Best Thriller Movies of 1959

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.

When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.

A Polish sailor and a young Welsh tomboy become unlikely allies after she witnesses him commit a crime of passion in the docklands area of Cardiff. With its location shooting and scenes of port city street culture, Tiger Bay presaged the cinema of the British New Wave, while Hayley Mills’ starring performance won the 12 year-old a special prize at the Berlin Film Festival and launched her career.

Is a light hearted and satirical tale of political espionage and intrigue in pre-Castro Cuba.

Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer. His next target, a woman, is the most difficult.

An Englishman in France unwittingly is placed into the identity, and steps into the vacated life, of a look-alike French nobleman.

Cool, cultured John Gant rides into Lordsburg. Gant is a professional killer, and although no one knows who he is there to kill, they are all worried. Everyone has enemies, and maybe Gant is in town for them. While they wait for him to make his move, paranoia starts taking over... Written by Ken Yousten John Gant, hired assassin rides into town. No one is sure of the identity of his intended victim. Townsfolk have shady pasts that make each one believe that John Gant is there to kill them. While each townsperson is falling apart from guilt, Gant is waiting in the hotel but is still given the blame for the shootings and the suicide of the Banker. Written by Carol Johnson

Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.