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Best Thriller Movies of the 1930s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
49 thriller films from the 1930s are in our catalog; the 49 best are ranked below. Top of the list is M (1931), at 8.3 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 6.9. 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 | M '1931 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 8.3 | 100% | - | 8.1 | Fritz Lang |
| 2 | The Testament of Dr. Mabuse '1933 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.9 | 86% | - | 7.6 | Fritz Lang |
| 3 | The Roaring Twenties '1939 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 100% | 80 | 7.5 | Raoul Walsh |
| 4 | Fury '1936 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.8 | 95% | - | 7.5 | Fritz Lang |
| 5 | The Lady Vanishes '1938 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.7 | 98% | 98 | 7.4 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 6 | Scarface '1932 | Crime / Action / Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 98% | 90 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 7 | The 39 Steps '1935 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.6 | 96% | 93 | 7.3 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 8 | The Old Mill '1937 | Animation / Thriller / Musical / Horror | 7.7 | - | - | 7.3 | Wilfred Jackson |
| 9 | The Petrified Forest '1936 | Crime / Drama / Romance / Thriller | 7.5 | 94% | - | 7.1 | Archie Mayo |
| 10 | La Bête Humaine '1938 | Drama / Romance / Thriller | 7.5 | 94% | - | 7.1 | Jean Renoir |
| 11 | The Hound of the Baskervilles '1939 | Mystery / Crime / Horror / Thriller | 7.4 | 91% | - | 7.1 | Sidney Lanfield |
| 12 | Night Must Fall '1937 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.2 | - | - | 7.0 | Richard Thorpe |
| 13 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes '1939 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.2 | 80% | - | 6.9 | Alfred L. Werker |
| 14 | Mad Love '1935 | Horror / Thriller | 7.2 | 100% | - | 7.0 | Karl Freund |
| 15 | Each Dawn I Die '1939 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.2 | 50% | - | 6.9 | William Keighley |
| 16 | Marked Woman '1937 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.1 | 100% | 73 | 6.6 | Lloyd Bacon |
| 17 | Flowers and Trees '1932 | Animation / Musical / Romance / Comedy / Thriller | 7.2 | - | - | 6.9 | Burt Gillett |
| 18 | Charlie Chan at Treasure Island '1939 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.2 | - | - | 6.8 | Norman Foster |
| 19 | The Most Dangerous Game '1932 | Thriller / Horror / Action | 7.1 | 100% | - | 6.9 | Irving Pichel |
| 20 | Charlie Chan at the Opera '1936 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.1 | - | - | 6.8 | H. Bruce Humberstone |
| 21 | Sabotage '1936 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 7.0 | 91% | 85 | 6.7 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 22 | The Old Dark House '1932 | Drama / Horror / Thriller | 7.0 | 97% | - | 6.7 | James Whale |
| 23 | Think Fast, Mr. Moto '1937 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 6.7 | - | - | 6.2 | Norman Foster |
| 24 | The Spy in Black '1939 | War / Thriller | 6.9 | 100% | - | 6.4 | Michael Powell |
| 25 | A Man's Head '1933 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.1 | - | - | 6.1 | Julien Duvivier |
| 26 | Charlie Chan's Secret '1936 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.0 | 60% | - | 7.0 | Gordon Wiles |
| 27 | The Last Gangster '1937 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 6.7 | - | - | 6.4 | Edward Ludwig |
| 28 | Charlie Chan in Shanghai '1935 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 6.9 | - | - | 6.7 | James Tinling |
| 29 | The Black Cat '1934 | Horror / Thriller | 6.9 | 89% | - | 6.7 | Edgar G. Ulmer |
| 30 | Safe in Hell '1931 | Thriller / Drama | 6.9 | 100% | 57 | 6.7 | William A. Wellman |
| 31 | Q Planes '1939 | Thriller / Mystery | 6.5 | - | - | 6.0 | Tim Whelan |
| 32 | Charlie Chan at the Circus '1936 | Crime / Mystery / Comedy / Thriller | 6.8 | - | - | 6.4 | Harry Lachman |
| 33 | Young and Innocent '1937 | Thriller / Romance / Mystery | 6.8 | 100% | 77 | 6.5 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 34 | Mr. Moto's Last Warning '1939 | Mystery / Crime / Thriller | 6.4 | - | - | 5.7 | Norman Foster |
| 35 | Dark Journey '1937 | Thriller / War / Romance / Drama / Crime | 6.2 | - | - | 6.5 | Victor Saville |
| 36 | The Man Who Knew Too Much '1934 | Thriller / Mystery | 6.7 | 88% | 77 | 6.5 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 37 | The Invisible Ray '1936 | Sci-Fi / Horror / Thriller | 6.5 | 63% | - | 6.3 | Lambert Hillyer |
| 38 | Mr. Wong, Detective '1938 | Crime / Thriller / Mystery | 6.0 | - | - | 5.6 | William Nigh |
| 39 | Supernatural '1933 | Mystery / Thriller / Horror | 6.1 | 50% | - | 6.1 | Victor Halperin |
| 40 | Doctor X '1932 | Horror / Thriller / Mystery | 6.4 | 83% | - | 6.0 | Michael Curtiz |
| 41 | The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes '1935 | Thriller / Mystery / Crime | 5.8 | - | - | 5.4 | Leslie S. Hiscott |
| 42 | The Bat Whispers '1930 | Mystery / Comedy / Crime / Horror / Thriller | 6.3 | 67% | - | 6.6 | Roland West |
| 43 | Secret Agent '1936 | Thriller / Mystery / Romance | 6.4 | 86% | 67 | 6.1 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 44 | Mary '1931 | Mystery / Crime / Thriller | 5.7 | - | - | 5.6 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 45 | Murder! '1930 | Mystery / Crime / Thriller | 6.3 | 83% | - | 5.9 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 46 | A Study in Scarlet '1933 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 5.6 | 93% | - | 5.5 | Edwin L. Marin |
| 47 | The Vampire Bat '1933 | Horror / Thriller | 5.8 | 67% | - | 5.5 | Frank R. Strayer |
| 48 | Number Seventeen '1932 | Thriller / Mystery / Crime | 5.6 | 73% | - | 5.5 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 49 | The Son of Kong '1933 | Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller | 5.6 | 42% | 50 | 5.4 | Ernest B. Schoedsack |
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.
All thriller movies
All movies of the 1930s
Thriller in other decades
Thriller of the 1940s Thriller of the 1950s Thriller of the 1960s Thriller of the 1970s Thriller of the 1980s Thriller of the 1990s Thriller of the 2000s Thriller of the 2010s Thriller of the 2020s
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 Mystery of the 1930s Romance of the 1930s War of the 1930s Western of the 1930s
Directors on this list
Fritz Lang Raoul Walsh Alfred Hitchcock Howard Hawks Wilfred Jackson Archie Mayo Jean Renoir Richard Thorpe Alfred L. Werker William Keighley Lloyd Bacon Burt Gillett
Actors on this list
Peter Lorre James Cagney Sylvia Sidney Spencer Tracy Michael Redgrave Leslie Howard Bette Davis Jean Gabin Basil Rathbone Robert Montgomery Rosalind Russell Nigel Bruce