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Best Crime Movies of the 1930s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
111 crime films from the 1930s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is M (1931), at 8.3 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.3. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Pépé le Moko, 7.6 on IMDb against 98 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M '1931 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 8.3 | 100% | - | 8.1 | Fritz Lang |
| 2 | The Thin Man '1934 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.9 | 98% | 86 | 7.5 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 3 | The Testament of Dr. Mabuse '1933 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.9 | 86% | - | 7.6 | Fritz Lang |
| 4 | Trouble in Paradise '1932 | Comedy / Crime / Romance | 7.9 | 90% | - | 7.4 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 5 | The Roaring Twenties '1939 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 100% | 80 | 7.5 | Raoul Walsh |
| 6 | Angels with Dirty Faces '1938 | Crime / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Michael Curtiz |
| 7 | Fury '1936 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.8 | 95% | - | 7.5 | Fritz Lang |
| 8 | Scarface '1932 | Crime / Action / Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 98% | 90 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 9 | Port of Shadows '1938 | Romance / Drama / Crime | 7.7 | 97% | - | 7.4 | Marcel Carné |
| 10 | The Public Enemy '1931 | Crime / Drama | 7.6 | 100% | 80 | 7.3 | William A. Wellman |
| 11 | Pépé le Moko '1937 | Drama / Crime / Romance | 7.6 | 100% | 98 | 7.2 | Julien Duvivier |
| 12 | After the Thin Man '1936 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.6 | 96% | 76 | 7.4 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 13 | Daybreak '1939 | Crime / Drama | 7.6 | 92% | - | 7.6 | Marcel Carné |
| 14 | The Petrified Forest '1936 | Crime / Drama / Romance / Thriller | 7.5 | 94% | - | 7.1 | Archie Mayo |
| 15 | The Hound of the Baskervilles '1939 | Mystery / Crime / Horror / Thriller | 7.4 | 91% | - | 7.1 | Sidney Lanfield |
| 16 | La Chienne '1931 | Drama / Crime | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Jean Renoir |
| 17 | The Lower Depths '1936 | Drama / Romance / Crime | 7.5 | 89% | - | 7.2 | Jean Renoir |
| 18 | The Story of a Cheat '1936 | Comedy / Crime | 7.5 | 90% | - | 7.5 | Sacha Guitry |
| 19 | Another Thin Man '1939 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.3 | 86% | 63 | 7.1 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 20 | The Informer '1935 | Crime / Drama | 7.3 | 90% | 65 | 6.8 | John Ford |
| 21 | Dead End '1937 | Crime / Drama | 7.2 | 83% | - | 7.1 | William Wyler |
| 22 | You Only Live Once '1937 | Crime / Drama / Romance | 7.2 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Fritz Lang |
| 23 | American Madness '1932 | Drama / Crime | 7.4 | - | - | 6.9 | Frank Capra |
| 24 | Kid Galahad '1937 | Crime / Drama / Romance | 7.2 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Michael Curtiz |
| 25 | Little Caesar '1931 | Drama / Crime | 7.2 | 96% | - | 6.9 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 26 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes '1939 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.2 | 80% | - | 6.9 | Alfred L. Werker |
| 27 | The Whole Town's Talking '1935 | Comedy / Crime | 7.3 | 100% | - | 6.9 | John Ford |
| 28 | The Crime of Monsieur Lange '1936 | Drama / Crime / Comedy | 7.3 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Jean Renoir |
| 29 | Each Dawn I Die '1939 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.2 | 50% | - | 6.9 | William Keighley |
| 30 | Marked Woman '1937 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.1 | 100% | 73 | 6.6 | Lloyd Bacon |
| 31 | Five Star Final '1931 | Crime / Drama | 7.3 | 91% | - | 6.6 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 32 | The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes '1937 | Comedy / Crime | 7.0 | - | - | 7.3 | Karl Hartl |
| 33 | Jewel Robbery '1932 | Romance / Comedy / Crime | 7.2 | 83% | - | 6.5 | William Dieterle |
| 34 | The 3 Penny Opera '1931 | Musical / Crime | 7.2 | 80% | - | 7.1 | G.W. Pabst |
| 35 | 'G' Men '1935 | Crime / Drama | 7.1 | - | - | 6.6 | William Keighley |
| 36 | Three on a Match '1932 | Crime / Drama | 7.1 | 83% | - | 6.3 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 37 | Desire '1936 | Romance / Crime / Comedy / Drama | 7.1 | 100% | 86 | 6.9 | Frank Borzage |
| 38 | Manhattan Melodrama '1934 | Crime / Drama / Romance | 7.1 | 81% | - | 7.0 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 39 | The Story of Temple Drake '1933 | Crime / Drama | 7.1 | 86% | - | 6.5 | Stephen Roberts |
| 40 | Charlie Chan at the Opera '1936 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.1 | - | - | 6.8 | H. Bruce Humberstone |
| 41 | Sabotage '1936 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 7.0 | 91% | 85 | 6.7 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 42 | Blonde Crazy '1931 | Drama / Crime / Comedy / Romance | 7.1 | - | - | 7.0 | Roy Del Ruth |
| 43 | Black Legion '1937 | Crime / Drama | 6.9 | 100% | - | 6.6 | Archie Mayo |
| 44 | The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse '1938 | Crime / Drama | 7.0 | - | - | 7.0 | Anatole Litvak |
| 45 | A Slight Case of Murder '1938 | Comedy / Crime | 7.0 | 67% | - | 6.4 | Lloyd Bacon |
| 46 | Bullets or Ballots '1936 | Crime / Drama | 7.0 | - | - | 6.6 | William Keighley |
| 47 | Night Nurse '1931 | Crime / Drama | 7.0 | 83% | - | 6.8 | William A. Wellman |
| 48 | Think Fast, Mr. Moto '1937 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 6.7 | - | - | 6.2 | Norman Foster |
| 49 | A Man's Head '1933 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.1 | - | - | 6.1 | Julien Duvivier |
| 50 | Lady Killer '1933 | Comedy / Crime | 7.0 | - | - | 6.9 | Roy Del Ruth |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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All movies of the 1930s
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Other genres in the 1930s
Action of the 1930s Animation of the 1930s Comedy of the 1930s Drama of the 1930s Fantasy of the 1930s Horror of the 1930s Musical of the 1930s Mystery of the 1930s Romance of the 1930s Thriller of the 1930s War of the 1930s Western of the 1930s
Directors on this list
Fritz Lang W.S. Van Dyke Ernst Lubitsch Raoul Walsh Michael Curtiz Howard Hawks Marcel Carné William A. Wellman Julien Duvivier Archie Mayo Jean Renoir John Ford
Actors on this list
Peter Lorre William Powell Myrna Loy Miriam Hopkins James Cagney Pat O'Brien Sylvia Sidney Spencer Tracy Jean Gabin Michel Simon Jean Harlow Leslie Howard