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


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1931 · 1h 50m · DE
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.


Adventure Girl
1934 · 1h 9m · US
Faux documentary told in first-person narration, about an "adventuress" who sets sail to Guatemala with her father and two male crewmen, rescues them when their fresh-water supply is compromised, finds a treasure map, and attempts to steal a fabulous emerald from a ruined temple, much to the aggrevation of a worshipful native princess and her subjects.


Scarface
1932 · 1h 33m · US
In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.


The Flood
1931 · 1h 5m · US
The story centers on a sordid love triangle involving a woman and two men. Their personal tensions and romantic complications reach a breaking point just as the local infrastructure fails. The climax of the film occurs when a massive dam bursts, unleashing a catastrophic flood. This disaster serves as the ultimate resolution for the characters' interpersonal struggles, forcing a conclusion to their conflicting relationships through the life-and-death stakes of the inundation.


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.


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.


Missing Girls
1936 · 1h 6m · US
A couple of naïve girls get themselves unwittingly involved in the gambling racket in this Poverty Row production directed by the redoubtable Phil Rosen.


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.


Crack-Up
1936 · 1h 5m · US
Betrayal and espionage abound as an experimental aircraft is readied for its maiden voyage.


Ferryman Maria
1936 · 1h 25m · DE
A beautiful young drifter comes to a small village and battles Death itself to save the man she loves.


Cheri-Bibi
1931 · 1h 13m · US
Spanish Version of MGM's "The Phantom of Paris". Chéri-Bibi is a world class escape artist, but he cannot escape the false murder charge that is placed on him.


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?


Dick Tracy
1937 · 4h 50m · US
Dick Tracy's foe for this serial is the crime boss and Masked Mystery Villain The Spider/The Lame One and his Spider Ring. In the process of various crimes, including using his Flying wing and sound weapon to destroy the Bay Bridge in San Francisco and stealing an experimental "Speed Plane", the Spider captures Dick Tracy's brother, Gordon. The Spider's minion, Dr. Moloch, performs a brain operation on Gordon Tracy to turn him evil, making him secretly part of the Spider Ring and so turning brother against brother.
The Medium
The Medium
1934 · 38m · UK
A mad sculptor murders his wife and hides the body within a statue; a psychic model suspects the truth.


Female Fugitive
1938 · 58m · US
Police set up a dragnet to trap an outlaw's wife whom they believe to be his accomplice.


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.


Let Us Live
1939 · 1h 5m · US
When a confused eyewitness identifies New York City cabbie Brick Tennant as a killer, he is sentenced to death for a murder that he wasn't involved in. Though no one is willing to listen to the innocent prisoner's pleas for freedom, Brick's faithful fiancée, Mary, knows that her lover is innocent because she was with him when the crime was committed. As the scheduled execution draws ever nearer, Mary begins to investigate the murder herself.


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.


The Climax
1930 · 1h 5m
Young Italian girl wants to become a great opera singer.


The Most Dangerous Game
1932 · 1h 3m · US
When legendary hunter Bob Rainsford is shipwrecked on the perilous reefs surrounding a mysterious island, he finds himself the guest of the reclusive and eccentric Count Zaroff. While he is very gracious at first, Zaroff eventually forces Rainsford and two other shipwreck survivors, brother and sister Eve and Martin Towbridge, to participate in a sadistic game of cat and mouse in which they are the prey and he is the hunter.


The Old Dark House
1932 · 1h 10m · US
In a remote region of Wales, five travelers beset by a relentless storm find shelter in an old mansion.


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.


Eskapade
1936 · 1h 32m · DE
No overview available


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…


The Son of Kong
1933 · 1h 10m · US
Beleaguered adventurer Carl Denham returns to the island where he found King Kong.


Fury
1936 · 1h 32m · US
Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to the small town where she lives to visit her, but is wrongly mistaken for a wanted kidnapper and arrested.


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.


The Black Cat
1934 · 1h 5m · US
After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.


Danger Island
1931 · 3h 40m · US
The daughter of a man who has discovered radium on an African island is befriended by two people whose real goal is to keep the discovery to themselves.
Night Mail
Night Mail
1935 · UK
No overview available


The Clairvoyant
1935 · 1h 21m · UK
A fake psychic suddenly turns into the real thing when he meets a young beauty. (TCM)


The Roaring Twenties
1939 · 1h 44m · US
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.


The Return of Jimmy Valentine
1936 · 1h 11m
A wisecracking newspaper reporter comes up with what he believes to be the ultimate publicity stunt: have the newspaper offer a $5000 prize to whoever can find Jimmy Valentine, a once notorious safecracker who seemed to have just disappeared from the scene, supposedly retired, but the reporter decides to try to collect the prize himself.


Klokslag twaalf
1936 · 1h 29m · FR
On his wedding day, mere hours before the statute of limitations for his crimes expires, revengeful mobsters abduct former criminal Jean Verdier. The gang leader's daughter - who's still in love with Jean - tries to stall the police until the clock strikes twelve and he can no longer be prosecuted.


Luponini from Chicago
1935 · 1h 10m · MX
Luponini, a bank employee, becomes a robber due to a broken heart. His criminal career, successful at first, is soon threatened by the betrayal of one of his accomplices and the contempt of Luisa, his ex-wife.


House of Mystery
1934 · 1h 2m · US
Out of the Mystic Temples of Old India crept this terrible Monster to wreak vengeance of the Hindu Gods. One by one its victims fell with not a trace of the bloody assassin.


Young and Innocent
1937 · 1h 23m · UK
When a young writer is falsely accused of murdering a famous actress, he escapes custody and joins forces with the daughter of a police constable to prove his innocence.


The Petrified Forest
1936 · 1h 22m · US
Gabby, the waitress in an isolated Arizona diner, dreams of a bigger and better life. One day penniless intellectual Alan drifts into the joint and the two strike up a rapport. Soon enough, notorious killer Duke Mantee takes the diner's inhabitants hostage. Surrounded by miles of desert, the patrons and staff are forced to sit tight with Mantee and his gang overnight.
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.
Thrillers are engineered for tension: the pace, the withholding, the sense that something is closing in. The genre blends freely with crime, horror, and science fiction, and it's where a lot of the sharpest genre craft happens.