In that film, and in this one, she appears in the credits only as ‘The Old Lady’. Right at the end of the film there’s one of the best close-ups in cinema history as he realises he is awaiting a horrible fate of his own making. Here are ten, in chronological order, that were made for an audience who were living through momentous times. Stars: Nathaniel Parker, Sharon Small, Lesley Vickerage, Paul Hickey. Mystery: 18th (out of 26) film with Bulldog Drummond character Busman's … She’s Bridie Quilty (Deborah Kerr), a young woman from a rural Irish village who decides to join the IRA. There are dream sequences and strange effects as Johnny’s grip on reality lessens. Howard gave people more than entertainment. It’s a very slow start to this mystery, but luckily Marius Goring is lots of fun. His popularity endured, and he was played by David Farrar in this filmic incarnation where he solves a murder at a Cornish tin-mine. In all modesty though, I do believe my arrangement is the most thorough. Ronald Neame • Starring: Hugh Williams, Greta Gynt, Marius Goring. Simon Brett: Blotto and Twinks Mystery Series – The sleuths in this series are a British brother and sister team. Can anyone escape the past, or can it resurface to engulf you at any time? We put together this Best 50 Movies of the 1940s list to provide a suggestion of required viewing material for anyone who aspires to cultural literacy. The Case of the Frightened Lady (1940). Howard produced, directed and starred in the film, and it is very funny, and very moving. Thriller films; By … She’s a great character, and she leads her bemused love interest (played with charm by Trevor Howard) on a merry chase across Britain. The plot has echoes of Rebecca and Brief Encounter, but if you’re going to be influenced by other films those two are good choices. In California, Bobo and his mooching 'pal' Tiny are doing odd jobs and getting drunk and they hide a secret about the unsolved murder of sailor Pop Kelly but suicidal waitress Anna, saved by Bobo, unravels the mystery. A young woman marries an older man, and they move into a house that contains secrets of the past. Stalking through it all is Pinkie Brown, a seventeen year old with sharp cheekbones and a suit to match, and with quick, desperate eyes. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. Goring was a theatre actor first and foremost, and there’s always a touch of the theatrical in his film appearances, but in an enjoyable way. Walbrook was a great actor. This is a really interesting film. The 1940s was a heck of a decade for the British. Sometimes that villain comes from a culture that we’re at war with, physically or ideologically. The smallest betrayals have profound effects, and come back to haunt us. Michael Joyce (Mason) is a celebrated surgeon who is giving a lecture to a group of students. Walbrook was a mesmerizing Austrian-born actor who left his homeland in 1937 to live in the UK. The films of post-war Britain are fascinating; Aliya picks 10 of the best British thrillers from the 1940s. He gave them courage. The only downside to British TV shows is their short seasons. The Echo Murders looks cheap and tired, but then, it’s a B film made at the very end of World War II. British Mystery Movies for a Dark & Stormy Night. In 1944 George Cukor released an American version with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, and the rumour is that MGM sought to suppress and even destroy this 1940 film. He’s the main reason to see this movie, but there are also some great thrill moments at the end, where the piano music swells and the shadow of the murderer falls against the walls of the creepy old castle. Watch The Spy in Black online on BFI Player ... Then There Were None (1945) Director René Clair. Will The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Become a Victim of WandaVision's Success? Perhaps that change is to be expected in a society that had been through so much, but it’s interesting that even in the escapist arena of the movies, at a time when such escapism was sorely needed, some deep and true questions come to the surface. Watch these free Classic Mysteries Thru Opera TV, which is on many devices including TiVo. "Before I Hang - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Foreign Correspondent - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Gaslight - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Rebecca - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Stranger on the Third Floor - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Among the Living - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Le Dernier des Six - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "I Wake Up Screaming - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Man Hunt - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Shadow of the Thin Man - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Suspicion - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "L'Assassin Habite au 21 - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Bowery at Midnight - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Cat People - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Eyes in the Night - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Glass Key - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "I Live on Danger - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Nightmare - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Saboteur - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "This Gun for Hire - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Above Suspicion - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Le Corbeau - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Fallen Sparrow - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Journey into Fear - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Leopard Man - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Shadow of a Doubt - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Bluebeard - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Climax - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Dark Waters - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Double Indemnity - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Laura - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Lodger - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Mask of Dimitrios - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Ministry of Fear - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "Murder, My Sweet - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Scarlet Claw - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Thin Man Goes Home - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "When Strangers Marry - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", "The Woman in the Window - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_thriller_films_of_the_1940s&oldid=992740431, Articles with dead external links from March 2020, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 6 December 2020, at 21:21. Myth, Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here, The Ingrid Pitt column: Hollywood's uneasy relationship with war, 10 Wonderful Powell & Pressburger Films From the 1940s, Looking back at Ant & Dec's Alien Autopsy, The Latest and Greatest Funko Items To Purchase Now. From ‘Monty Python’ to ‘Don't Look Now’, British movies are have made cinematic history. Brighton looks seedy and rainswept, and drink, sex and violence pervades the pubs and the pier. But sometimes, in the most challenging films, that villain looks no different from us. This includes movies made in the 1940s as well as movies that were made in the 1950s. As she descends into madness, she falls further and further under the spell of her husband, who is not as supportive as he seems…. Directors: Archie Mayo, Fritz Lang | Stars: Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, Claude Rains. He relates a tale to them, on the subject of criminal psychology, of a perfectly sane man who commits murder. Season three of Sherlock , which premieres on Sunday, January 19, runs for only three … As a true Geek aside, fantasy writer Michael Moorcock worked on the novels and based one of his characters on an arch-enemy of Blake’s – Zenith the Albino had white skin and crimson eyes, and was the inspiration for Elric of Melnibone.