Best Thriller Movies of 1929

This presentation of 'Waterloo', a film by Karl Grune about the last hurrah of Napoleon, is a fascinating companion to the Abel Gance epic 'Napoleon'. 'Waterloo' presents a tale of several people involved in the final battle. Napoleon and Wellington, of course, but also the Austrian general Blutcher (who is seen as a ladies' man - his scene with a flirty Countess about halfway through the film is priceless; as are his touching scenes with his plain wife (who he imagines to be a young and nubile girl when they get romantic) and some people within his regiment. Not simply a film of war, 'Waterloo' is a story of people, of lovers, of lost opportunities.

Suave thief Colman is sent to Devil's Island, where he becomes romantically involved with the wife of sadistic warden Digges.

Chick Williams, a prohibition gangster, rejoins his mob soon after being released from prison. When a policeman is murdered during a robbery, he falls under suspicion. The gangster took Joan, a policeman's daughter, to the theater, sneaked out during the intermission to commit the crime, then used her to support his alibi. The detective squad employs its most sophisticated and barbaric techniques, including planting an undercover agent in the gang, to bring him to justice.

A writer rents what he believes is a deserted lodge in order to complete his novel. But then six other people show up one-by-one, each for reasons of their own.

A Chinese doctor vows revenge against the allied troops who killed his wife and child during the Boxer Rebellion.

Depressive Toni is diagnosed with idlesness by his doctor who recommends more excitement and danger. Another patient, a celebrated detective who bears a striking resemblance to Toni, is diagnosed with exhaustion and told to rest. The two swap places but Toni's first client turns out to be an exiled princess whose jewels are about to be stolen by a ruthless gang and the amateur detective finds more thrills than he bargained for.

Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond is a British WWI veteran who longs for some excitement after he returns to the humdrum existence of civilian life. He gets what he's looking for when a girl requests his help in freeing her uncle from a nursing home. She believes the home is just a front and that her uncle is really being held captive while the culprits try to extort his fortune from him.