Best Crime Movies of 1937

Robert Tisdall finds on the beach the corpse of a woman he knew. Others wrongly conclude that he is the murderer. Fleeing, he desperately attempts to prove that he is not the killer. A young woman becomes embroiled in the effort.

Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.

Returning from European exile where she avoided testifying against her criminal associates, a former singer with a tell-all diary is murdered to insure her silence.

Mobster "Baby Face" Martin returns home to visit the New York neighborhood where he grew up, dropping in on his mother, who rejects him because of his gangster lifestyle, and his old girlfriend, Francey, now a syphilitic prostitute. Martin also crosses paths with Dave, a childhood friend struggling to make it as an architect, and the Dead End Kids, a gang of young boys roaming the streets of the city's East Side slums.

Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.

Vera Kowalska is put on trial for murdering concert pianist Michael Michailow. In court it is revealed that some years earlier Michael ruined Vera's life.

In the underworld of Manhattan, a woman dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.

When a hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he is seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.

Although Charlie and Lee are in Monaco for an art exhibit, they become caught up in a feud between rival financiers which involves the Chan's in a web of blackmail and murder.

Mr. Moto Heads to China on a quest for seven ancient scrolls that reveal the location of Genghis Khan's tomb—a crypt filled with fabulous treasure! But Moto isn't the only one stalking the scrolls—so is a shadowy band of thieves. But when his ruthless rivals go too far, the mild-mannered detective's quest for antiquities becomes a passion for vengeance—because if he can't bring these villains to justice... he'll bring them to their knees.

A crime boss goes searching for his ex-wife and son after a ten-year prison stint. His old gang has other plans though, and use the child to try and make him disclose the location of the loot he hid before going to the slammer.

When his import/export business infiltrated by international diamond smugglers, Mr. Moto must follow a trail of clues littered with beautiful women, glittering gems and deadly assassins. Making his way from the mysterious streets of San Francisco's Chinatown to the dark and dangerous alleys of Shanghai, Mr. Moto will stop at nothing to bring the culprits to justice...even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice!

A writer takes a job as a secretary because her scrupulous husband isn't bringing in the dough as an attorney. When her new employer is murdered, she can't seem to make up her mind as to whether she "dunnit" or not.

President McKinley asks Lt. Richard L. Perry to go underground to identify some obviously very well briefed Mid-Western bank robbers based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Dr. Kildare treats and falls for impoverished ex-con Janet Healy, widow of a bank robber, who can't find her baby. Later she helps Kildare sew up gangster Hanlon in a tavern back room. Kildare pursues Janet and enlists Hanlon to help her; the gangster's solution, not surprisingly, is violent.

A Bishop from Australia comes to Perry to ask him to take a case of a woman wrongly accused of manslaughter 22 years before. The case would involve the wealthy Mr. Brownley and the fact that his alleged granddaughter may be an imposter. With that, the Bishop leaves and is clubbed in his hotel room. Soon after, he leaves on a boat and Perry meets the woman - Ida Gilbert. Perry goes to see Mr. Brownley, but gets nowhere. Later that night, Brownley is to meet Ida, but he is shot by a woman who drops Ida's gun. Ida is arrested for the murder of Mr. Brownley and Perry gets involved.

John Thompson is kidnapped by mobsters after quitting his job. Then he is arrested, tried, and sentenced to death for murders they committed. A suspicious detective thinks he is innocent and works to save his life.

With no other prospects, a World War I veteran puts the skills they taught him in the War to use.

Dr. Benjamin Twist (Hay) and his pupils become involved with art thieves on a trip to Paris. Hay’s seamy schoolmaster act is supported by a fine cast including Charles Hawtrey and Lilli Palmer.

This entry in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series deals with racketeers shaking down small grocers and horning in on the relief tickets, forcing prices up with the consumers paying the freight.

A fast moving and low budget crime drama seasoned with mystery & comedy.

John Forrest, an insurance investigator with a weakness for model railways, is on the trail of a gang of smash-and-grab thieves targeting Europe's most prestigious jewellers. As the chase leads him to Ireland, Forrest finds he needs help and who better to call upon than his impossibly elegant, highly capable wife, Alice?

Ambitious reporter Torchy Blane guides her policeman boyfriend to correctly pinpoint who shot the man she was interviewing.

Nero Wolfe agrees to investigate a series of murders that seem to be tied in with a past Harvard hazing prank that went awry.

A young woman finds herself as the intended victim of a murder plot on a transatlantic flight from London to New York.

A Chinese-American woman tries to expose an illegal alien smuggling ring.

A man goes to a loan shark to finance his family's vacation.

The inventor of a new top-of-the-line burglar alarm system is kidnapped by a gang in order to get him to help them commit robberies.

A detective must solve a case where a girl was murdered in a room--and all the doors and windows were locked from the inside.

Jean Boucheron the cat burglar is the darling of the Montmartre whores--and catches the eye of slumming socialite Zelia de Chaumont, who decides to "reform" him. A complication is his lovely young ward Odile... murder and a grand courtoom scene ensue.

A radio reporter sets out to rescue his ex-girlfriend when she is kidnapped by gangsters.

The daughter of a murdered financier works as a jewelry salesperson while she tracks her father's colleagues who plotted against him.

A London cat burglar falls for the girlfriend of a stockbroker who used to be his partner.

Cowboy Larry O'Day and his sidekick Lucky Smith happen upon a distraught Barbara Hartwell, who is about to be arrested for the murder of her uncle. With Barbara behind bars, Larry is determined to find the real killer and soon finds himself in the middle of a mystery involving crazed German entomologists and a smuggling ring bringing Chinese "picture girls" across the Mexican border for sale to wealthy Chinese bachelors.

An actor plots "the perfect crime" by confessing to murders he didn't commit.

Lively June, teen-aged daughter of mystery writer Waldo Everett, who calls her "Angel," becomes involved in intrigue centering on movie star Pauline Kaye and her companion Stivers. Reporter Nick Moore, once sweet on Pauline, is convinced that her sudden disappearance is a publicity stunt, which is true -- until gangster Bat Regan decides to get involved.

A juror at a murder trial is convinced the defendant is innocent.

Runyonesque crooks on the lam hide out on blind man's pastoral farm and decide to go straight.

In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, police go after a fraud operation that stages automobile accidents to collect insurance money.

Drummond's girlfriend is kidnapped by his enemies and he along with his friend Nielsen, an inspector from Scotland Yard, follow the trail and try to rescue her from the kidnappers.

Otto Kruger once again plays a dynamic, bombastic attorney in Columbia's Counsel for Crime. Kruger plays William Mellon, a shifty shyster whose underhanded methods loses him the love of his sweetheart Anne (Nana Bryant), who subsequently marries a powerful senator (Thurston Hall). What Mellon doesn't know is that Anne has borne him a son, whom the senator has adopted. Reaching adulthood, Paul (Douglass Montgomery) opts for a legal career himself, taking a clerical job with his own father's firm. In typical "B"-picture, Mellon is charged with murdering one of his more odious clients -- and Paul is appointed prosecuting attorney in the case.

Barry Brandon, a criminal lawyer, visits the night club of Denny Larkin, his primary client, with Betty Walker, a spoiled society girl. The police raid the club and Brandon pleads that the whole group is guilty, just to get even with Larkin for a rebuke. On the same night in court, Madge Carter is on trial for disorderly conduct, and Brandon volunteers to defend her, and proves the case against her if a frame-up. Finding that she is penniless, Brandon hires her as his secretary, and falls in love with her. Brandon is appointed district attorney and has ambitions of becoming the state governor. Having dinner at Betty's home, she maneuvers him, while he is drunk, into marrying her. Later, Madge is a witness when Larkin shoots down a fellow gangster. By threatening Brandon's life, he forces her to commit perjury at his trial, and say he fired in self-defense. Brandon, the prosecuting attorney (who has had his marriage to Betty annulled) knows she is lying but doesn't know why.

Racketeer Jim Barnes is trying to force the independent taxicab-drivers to join his "protection service" at the cost of five bucks a day. Champion race-car driver, Bob Kane, joins with his friends Lee and "Dad" Martin in a fight for the street rights of a big city.

A detective and his bumbling sidekick join the crackdown on racketeering in '30s New York City.

An Arizona gas station owner faces comic adventures after traveling with an eccentric millionaire to New City, where he meets up with a small-time con woman and is repeatedly mistaken for a gangster.

A general must come to terms with a crime he commited years earlier.

A supense-thriller-comedy set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War.

Dick Tracy's foe for this serial is the crime boss and Masked Mystery Villain The Spider/The Lame One and his Spider Ring. In the process of various crimes, including using his Flying wing and sound weapon to destroy the Bay Bridge in San Francisco and stealing an experimental "Speed Plane", the Spider captures Dick Tracy's brother, Gordon. The Spider's minion, Dr. Moloch, performs a brain operation on Gordon Tracy to turn him evil, making him secretly part of the Spider Ring and so turning brother against brother.

A young girl is travelling to London to find work. Arriving at the station, she meets a man who has been stabbed by a member of a gang of crooks involved with greyhound racing. She becomes a suspect, but flees the scene in order to deliver a message to the dead man's brother. She is protected from the police by a night club entertainer, who she learns is the man she is seeking.