Best Crime Movies of 1952

A down-on-his-luck ex-GI finds himself framed for an armored car robbery. When he's finally released for lack of evidence--after having been beaten up and tortured by the police--he sets out to discover who set him up, and why. The trail leads him into Mexico and a web of hired killers and corrupt cops.

With three days before his paper folds, a crusading editor tries to expose a vicious gangster.

An unexpected bond develops between a fugitive killer and a runaway orphan on an odyssey across England.

Eddie Miller struggles with his hatred of women, he's especially bothered by seeing women with their lovers. He starts a killing spree as a sniper by shooting women from far distances. In an attempt to get caught, he writes an anonymous letter to the police begging them to stop him.

During the Cold War, diplomatic courier Mike Kells must retrieve a dispatch containing top-secret intelligence. But when he arrives at the meeting point, a train station in Salzburg, his contact turns up dead, and the message is nowhere to be found. With no clear suspect in sight, Kells must sort through his uncertain relationships with two women, while sidestepping the pitfalls of subterfuge, sabotage and spies in his search for the documents.

David Marshall Williams is sent to a prison farm where he works in the tool shop and eventually develops the precursor of the famous M-1 Carbine automatic rifle used in World War II.

Special prosecutor John Conroy hopes to combat organized crime in his city and appoints his cop father Matt as chief investigator. John doesn't understand why Matt is reluctant, but cynical reporter Jerry McKibbon thinks he knows: he's seen Matt with mob lieutenant Harrigan. Jerry's friendship with John is tested by the question of what to do about Matt, and by his attraction to John's girl Amanda. Meanwhile, the threatened racketeers adopt increasingly violent means of defense.

A chance accident causes a nuclear physicist, who's selling top secret material to the Russians, to fall under FBI scrutiny and go on the run.

A small-town newspaper editor defies threats to expose the mob.

A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.

A psychopath on the run takes a job as a handyman at the house of a lonely widow.

A crime gang leader is losing her sight, so while her lover goes into hiding, she checks in to the hospital for extensive surgery to recover her eyesight. There she is treated by a handsome young doctor. As expected not only does the doctor successfully open her eyes, he also opens her heart for him.

After Slip is drafted into the Marines, the rest of the gang volunteers so they can be with him. Sach discovers that the colonel knew his father and he is promoted. During a drill that he is putting the rest of the gang through, they find a soldier left for dead on the side of the road. Slip discovers a playing card next to the marine and traces it to Jolly Joe Johnson's gambling house. They suspect that the gambling house is cheating and set out to uncover the proof.

Unable to recall the past 24 hours, a British bank clerk is the prime suspect for a robbery/murder.

Picking a pocket leads to blackmail and murder for a petty criminal in London.

A meek teller thinks he's killed his boss. He flees with a box of cash hoping for a new life with his younger mistress.

In World War II France, American soldier Michael Blake captures, then loses Nazi-collaborator art thief Paul Rona, who leaves behind a gem studded gauntlet (a stolen religious relic). Years later, financial reverses lead Mike to return in search of the object. In Paris, he must dodge mysterious followers and a corpse that's hard to explain; so he and attractive tour guide Christine decamp on a cross-country pursuit that becomes love on the run...then takes yet another turn.

A married bookstore owner is blackmailed after he makes a pass at his new sexy blonde clerk.

Jeff Elliot is an American GI investigating a black market gang in Munich.

Police track a serial killer.

A small-town newspaper editor risks everything to expose a corrupt sheriff.

The relationship between brothers Terry and Matt, both active in the IRA, comes under strain when Terry begins to question the use of violence.

Kicked out of Oxford, a junk dealer's son (Dermot Walsh) joins a gang of thieves fenced by his father (Charles Victor).

An underhand solicitor receives threatening notes, and the police are called in to protect him.

This tale of intrigue finds Valentina Cortese involved in an assassination plot. She helps the police apprehend the conspirators after an innocent bystander is accidentally killed.

A detective proves that a Robin Hood-type crook did not steal a metal formula.

A boxer (William Bishop) jailed for murder proves his girlfriend's (Ann Richards) wealthy father and a ward boss framed him.

A vicious loan shark ring has been preying on factory workers. When several workers at a tire factory suffer violence at the hands of the loan sharkers, a union leader and the factory owner try to recruit ex-con Joe Gargan to infiltrate to the gang. At first Joe does not want to get involved, but changes his mind when his brother-in-law dies at the hands of a savage loan shark hood. Joe works his way into the mob, but in order to keep his cover, Joe can't tell anyone what he is up to. This results in him being disowned by his sister and girl friend.

1890, London, and a serial killer known as The Terror is murdering policemen. When gentleman thief Nicholas Revel unwittingly becomes the chief suspect, he must use his guile and wits to prove he’s not the killer; whilst also not getting caught for a jewel robbery he has just committed.

It's a deadly play for power when a Mafia chieftain's top gun goes straight and threatens to testify against the big boss and his cruel, nationwide network of crime. The picture, which was shot in a semi-documentary style, was inspired by the Kefauver investigations of 1950-51.

Two short films released together under a collective title. The first, "Secret Sharer", directed by John Brahm and starring James Mason, is based on a short story by Joseph Conrad. The second tale, "Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", directed by Bretaigne Windust and starring Robert Preston, is adapted from Stephen Crane's short story.

After successfully swindling thousands of dollars from hapless victims, conflicted con artist Mary (Hillary Brooke) decides to go straight, but her greedy boyfriend and partner, Roger (Tom Conway), convinces her to pull off one final scam before they get married. Written and directed by Andrew L. Stone, this classic crime film finds the police struggling to keep up with the deceptive duo's exceedingly complicated schemes.

A doctor changes a woman's face to match the one that broke his heart. Trouble starts when his love returns.

Two men working on the docks close to London's Tower Bridge find the body of an unidentified man floating in the Thames. The police later identify the body to be that of a diamond courier from Holland. The police have to find his murderer, as well as the missing diamonds he was carrying.

The Toff solves the mystery of a missing employer. One of the BFi's most wanted films.

A greedy but successful professional gambler wants to join the British Establishment when he falls in love with a blue-blooded lady. But first he must mend his ways and then dump his nightclub singer girl friend. She's not so easy to get rid of, neither is his past.

Long after being deserted by her husband, Linda Harrison will soon be free to marry her lover, Michael Carteret. But when her husband suddenly reappears, he attempts to blackmail the couple with a threat of ruining Michael's career. When her husband is murdered, Michael appears to be the only obvious suspect - but will the circumstantial evidence be enough to sentence him to death?

When his grandfather dies, George Westcott (Patrick Doonan) returns home from India to collect his inheritance -- only to find that the will has mysteriously gone missing. As his greedy relatives try to seize the estate, George gets the help of a movie star (Greta Gynt), a window cleaner (James Hayter and a police inspector (Herbert Ross) to track down the missing will. It seems that justice will prevail -- but is George Wescott really George Wescott?

When police inspector Gerald Blake wants to infiltrate a London stolen-goods gang, he does a thorough job of it. First, he robs a jewelry store, gets caught and is sentenced to prison. Then he teams up with gang-member Joey to make their escape. Once in the gang, Blake identifies the boss, Larry, and most of the other thieves, but not the "inside man." As a big fur job looms closer, the detective's task is complicated by the playful but seductive advances of Judy, a dazzling blonde who happens also to be the jealous Larry's girl friend.

A former pilot suffering from blackouts discovers that a fellow flyer is suspected of being mixed up with a web of smugglers. While searching for his missing buddy, he unwittingly becomes entangled in a morass of suspicion.

When nuclear scientists are kidnapped and smuggled behind the Iron Curtain, an FBI man and a British agent are assigned to catch the kidnappers.

A sinister crook is implicated in blackmail, greed for emeralds, a secret formula and murder. Thee episodes from a 1952 British television series called "Inspector Morley, Late of Scotland Yard, Investigates" were joined together and released theatrically.

A fisherman cannot make a decent living from his trawler so he decides to turn his hand to smuggling.

An American fugitive flees to Rome and tries to elude capture by masquerading as a priest.

A lounge singer sees his career skyrocket after he signs a contract for a mobster nightclub owner.

A group of very strange men, refugees and casualties of the war, rally round when one of their number is framed by a drug racketeer. Co-opting a well-known journalist to their cause, they scheme to bring the racketeer to justice in a home-made "trial" in the crypt of a ruined church.

A pastry-shop girl (Penny Edwards) sees a priest's (Ross Elliott) and a lawyer's (Rick Vallin) brother take part in a jewel heist.

When a beautiful young artist's model is strangled in her bed, Scotland Yard find themselves with three suspects -- her sinister ex-husband (Elwyn Brook-Jones), a sexually disturbed artist (Ballard Berkeley) and her violent new boyfriend (John Bailey), who is prone to unexplained blackouts.To catch the killer, the police must set a dangerous trap with the aid of a famous sculptress (Hy Hazell).

Mystery directed by Francis Searle.