Best Mystery Movies of 1950

Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.

Frank Bigelow is about to die, and he knows it. The accountant has been poisoned and has only 24 hours before the lethal concoction kills him. Determined to find out who his murderer is, Frank, with the help of his assistant and girlfriend, Paula, begins to trace back over his last steps. As he frantically tries to unravel the mystery behind his own impending demise, his sleuthing leads him to a group of crooked businessmen and another murder.

Vicky Barton and her brother, Johnny, take a trip to the 1896 Paris Exhibition. They both sleep in seperate rooms in a hotel. When the sister gets up the next morning, she finds her brother and his room had disappeared and no one will even acknowledge that he was ever there. Now Vicky must find out what exactly happened to her brother.

The middle-class family of a young woman cannot understand why she delays in marrying a respectable young man. They know nothing about her long-standing affair with a Frenchman.

The wife of a psychoanalyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now being treated by the real doctor is found murdered, with her still at the scene, and suspicion points only one way.

Gamblers who "took" an out-of-town sucker in a crooked poker game feel shadowy vengeance closing in on them.

Young auto mechanic Dan Brady takes $20 from a cash register at work to go on a date with blonde femme fatale Vera Novak. Brady intends to put the money back before it is missed, but the garage's bookkeeper shows up earlier than scheduled. As Brady scrambles to cover evidence of his petty theft, he fast finds himself drawn into an ever worsening "quicksand" of crime.

A veteran homicide detective who has witnessed his socialite girlfriend kill her husband sees his inexperienced brother assigned to the case.

When he's discharged from a military hospital, ex-GI Bob Corey goes on a search for his army buddy Steve Connolly. A reformed crook, Connolly is on the lam from a trumped-up murder rap, and Corey hopes to clear his pal. Tagging along is Army nurse Julie Benson, who has fallen for Corey.

Harriet O'Malley tries to solve a murder aboard a train en route to New York.

After her father is murdered, a girl joins the police force in an effort to track down the killers.

After leaving the British Secret Service, David Somers (played by Trevor Howard) finds work cataloging butterflies at the country house of Nicholas and Jess Fenton. After the murder of a local gamekeeper, suspicion (wrongfully) falls on their niece, Sophie Malraux (Jean Simmons). Somers helps Sophie to escape arrest and they go on the run together. After a cross-country chase they arrive at a coastal city with the intention of leaving the country by ship. All's well that ends well after the true identity of the murderer is revealed.

Deborah Chandler's rejected suitor, Selden Clark, manages the factory of her father, who dies a suspicion death. But charming Clark manages to win her over and marry her. On the honeymoon, Clark's former girl Patricia intervenes and opens Deborah's eyes, alas too late. Now Clark tries to kill Deborah. Believed dead by all but Clark, she flees. But drifter Keith Ramsey recognizes and follows her. Can she trust him? Can he believe her?

An oil engineer (Richard Denning) surrounded by foul play helps an heiress (Marie Windsor) bring in a well.

Agnes "Astra" Huston, a fortune teller at a run-down fair, is found strangled in her bedroom. As the police question five suspects, their interactions with her are shown in flashbacks from their point of view.

A young doctor taking a break from work is shot in the head, and the police can't find a clue even as to a possible motive. Inspector Al Gordon (John Alexander) decides that he has to put some men on duty at the hospital, and one of them is Fred Rowan (Richard Conte), a detective with experience as an army medic, masquerading as an intern. What Rowan finds is a high-pressure world in which interns are hopelessly squeezed for time, sleep, energy, and -- most of all -- money, and walk a fine line on the edge of personal and professional disaster.

A lawyer uncovers secrets behind a 12-year-old murder case.

The story evolves around a radio panel game show "Twenty Questions." The panel is challenged with an anonymous question. The answer leads to a series of murders in which the killer uses the program to name his victims in advance. Two reporters spot a link between them and enlist the aid of the panel in trapping the guilty party.

An innocent man accused of a murder hides out aboard a steam ship in South American.

Shadrach Jones, ex-Texas State Policeman, has the ruthless determination to find and kill the man who shot his brother in the back and stole the money with which he was to buy a ranch for the two of them. At the saloon-hotel run by Adelaide, Shadrach is convinced that one of the cowhands on the Captain McKellar cattle drive to Montana is his man. He takes the job of trail-herd boss to find the killer. McKellar preaches to Jones that he should forget revenge and let the law of retribution take care of the killer. Shadrach's hard driving of the men and his hunt for the killer makes him bitterly hated, and his retribution quest ends in a manner he did not anticipated.

After stealing a gangster's money and his girlfriend, a doctor heads for a small village in Mexico to hide out.

The wedding of Ellen and David is halted by a stranger who insists that the bride is already married to someone else. Though the flabbergasted Ellen denies the charge, the interloper produces enough evidence that his accusation must be investigated. Ellen and David travel to the small coastal town where her first wedding allegedly occurred. There, they meet a number of individuals whose stories make Ellen question her own sanity.

A blind man is witness to a murder; later cured of his blindness he attempts to puzzle out the solution to the crime.

A man and his sister live in a country home, not knowing that there is stolen loot hidden there. A gang of criminals attempts to get them to move so they can get the loot for themselves.

A young actress has retired from films to marry the son of a prominent and rich politician in New York City. The father objects strongly to the marriage. The actress is being blackmailed by a second-rate artist who has stolen some letters from her that could be misconstrued. During the payoff, she is knocked unconscious, and awakens to find herself involved in a murder and the police have her marked as the number-one suspect.

Pier 23 was one of three hour-long mysteries produced by Lippert Productions for both TV and theatrical release. Each of the three films was evenly divided into two half-hour "episodes," and each starred Hugh Beaumont as San Francisco-based amateur sleuth Dennis O'Brien. In Pier 23, O'Brien first tackles the case of a wrestler who has died of a suspicious heart attack after refusing to lose a match. He then agrees to help a priest talk an escaped criminal into returning to prison. The film's two-part structure leads to repetition and predictability, but it's fun to watch TV's "Ward Cleaver" making like Philip Marlowe.

Kankal is a social horror drama which shows how a spirit can fulfil its desire with its intense power. The story begins with Abhay being killed by a skeleton and police come for the inspection. Dr. Sanyal takes us back to the story where Tarala got married to Rattan, a rich man. But Tarala's sister-in-law's brother, Abhay was in love with Tarala whom Tarala didn't like for his bad attitude and lower education. So to take the revenge, Abhay married Rattan's sister. By moulding Rattan, Abhay took all his wealth and tried to rape Tarala. Though Rattan came to save her, he was being driven out by Abhay. In this situation Tarala passes away unknowingly and Abhay tried to hide her dead body by throwing it in the river. Rattan unable to find his wife became mad and roamed around in search for her.

In Shangai, the "Green Dragon" threatens to kill Herbert Aboody, a rich exporter, unless he pays him 50,000 dollars. One of Aboody's secretaries calls inspector Wens for help. An amazing fact occurs, Wens kills Aboody and then disappears. What is the key to this mystery?

Arizona Territory is in the grip of outlaw terror and killer outlaws, secretly organized by Hulon Champion, who covers his power ambitions with the guise of a respectable firearms merchant. Hoping to eradicate the lawlessness plaguing the newspaperman Fred Gately prints a letter asking the president to visit the area. But Fred's killed by secret gang leader Champion, who also plans to assassinate the president. Undercover officer Rocky Lane teams with his assistant, Nugget, and Fred's spunky daughter to combat Champion's head gunslinger.

In 1904 London, neighbors begin to suspect that a very strange man calling himself Dr. Fell may indeed be the famous Jack the Ripper.

A husband-and-wife detective team look into the murder of one of her friends, whose father--a prominent scientist--has been kidnapped. They find themselves up against a sinister crime organization headed by a mysterious figure known only as "Z".

To keep her former fiancé from leaving her, a neurotic young woman (Louise Allbritton) fakes a riding accident, and feigns paralysis of her lower body. When her graceful nurse (Grace Kelly) discovers her treachery, she resorts to a final and desperate act of revenge.