes a singular object of desire and dread, trapped in an exotic paradise.


Evelyn Prentice
1934 · 1h 19m · US
A criminal lawyer's wife is blackmailed when she is falsely accused of infidelity.


Dangerous Crossroads
1933 · 1h 2m · US
A railroad detective is having a difficult time stopping or even slowing down a gang that is robbing the merchandise carried on the freight trains, with inside information. However, his son and his son's young friends notice something that helps the railway detective get on the right trail.


The Thin Man
1934 · 1h 31m · US
Former detective Nick Charles has retired from police work, preferring a life of cocktails, parties, and relaxation with his wealthy wife, Nora. Their holiday is interrupted when the daughter of Nick’s former client asks for help finding her missing father, eccentric inventor Clyde Wynant. When Wynant’s body is discovered, Nick is drawn back into the investigation, with Nora eagerly joining him. As the couple questions Wynant’s family, friends, and business associates, a tangled web of greed, deception, and murder begins to unravel.


Bombay Mail
1934 · 1h 10m · US
In India, a police inspector investigates a murder that took place on a train between Calcutta and Bombay.


Tenebre
1934 · IT
No overview available


It's a Wonderful World
1939 · 1h 26m · US
Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are nabbed by the police, tried, convicted and sentenced to jail: Guy for a year with Willie to be executed. On the way to jail, Guy comes across a clue and escapes from the police.


Religious Racketeers
1938 · 1h 30m · US
A wealthy young woman, racked with guilt because she wasn't there when her mother died, is so desperate to contact her that she gets involved with a phony mystic who promises to put her in touch with her mother's spirit, but who is really after her money. A reporter who loves the young woman sets out to expose the phony "psychic" for the charlatan he is.


Café de Paris
1938 · 1h 31m · FR
This murder mystery is set in a Parisian cafe and examines the mysterious murder of a famed journalist and extortionist who is killed at his table in the cafe. Though the prime suspects are gathered together( including his wife and her lover, the gun-runner, the creditor, and a playboy) and all of them have motives, none of them did it. So whodunit?


Vampyr
1932 · 1h 14m · DE
Allan Gray, a young man fascinated by the supernatural, goes to a small village where he feels a sinister force descending upon him. There, Allan meets an old man who asks him to protect his two daughters, for one of them has been bitten by a vampire.


Arsène Lupin
1932 · 1h 24m · US
A charming and very daring thief known as Arsene Lupin is terrorizing the wealthy of Paris. He even goes so far as to threaten the Mona Lisa. But the police, led by the great Guerchard, think they know Arsene Lupin's identity, and they have a secret weapon to catch him.


Girl Overboard
1937 · 1h 4m · US
A beautiful girl on a passenger ship is suspected of murder.


The Hound of the Baskervilles
1939 · 1h 20m · US
When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.


Love from a Stranger
1937 · 1h 26m · UK
Ann Harding plays a lovely but somewhat naive young woman who goes on a European vacation after winning a lottery. Swept off her feet by charming Basil Rathbone, Harding finds herself married before she is fully able to grasp the situation. Slowly but surely, Rathbone's loving veneer crumbles; when he casually asks Harding to sign a document turning her entire fortune over to him, she deduces that her days are numbered.


Mientras México duerme
1938 · 1h 37m · MX
No overview available


Charlie Chan in Paris
1935 · 1h 12m · US
Charlie's visit to Paris, ostensibly a vacation, is really a mission to investigate a bond-forgery racket. But his agent, apache dancer Nardi is killed before she can tell him much. The case, complicated by a false murder accusation for banker's daughter Yvette, climaxes with a strange journey through the Paris sewers.


Before Morning
1933 · 56m · US
A night of love, intrigue, death and blackmail leaves stage-star Elise Manning's fate at stake in a conflict with the unscrupulous Doctor Gruell. A rejected lover dies in Miss Manning's apartment, and Gurell implies that the death was murder and attempts to blackmail the actress. The climax brings the actress, her fiancé and the dead-man's wife face-to-face in an emotional denouement.
The River House Mystery
The River House Mystery
1936 · UK
No overview available


What Women Dream
1933 · 1h 21m · DE
In this pre-WWII German mystery-comedy, a lovely kleptomaniac with a taste for fine jewelry is unable to resist temptation. Strangely, every time she steals something, a mysterious man pays for it. A clumsy detective begins investigating and finds a crucial clue: a strongly scented woman's glove. The perfume is an expensive scent and the detective's pal realizes that it belongs to a popular nightclub singer. The friend quickly becomes enamored of the girl, but then so does her mystery man, a notorious international criminal. Eventually he gets arrested, leaving the detective's pal to move in on the singer.


Her Forgotten Past
1933 · 1h 5m · US
A compulsive gambler, thought to have been killed in an automobile crash, reappears when his wife remarries.


Matinee Idol
1933 · 1h 15m
A well-known actor is murdered. Another performer becomes an amateur sleuth so she can prove her sister is innocent of the crime.


The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
1939 · 1h 25m · US
Having once again avoided criminal conviction, Professor Moriarity develops a murderous plan to “finish off” his last major nemesis, Sherlock Holmes, by making him fail to prevent the perfect crime. Does it involve a family curse, the crown jewels of England, or something else…


Lash of the Penitentes
1936 · 48m · US
Fact and fiction collide in this exploitation flick that employs documentary footage depicting the bizarre self-flagellation rituals of the fanatical Catholic sect known as the Penitentes. Mixed with those truly disturbing sequences is a story concerning a killing in New Mexico, itself inspired by the murder of real-life reporter Carl Taylor as he worked on an article on the Penitentes.


Mystery Woman
1935 · 1h 9m · US
A French military officer is convicted of treason and sent to Devil's Island. His wife takes it upon herself to obtain the stolen document and prove his innocence.


That’s My Story
1937 · 1h 3m · US
A reporter desperate for a story tries to interview a gangster's girlfriend jailed in a small town. He gets himself thrown in the same jail and runs into a female reporter with the same idea, but thinks she is the girlfriend he wants to interview.


The Blue Light
1932 · 1h 23m · DE
Junta is hated by the people in the village where she lives, especially by the women, who suspect her of being a witch. Only she can climb the nearby mountains to a cave high up, whence a mysterious blue light glows when the moon is full. Many young men of the village have died trying to follow her. She is driven out of town, and takes to living in the mountains. Eventually she shares the secret of the blue light with one man, and he betrays it.
The 1930s were the studio system at full power, with sound now fully integrated and the Production Code arriving mid-decade to sharply narrow what films could depict. It's the decade of the Universal monster cycle, screwball comedy, and the first Technicolor spectacles.
Mystery films are structured around withheld information, trusting the audience to work alongside the investigator. The genre ranges from cozy whodunits to bleak, unresolved character studies.