Best Mystery Movies of 1946

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

On a stormy night, the mute servant to an ailing matriarch is stalked by a serial killer.

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.

Soon after a veteran's return from war his cheating wife is found dead. He evades police in an attempt to find the real murderer.

In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural hospital. But was the death accidental?

For Miranda Wells, moving to New York to live in Dragonwyck Manor with her rich cousin, Nicholas, seems like a dream. However, the situation gradually becomes nightmarish. She observes Nicholas' troubled relationship with his tenant farmers, as well as with his daughter, to whom Miranda serves as governess. Her relationship with Nicholas intensifies after his wife dies, but his mental imbalance threatens any hope of happiness.

A sister and her disturbed twin are implicated in a murder and a police detective must figure out which one's the killer.

George Taylor returns from WWII with amnesia. Back home in Los Angeles, he tries to track down his old identity, stumbling into a 3-year old murder case and a hunt for a missing $2 million.

A social event choreographed in the manner of a dance, illuminated by concepts drawn from Greek legend; one of filmmaker Maya Deren’s most intriguing works.

Holmes and Watson board a passenger train bound from London to Edinburgh, to guard the Star of Rhodesia, an enormous diamond worth a fortune belonging to an elderly woman of wealth; but within the first hour of the trip, the woman's son is murdered and the diamond stolen and any of the passengers in their car could be the killer thief.

A convicted thief in Dartmoor prison hides the location of the stolen Bank of England printing plates inside three music boxes. When the innocent purchasers of the boxes start to be murdered, Holmes and Watson investigate.

After a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother.

A young Navy sailor has one night to find out why a woman was killed and he ended up with a bag of money after a drinking blackout.

A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.

After three men are convicted of bank robberies, Charlie becomes suspicious. After some investigation Charlie finds the men are innocent and that the fingerprint evidence used to convict them had been forged. Charlie then proceeds to find the true bank robbers.

When a troupe of showgirls with their impresario and press agent vacation at a Malibu Beach resort, two of them are garroted. Charlie takes on the case assisted by Number Two Son Jimmy and faithful chauffeur Birmingham Brown.

Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But when he's called to the office of editor Adrienne Fromsett, it's not to talk about his story ideas — she wants him to locate the missing wife of her boss, Mr. Kingsby. The assignment quickly becomes complicated when bodies start turning up

An unsuccessful sculptor saves a madman named "The Creeper" from drowning. Seeing an opportunity for revenge, he tricks the psycho into murdering his critics.

A treasury agent on the trail of counterfeit money confides to fellow ocean liner passenger, Charlie Chan, that there have been two attempts on his life.

Inspector Cassin, a renowned Paris detective, departs to the country for a much-needed break. There he falls in love with the innkeeper’s daughter, Nanette, who is already betrothed to a local farmer. On the evening of their engagement party, Nanette and the farmer both disappear. Cassin takes up the case immediately to discover what happened to them and who is responsible.

In 1940s Los Angeles, when womanizing composer Keith Vincent is found dead, the inquest concludes it was a suicide but police detective Joe Warne isn't so sure.

Art curator George Steele experiences a train wreck...which never happened. Is he cracking up, or the victim of a plot?

A police detective uses his girlfriend to track down a homicidal maniac.

A young heiress finds evidence suggesting that at night she acts under the influence of a family curse and has begun committing ghastly murders in a nearby park.

Falsely accused of murdering a crooked newspaper reporter, suave detective Lamont Cranston -- aka the Shadow -- vows to track down the real killer.

A showgirl working for an inventor battles crooks, who want to steal his ideas.

Maria Montez plays a Spanish dancer named Rita, who is determined to bring Nazi collaborator Colonel Jose Artiego (Preston Foster) to justice. Artiego is at presently working incognito, as military governor of the North African city of Tangier. Maria finds an unexpected ally in the form of Artiego's discarded mistress Dolores (Louise Allbritton).

In San Francisco's Chinatown, Charlie helps two different people search for their missing relatives and uncovers a murder for insurance scheme.

Bedelia Carrington is living happily, it appears, in Monte Carlo with her husband Charlie Carrington. But a cultivated young artist, Ben Chaney, begins probing into her past with curious concern. Chaney, who is really a detective, learns that Bedelia's obsession for money has led her, in the past, to husband-poisoning for the insurance money.

Marine veteran Johnny Christopher meets and is immediately drawn to beautiful Evelyn Smith one day on the beach. Evelyn's new job as secretary to a U.S. senator in California soon brings unexpected intrigue and trouble for her and Johnny. The machinations of a sinister group of Nazi spies lead to mysteries and mistaken identities, and the two soon find themselves framed for murder!

This drama is an updated version of Ulmer's 1944 film Bluebeard. It is set in New York and follows the exploits of an eccentric Parisian painter who has come to New York to escape a controversy surrounding his work. The trouble stems when the model he has used in all his work is found floating dead in the Seine.

A San Francisco airplane bound for South America crashes, and among the scorched debris is found a shrunken native human head, neatly packaged. The perplexed police contact a local anthropology museum about this unclaimed piece of grisly baggage, where they intersect with Jack and Doc, two private eyes, called there to meet a mysterious woman who had a case for them and wanted to meet in private.

In the 7th film of the "Crime Doctor" series based on the radio program, Dr. Robert Ordway is summoned to take attend a diabetic, and gives an injection of insulin taken from a bottle in the patient's pocket. The man dies and Ordway discovers that what he thought was insulin was really poison. Oops! Two other people are murdered before Ordway discovers who replaced the insulin with poison and what the motive was

A society sleuth rescues a kidnapped woman, then is framed for murder.

A PI investigates a priest's murder.

A society sleuth sets out on the trail of a society matron's lost jewels.

Blackie performs in a magic show at a women's prison, which gives an inmate an opportunity to escape.

A young man desperately seeks out the fleeting image of a female companion, and though he never quite catches her, he discovers much more through the surreal explorations of his own sexuality.

A private detective is hired to find a young heiress but finds himself accused of murder.

Boston Blackie, in the 11th film of the Columbia series, indulges in some wit-trading with a squirmy spiritualist who deals in blackmail, murder and the occult. "Blackie" out to help his pal, "Runt," recover some jewels, finds himself involved in the homicides, and also finds himself as the prime suspect, and now has to find the real culprit in order to clear himself. So "Blackie,", a man of many talents and already a proved magician from cases past, shows he knows a little bit about dancing skeletons, walking phantoms and spiritualism himself, and holds a séance to unmask the murderer.

Private detective Johnny Fletcher and his sidekick Sam Cragg skip out on their rented room, but when they sneak back to retrieve their luggage, they discover a dead body on the bed, holding a gold coin in its hand. Fletcher is told by a coin collector that the piece is an old and valuable Spanish coin, but Fletcher soon begins to suspect that the man is himself involved in the murder. Fletcher's investigation leads to he and Sam getting caught up in a murder and gold smuggling scheme.

A fresh-faced young detective gets set up, framed for murder, and alibied by a smart blonde.

A stage illusionist plots a revenge after a particularly humiliating comeback attempt.

Blackie runs into a woman he formally loved who now is married with a kid. When her husband gets out of prison he's killed in Blackie's apartment and of course the police thing Blackie pulled the trigger. Blackie must set out to prove his innocence as well as capture the real killers.

The Shadow (Kane Richmond) cracks a case of missing jewels, murder and plastics.

An orchestra leader turns sleuth to clear his ice-skating girlfriend for murder.

An evil scientist known as "Mr. M." uses a drug he has developed called "hypnotreme" to help steal submarine equipment. Federal agent Grant Farrell is dispatched to find the mysterious villain and stop his nefarious plans.