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Best Mystery Movies of the 1930s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
61 mystery films from the 1930s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is The Thin Man (1934), at 7.9 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 6.8. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The Lady Vanishes, 7.7 on IMDb against 98 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Thin Man '1934 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.9 | 98% | 86 | 7.5 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 2 | The Testament of Dr. Mabuse '1933 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.9 | 86% | - | 7.6 | Fritz Lang |
| 3 | The Lady Vanishes '1938 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.7 | 98% | 98 | 7.4 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 4 | The 39 Steps '1935 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.6 | 96% | 93 | 7.3 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 5 | After the Thin Man '1936 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.6 | 96% | 76 | 7.4 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 6 | Vampyr '1932 | Horror / Fantasy / Mystery | 7.4 | 98% | - | 7.2 | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| 7 | The Hound of the Baskervilles '1939 | Mystery / Crime / Horror / Thriller | 7.4 | 91% | - | 7.1 | Sidney Lanfield |
| 8 | Another Thin Man '1939 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.3 | 86% | 63 | 7.1 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 9 | Night Must Fall '1937 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.2 | - | - | 7.0 | Richard Thorpe |
| 10 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes '1939 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.2 | 80% | - | 6.9 | Alfred L. Werker |
| 11 | They Won't Forget '1937 | Drama / Mystery | 7.2 | - | - | 5.9 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 12 | Charlie Chan at Treasure Island '1939 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.2 | - | - | 6.8 | Norman Foster |
| 13 | The Cat and the Canary '1939 | Comedy / Horror / Mystery | 7.1 | - | - | 6.9 | Elliott Nugent |
| 14 | Boys' School '1938 | Drama / Mystery | 7.3 | - | - | 7.4 | Christian-Jaque |
| 15 | Charlie Chan at the Opera '1936 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.1 | - | - | 6.8 | H. Bruce Humberstone |
| 16 | Think Fast, Mr. Moto '1937 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 6.7 | - | - | 6.2 | Norman Foster |
| 17 | A Man's Head '1933 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.1 | - | - | 6.1 | Julien Duvivier |
| 18 | The Sign of Death '1939 | Comedy / Horror / Mystery | 5.8 | - | - | 6.4 | Chano Urueta |
| 19 | Charlie Chan's Secret '1936 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.0 | 60% | - | 7.0 | Gordon Wiles |
| 20 | The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case '1930 | Comedy / Crime / Mystery | 7.1 | - | - | 6.9 | James Parrott |
| 21 | The Ex-Mrs. Bradford '1936 | Comedy / Mystery | 6.9 | - | - | 6.3 | Stephen Roberts |
| 22 | It's a Wonderful World '1939 | Comedy / Romance / Crime / Mystery | 6.8 | - | - | 6.5 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 23 | Charlie Chan in Shanghai '1935 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 6.9 | - | - | 6.7 | James Tinling |
| 24 | The Blue Light '1932 | Drama / Fantasy / Mystery | 6.8 | 70% | - | 6.9 | Leni Riefenstahl |
| 25 | Q Planes '1939 | Thriller / Mystery | 6.5 | - | - | 6.0 | Tim Whelan |
| 26 | Charlie Chan at the Circus '1936 | Crime / Mystery / Comedy / Thriller | 6.8 | - | - | 6.4 | Harry Lachman |
| 27 | Young and Innocent '1937 | Thriller / Romance / Mystery | 6.8 | 100% | 77 | 6.5 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 28 | Nancy Drew... Reporter '1939 | Comedy / Crime / Mystery | 6.5 | 100% | - | 6.1 | William Clemens |
| 29 | The Kennel Murder Case '1933 | Crime / Mystery | 6.8 | 100% | - | 6.1 | Michael Curtiz |
| 30 | Charlie Chan in London '1934 | Crime / Mystery | 6.9 | - | - | 6.9 | Eugene Forde |
| 31 | The Maltese Falcon '1931 | Mystery / Crime | 6.8 | 71% | - | 6.4 | Roy Del Ruth |
| 32 | Mystery of the Wax Museum '1933 | Horror / Mystery | 6.8 | 93% | - | 6.5 | Michael Curtiz |
| 33 | Evelyn Prentice '1934 | Drama / Mystery / Romance | 6.9 | - | - | 6.6 | William K. Howard |
| 34 | Mr. Moto's Last Warning '1939 | Mystery / Crime / Thriller | 6.4 | - | - | 5.7 | Norman Foster |
| 35 | Two Monks '1934 | Drama / Romance / Mystery | 7.0 | - | - | 6.2 | Juan Bustillo Oro |
| 36 | Night at the Crossroads '1932 | Mystery / Crime / Drama | 6.5 | - | - | 6.5 | Jean Renoir |
| 37 | The Mad Miss Manton '1938 | Comedy / Crime / Mystery / Romance | 6.7 | 84% | - | 6.4 | Leigh Jason |
| 38 | The Phantom of the Monastery '1934 | Horror / Mystery | 6.9 | - | - | 6.4 | Fernando de Fuentes |
| 39 | Big Brown Eyes '1936 | Comedy / Crime / Mystery / Romance | 6.5 | 86% | - | 6.2 | Raoul Walsh |
| 40 | The Black Camel '1931 | Crime / Mystery | 6.6 | - | - | 6.1 | Hamilton MacFadden |
| 41 | Charlie Chan in Egypt '1935 | Mystery | 6.6 | - | - | 6.9 | Louis King |
| 42 | The Man Who Knew Too Much '1934 | Thriller / Mystery | 6.7 | 88% | 77 | 6.5 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 43 | Thirteen Women '1932 | Drama / Mystery | 6.2 | 60% | - | 6.4 | George Archainbaud |
| 44 | Mr. Wong, Detective '1938 | Crime / Thriller / Mystery | 6.0 | - | - | 5.6 | William Nigh |
| 45 | Supernatural '1933 | Mystery / Thriller / Horror | 6.1 | 50% | - | 6.1 | Victor Halperin |
| 46 | Doctor X '1932 | Horror / Thriller / Mystery | 6.4 | 83% | - | 6.0 | Michael Curtiz |
| 47 | The Death Kiss '1932 | Mystery / Comedy / Crime | 6.0 | - | - | 5.2 | Edwin L. Marin |
| 48 | The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes '1935 | Thriller / Mystery / Crime | 5.8 | - | - | 5.4 | Leslie S. Hiscott |
| 49 | The Bat Whispers '1930 | Mystery / Comedy / Crime / Horror / Thriller | 6.3 | 67% | - | 6.6 | Roland West |
| 50 | Rose Hobart '1936 | Mystery | 5.6 | - | - | 5.5 | Joseph Cornell |
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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Other genres in the 1930s
Action of the 1930s Animation of the 1930s Comedy of the 1930s Crime of the 1930s Drama of the 1930s Fantasy of the 1930s Horror of the 1930s Musical of the 1930s Romance of the 1930s Thriller of the 1930s War of the 1930s Western of the 1930s
Directors on this list
W.S. Van Dyke Fritz Lang Alfred Hitchcock Carl Theodor Dreyer Richard Thorpe Alfred L. Werker Mervyn LeRoy Norman Foster Christian-Jaque Julien Duvivier James Parrott Leni Riefenstahl
Actors on this list
William Powell Myrna Loy Michael Redgrave Basil Rathbone Robert Montgomery Rosalind Russell Nigel Bruce Claude Rains Bob Hope Paulette Goddard Erich von Stroheim Michel Simon