The Spiral Staircase (1946), The Hidden Room (1949), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), The October Man (1947), Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958), 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956), The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), Do You Know This Voice? (1964) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Classic Mystery movies.
Storyline: In 1916, beautiful young mute Helen is a domestic worker for elderly, ailing Mrs. Warren. Mrs. Warren's two adult sons, Albert (a professor) and womanizing impudent Steven, also live in the Warren mansion. Mrs. Warren becomes concerned for Helen's safety when a rash of murders involving 'women with afflictions' hits the neighborhood. She implores her physician, Dr. Parry, to take Helen away for her own safety. When another murder occurs inside the Warren mansion, it becomes obvious that Helen is in danger.—Gary Jackson <garyjack5@cogeco.ca>
Plot Keywords: thriller, mystery, film noir, horror, psychological thriller, crime, murder ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: London psychiatrist Clive Riordan, royally fed up with the repeated affairs of his wife Storm, plots a seemingly 'perfect' revenge against her latest lover, American Bill Kronin. Catching them in the act, he marches Bill off at gunpoint; and from the viewpoint of Storm and the rest of the world, Bill simply vanishes. But there's far more to the meticulously worked out plot than Clive's victims suspect, with the end slowly preparing in his private laboratory. Enter a mild-mannered Scotland Yard man, who seemingly has no clue beyond a missing dog...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: thriller, film noir, crime, mystery, psychological, british film, 1940s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Joe Ross is a rising star. He's designed a process that will make his company millions. He wants a bonus for this work, but fears his boss will stiff him. He meets a wealthy stranger, Jimmy Dell, and they strike up an off-kilter friendship. When the boss seems to set Ross up to get nothing, he seeks Dell's help. Then he learns Dell is not what he seems, so he contacts an FBI agent through his tightly-wound assistant, Susan Ricci. The FBI asks him to help entrap Dell. He accepts, a sting is arranged, but suddenly it's he who's been conned out of the process and framed for murder. Bewildered and desperate, he enlists Susan's aid to prove his innocence.
Plot Keywords: mystery, thriller, crime, drama, con, conspiracy, business ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Jim Ackland, who suffers from a head injury sustained in a bus crash, is the chief suspect in a murder hunt after a young woman that he has just recently met is found dead on the local common, and he has no alibi for the time she was killed.—Mike Wilson <Mike.Wilson6@btinternet.com>
Plot Keywords: mystery, thriller, film noir, crime, drama, psychological thriller, murder ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A man shows up at Kimberley Prescott's villa claiming to be her brother. But Ward Prescott died in a car accident a year ago, so how can this man be him? Despite Kim's protests that the stranger isn't her brother, everyone else accepts him, including their uncle. Kim begins to fear for her sanity and her life.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: mystery, crime, film noir, thriller, drama, psychological, deception ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Famed American playwright Phillip Hannon is in London making revisions to his play currently running in the West End. He is doing this mundane work rather than write a new play since he has retreated from life following the recent and permanent loss of his sight. That retreat from life includes breaking off his engagement to his former secretary, Jean Lennox, who still loves him. One evening at his local pub, he overhears a conversation between a man and a woman that he knows involves criminal activity, what he surmises to be the kidnapping plot of a child in exactly one week's time. The local police patronizingly dismiss his report as the overactive imagination of a blind writer. With Jean and his faithful manservant Bob Matthews by his side - the former with some reluctance on Phil's part - Phil goes on a search to uncover the plot using what little pieces of information he has at hand, which includes the man's name being Evans, the woman, who is involved under duress, working as a nanny for a family whose head is formally a lady, that lady having attended a concert that evening, the family living along a certain bus route, and the nanny herself wearing an expensive perfume well beyond her means. His physical disability is an obvious disadvantage. But what may be working to Phil's advantage is his keen sense of dialogue and its subtext in deciphering the conversation, using his other senses which people with sight take for granted, and people, including the criminals, underestimating him because he's blind.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: mystery, thriller, crime, film noir, london, kidnapping, detective ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Sally Morton and Geoffrey Carroll, the latter a struggling artist, get married following the passing of Geoffrey's invalid first wife. Despite quickly falling in love with him, Sally never thought she would marry him when she discovered that he was already married - regardless of his vow to get a divorce - the first Mrs. Carroll's passing which changed the situation. The period of the first Mrs. Carroll's illness arguably resulted in Geoffrey's greatest works, including a portrait of her as the Angel of Death. While Sally brings a house in small town Ashton and a rough-around-the-edges housekeeper named Christine, Geoffrey brings a preteen daughter Bea into the marriage, Bea who openly welcomes Sally into the Carroll family. Their happiness begins to change when Cecily Latham commissions Geoffrey to paint her portrait, Cecily and her mother introduced to the Carrolls by London lawyer, Charles Pennington, Sally's former fiancé, who, while still in love with her, is happy that she is happy in her married life. Their meeting was not solely for the purpose of the commission as Cecily had fallen in love with Geoffrey in previously having seen him in town, he who eventually falls in love with her. In his insanity, Geoffrey starts to plot for Sally to befall the same "true" fate of the first Mrs. Carroll in both wanting to be with another woman and setting up a situation for his artistic genius to come to light.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: film noir, psychological thriller, crime, mystery, romance, drama, murder ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A great murder mystery. The only clue to a mad killer's identity is his shoes! The crime's only witness saw them while she was bent over picking something up. Duryea is fantastic as the "nice guy next door" who just happens to be a homicidal maniac. A great twist ending. A gem...highly recommended. From 16mm.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: crime, thriller, mystery, film noir, british film, psychological thriller, murder ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: When well-off aircraft designer Denning finds his daughter's current boyfriend is a nasty character he tries to buy him off, ending up hitting him and causing his death when he falls. Instead of calling the police he dumps the body in a lonely spot on the road to the North, making it look like a hit-and-run accident. Weeks later there is still no report of the body being found, and Denning starts to go to pieces. When he lets his wife into his secret the two start making enquiries, possibly making things worse.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: mystery, crime, thriller, film noir, british film, 1950s, murder ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Spies steal a diary from an embassy whose contents could ignite a war, then one of them steals it from the others and boards the Orient Express. He ends up involving a couple who were trying to have a clandestine affair on board; other passengers include a police detective, a would-be chef, a pompous author and his lackey, and a bird enthusiast.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: mystery, thriller, film noir, crime, espionage, british film, 1940s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: George Steele, art curator at a small museum, has an apparent mental breakdown one night, convinced he was in a train wreck...which never happened. In flashback, shortly after proposing to x-ray some old master paintings the museum has on loan, Steele is called on an unplanned nocturnal train trip. He suddenly sees another train ahead, speeding toward his... Is George indeed cracking up, or is there a plot to discredit him? The mystery grows murky with shadowy menace...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: film noir, mystery, crime, psychological thriller, amnesia, conspiracy, detective ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Jenny Wren coerces banker Priam Andes to have a dinner party at his shorefront estate Crestwood, and instructs him to invite three other men, each of whom she plans to extort money from. Jenny plans to retire to Europe after a life of involvement with wealthy and influential men. Also at the party, among others, are Jenny's sister Esther and her fiance, scion of the Andes' family. But death also attends and Jenny's plans are thwarted.—Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>
Plot Keywords: mystery, crime, thriller, film noir, murder, detective, inheritance ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Kay Kerrigan commits a murder and then changes her hair color, assumes a new identity and flees the country by ship. She's unaware that she's being followed by Sam Wye, a skirt chasing detective. The two soon develop a shipboard romance. Will Sam be able to bring Kay back to the States and likely imprisonment?—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>
Plot Keywords: film noir, crime, mystery, romance, drama, detective, fugitive ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Emily Boynton (Piper Laurie), stepmother to the three Boynton children, and mother to Ginevra (Amber Bezer), blackmails the family lawyer, Jefferson Cope (David Soul), into destroying the second will of her late husband, which would have freed the childern from her dominating influence. She takes herself and the children on vacation to Europe and the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, Hercule Poirot (Sir Peter Ustinov) meets up with a woman friend, Dr. Sarah King (Jenny Seagrove), who falls in love with Raymond Boynton (John Terleskey) to Emily's disapproval. Lady Westholme (Lauren Bacall), her secretary, and Cope are following them too. The children learn about the second will, and Emily succeeds in rubbing the rest the wrong way, causing much hatred towards her. At a dig, everybody wonders about the camp, and Emily is found dead, poisoned. Poirot investigates.—Lee Horton <Leeh@tcp.co.uk>
Plot Keywords: murder mystery, detective story, british film, crime thriller, family secrets, inheritance dispute, novel adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: An American insurance investigator is sent to Rhodesia to investigate the mysterious death of a diamond broker who drowned whilst diving off the coast. The broker was insured for $1 million so the insurerers are suspicious.—Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>
Plot Keywords: adventure, action, mystery, crime, thriller, drama, classic ...
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