Best Crime Movies of 1945

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island and while they are waiting for the mysterious host to appear, a recording levels serious accusations at each of the guests. Soon they start being murdered, one by one. As the survivors try to keep their wits, they reach a disturbing conclusion: one of them must be the killer.

The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.

Edinburgh, 1831. Among those who undertake the illegal trade of grave robbery is Gray, ostensibly a cab driver. Formerly a medical student convicted of grave robbery, Gray holds a grudge against Dr. MacFarlane who had escaped detection and punishment.

When composer George Harvey Bone wakes with no memory of the previous night and a bloody knife in his pocket, he worries that he has committed a crime. On the advice of Dr. Middleton, Bone agrees to relax, going to a music performance of singer Netta Longdon. Riveted by Netta, Bone agrees to write songs for her rather than his own concerto. However, Bone soon grows jealous of Netta and worries about controlling himself during his spells.

An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.

The Good Comrades are a collection of varied gentlemen who crave one thing - solitude. They reside at Drearcliff House, ancestral home of their eldest member. All seems serene and convivial until one by one the members begin to perish in the most grisly of manners. Foul play is suspected by the Good Comrades' insurance agent, who turns to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson for guidance.

A woman finds herself entrenched in a murder cover-up when she goes to work for a wealthy widow.

Pete Marshall is sent as a replacement to the mountain district town of Plainville when a public opinion surveyor who went there goes missing. Visiting the hillbilly family of Mamie Fleagle, Pete begins to suspect that she and her two sons have murdered the surveyor. Pete then believes that Mamie is slowly poisoning wealthy Grandma Fleagle, who has put a vital clue to her fortune in a nonsensical embroidered sampler.

After the King of Ruthenia has been assassinated, Holmes and Watson are engaged to escort his son to Europe via Algiers, aboard a transatlantic ocean liner which also carries a number of suspicious persons, any of whom may be involved in a plot to also assassinate him.

While on a train, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder as they pass a building. When she tells the police, they think she's crazy since she can't tell exactly where the crime happened. She then enlists a popular mystery writer to help with her sleuthing.

Sherlock Holmes investigates when young women around London turn up murdered, each with a finger severed. Scotland Yard suspects a madman, but Holmes believes the killings to be part of a diabolical plot.

The US Government tries to track down embedded Nazi agents in the States.

A beautiful but unscrupulous female performer manipulates all the men in her life in order to achieve her aims.

The latest assignment for respected detective Charlie Chan has come directly from the government and involves the disappearance of a scientist named Harper, who was working on an extremely important serum. When the scientist is killed, Chan must sort through all very likely suspects, including the man's sister and his butler.

The life of American public enemy number one who was shot by the police in 1934.

George Raft plays a sailor who sets out to solve his father's mysterious death.

Detective Tracy (Morgan Conway) rescues Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) and Junior from a killer called Splitface (Mike Mazurki).

Melodrama set in Victorian Brighton. Scheming pub landlady uses the timorous son of a domineering pharmacist to assist in the poisoning of her drunkard husband. (The title is from the way pharmacists used to wrap parcels containing poison).

Gormless George Trotter (George Formby) moves down from Manchester to the bright lights of London in search of fame and fortune on the stage - only to find himself the prime suspect in a bizarre murder mystery! Whilst staying at Ma Tubbs' theatrical boarding house, a man is murdered in the room right next door to George. When George tries to solve the mystery, he ends up presenting the police with a whole load of clues - all of which point to him as the culprit! Now George must uncover the real murderer himself, with the help of his showbiz friends, his little Ukulele and a fiendishly cunning song! This delightful comedy musical includes three full-length musical numbers - The Daring Young Man, She's Got Two of Everything and I'd Like a Dream Like That.

A scientist who is working on a cure for influenza is victimized by his unscrupulous boss, who releases the vaccine before it's ready, resulting in the death of the scientist's young son.

A famous scientist invents a humanoid robot (the titular "monster"), so a greedy rival scientist plans to steal it for use in his criminal plans. His henchmen often kidnap a trained gorilla (the titular "ape") from the zoo, to aid in the schemes.

A playboy produces an airtight alibi when he is questioned about the murder of his wealthy aunt.

Attorney Wayne Fletcher and his secretary are having an affair, so when Wayne's wife is found smothered to death, he becomes the prime suspect. As the police investigate the murder, a psychic with questionable motives tries to contact the deceased woman. Soon, Wayne begins seeing visions of his dead wife, and other people involved with the case begin to be killed, one by one.

Madrid, Carnival Sunday. A night watchman finds the body of a woman, a rich and greedy moneylender who has apparently been murdered. The prime suspect is a watchmaker who owed her a lot of money.

A crook becomes the victim of a crafty card player who works for the District Attorney.

While on vacation, the Falcon is arrested for kidnapping after striking up a friendship with a girl who's nurse has been recently murdered.

Donald has an unpleasant evening when a mysterious book salesman comes to his door then disappears leaving Donald with a collection of whodunnit novels. He reads one and gets so fully involved in it that it appears that the characters are actually coming out of the book and into his living room getting him involved in the murder caper. Finally the author of the book, J. Harold King, steps forth and claims Donald innocent. The characters return to the novel from whence they came leaving Donald wondering if it was really just his "imagination"

After nearly running over him with her cab, Patty Mitchell picks up a fare who claims to have amnesia. As he fumbles to remember the basic facts of his identity, Patty becomes interested in the stranger and decides to help him in his search. But as the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, and Patty's interest becomes more personal, the stranger finds that he is the prime suspect in a murder case.

After robbing and murdering his married lover and then making her death look like suicide, conniving philanderer Ronnie Mason relocates to Los Angeles. Under a new identity and claiming to be a writer, Ronnie finds lodging at the home of Hilda Fenchurch and her mother. He woos Hilda, knowing she has money, but when he discovers that Hilda's sister, Anne, has just inherited $25,000, he switches his attentions to her.

A police detective (Edward Arnold) uses fluorescent powder to catch a pickpocket (Selena Royle) and her gang.

Unscrupulous women marry servicemen for their pay.

After suffering a head injury during the Blitz, John Loder, a theatre actor comes to believe himself to be the Brighton Strangler, the murderer he was playing onstage.

When a man dies of a heart attack, a stage and radio mentalist believes he has willed him to die because he was angry with the man. Riddled with guilt, the mentalist cancels further shows, breaks off his engagement to his female partner, who can read minds while in a hypnotic trance, and takes refuge in the eerie wax-museum-cum-home of another woman friend.

A woman uses a deck of cards to predict death within 24 hours for a stranger sitting at a bar, then tries to help him remember who he is based on items in his pockets.

Newlyweds (George Murphy, Carole Landis) drag their lawyer friend (Pat O'Brien) to a mountain resort on a search for a missing magician.

In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, a young man graduates from the police academy at the top of his class. He then teams up with some local thieves and uses his knowledge of police procedures to pursue a career of undetected crime.

A madcap comedy about a kid sister who tries to steal her older sister's boyfriend. Her plan involves joining forces with a burglar to rob the unfortunate suitor's home.

In San Francisco, detective partners Jack Packard and Doc Long are hired by socialite Jefferson Monk who believes someone is following him with the aim to kill him.

A female cabbie is suspected of killing her drunken husband.

A criminal psychologist treats an artist whose blackouts coincide with a series of murders.

An ex-cop is suspected of murder after he is found with a dead woman. The private detective is on the run -- attempting to prove his innocence.

A reporter learns that an executed killer has taken over a scientist's mind.

Blackie is implicated in a murder when he accidently sells a phony Charles Dickens first edition at an auction.

A military nurse recovering at an inn from a nervous breakdown keeps having dreams where she sees two men trying to murder a third. When she meets a man who is a federal agent at the inn, she is astounded to discover that he is the man in her dream who is the intended murder victim.

The daughter of a formerly wealthy man tries to get a job singing on a radio show, but gets involved in a feud and murder.

Head over heels in love with a stern and cold older businessman's young wife, a reporter is seduced into conspiring to murder him so she can inherit his estate, while pinning the murder on another businessman.

Blackie helps the police rescue hostage from an escaped maniac on a killing spree.

This Crime Does Not Pay entry focuses on fake spiritualists. A mother is worried about her son, who is missing in action. Over time, she gives a con man all of the family savings to find reassurance that her son is all right. When she can no longer pay, events take a tragic turn.