Best Mystery Movies of 1931
The Maltese Falcon
A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.

The Black Camel
Movie star Shelah Fane is seeing wealthy Alan Jaynes while filming in Honolulu, Hawaii, but won't marry him without consulting famed psychic Tanaverro first. Tanaverro confronts her about the unsolved murder of fellow film star Denny Mayo three years earlier, and she decides to reject Jaynes' proposal. When Shelah is found shot to death in her beach-front pavilion, Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police investigates.

The Vanishing Legion
A mysterious master criminal known as The Voice plots with his gang to sabotage the Milesburg Oil Company, but the rightful heir has a secret army of her own to protect her rights.

Charlie Chan Carries On
Charlie steps in to solve the murder of a wealthy American found dead in a London hotel. Settings include London, Nice, San Remo, Honolulu and Hong Kong. Fast-paced with lots of wisecracking. The first film to star Warner Oland as Charlie Chan.

The Hound of the Baskervilles
On his uncle's death Sir Henry Baskerville returns from abroad and opens up the ancestral hall on the desolate moors of Devonshire. Holmes uncovers a plot to have Sir Henry murdered by a terrible trained hound.

The Public Defender
A mysterious phantom who calls himself The Reckoner vows to expose the crooked bankers who embezzled their company's funds.

Murder by the Clock
A policeman (William Boyd) investigates a woman's (Lilyan Tashman) link to murders that are preceded by a shrilling horn inside a family mausoleum.

Ghost Parade
A series of strange, inexplicable, and increasingly frightening events takes place in Mosby Manor.

Murder at Midnight
Wealthy Mr. Kennedy shoots his secretary, Channing, during a parlor game, but it turns out the gun was loaded with real bullets. Luckily, criminologist Phillip Montrose is on hand to help the police. When Kennedy quickly ends up dead as well, the police think it's a tidy murder-suicide, but the family lawyer knows of a letter that voiced Kennedy's suspicions about someone who was out to get him. Soon, the cops are on the trail of a ruthless and clever killer who is one step ahead of even Montrose.

The Sleeping Cardinal
A card cheat is threatened with exposure into joining a criminal enterprise that Sherlock Holmes believes is controlled by Professor Moriarity.

The Speckled Band
After her sister dies under mysterious circumstances, a young heiress seeks Holmes' help when she feels threatened by her brutish stepfather.

The Range Feud
Clint Turner is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Judy's father, a rival rancher who was an enemy of his own father, and his best friend, Sheriff Buck Gordon sets out to find the real killer in the face of pressure for a quick lynching of Clint.

A Night in Montmartre
A young couple live under a café in Paris that, unknown to them, is owned by a brutal blackmailer. When he is murdered, they fall under suspicion. However, the husband's father, an amateur detective, believes in their innocence and sets out to find who really killed the blackmailer.

The Secret Witness
A wealthy, cheating husband is found murdered in his penthouse apartment. The police soon arrest a suspect, but the victim's downstairs neighbor believes the man is innocent and sets out to prove who really committed the murder.

The Devil Plays
A mystery novelist's detective skills are put to the test when he attends a party where a murder is committed.

The Mystery Train
A group of passengers are trapped in a runaway Pullman car.

Grief Street
A reporter helps the police investigate the murder of a disagreeable and philandering actor who is found strangled to death in his theater dressing room with its door and window locked from the inside.

Convicted
A criminologist investigates the murder of a Broadway producer on an ocean liner.

The Phantom
An eclectic group of people are stalked by a masked killer in an old mansion.
A Burglar to the Rescue
He is working on the books to cover his crimes, when a visitor arrives with a gun. In the conversation that ensues, it is revealed that the visitor is an escaped convict that was a former employee of the bank. He was railroaded to prison to cover the crooked banker's crime. As with other entries in this series, there is a shadow projected every so often with a voice forecasting what is to come.

Black Coffee
Black Coffee is a 1931 British detective film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott. Based on the 1930 play Black Coffee by Agatha Christie featuring her famous private detective Hercule Poirot, it stars Austin Trevor as Poirot with Richard Cooper playing his companion Captain Hastings. A famous but hated scientist, Sir Amory, is killed during a house party, and some of his valuable papers are missing. Poirot rapidly determines the cause of death and the motive, then narrows down the suspects to the most likely culprit.

The Spider
Lowe plays Chatrand the Great, a magician with great hypnotic and magical powers. During his evening performance at an upscale theater, a murder occurs. A hand wearing a sinister spider ring raises a revolver, the lights go out, and a shot rings out! When the lights come on, the body of a patron is lying on the floor, dying. Who is the mysterious killer? What is the strange secret of Lowe’s clairvoyant, amnesia-plagued assistant? After the police restrain the audience from leaving, Lowe uses his magical powers to help expose the killer. Watch for the terrific séance scene where weird ghost-like creatures float above the stage.

The Week End Mystery
During a rainstorm at a remote manor house, Richard Crayell plays host to several guests. At nine o'clock sharp, he excuses himself from the card table to take his medicine, promising to return soon. When he doesn't, Claire goes in search of him, and finds his door locked from the inside.

The Lyons Mail
A mystery film directed by Arthur Maude

A Dangerous Affair
Holt plays police lieutenant McHenry, while Graves is his friendly rival, crime reporter Wally Cook. After the two men verbally duel over a variety of details, they hunker down to business, that of solving the murder of a lawyer who was in the midst of reading a will to a motley collection of heirs.
The Black Widow
The late Mr. Ramsey is found dead after a quarrel with his son Jack Ramsey. Jack is arrested and sentenced to death. A young reporter girl swears she will prove he is not guilty.
Maid to Order
While trying to nab a gang of diamond smugglers, the police are notified by Scotland Yard that the gang's leader, a beautiful Englishwoman who was on her way to the States to take control of the gang, has been caught. Because the American gangsters don't know what their English boss looks like, the police persuade a female impersonator to pretend to be her and infiltrate the gang.

The House of Unrest
A mystery film directed by Leslie Howard Gordon.
Inquest
A widow enlists the support of a King's Counsel to help clear herself of the accusation she had murdered her husband by a suspicious coroner
77 Park Lane

The Wickham Mystery
'Crooks steal pearls and helicopter plans.' (British Film Catalogue)

The Man at Six
A butler is found murdered in an unfurnished mansion house.
The Old Man
A mystery film directed by H. Manning Haynes.
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Check out our top containing the Best Mystery Movies of 1931 - PickTheMovie.com. This top was obtained with our unique algorithm ordered by our unique ranking system.
