Thrills! Drama! Mystery! Suspense! Part 2: The 1940's...
Crime! Gangsters! Murder! Noir! Etc.! This could almost be called "the Val Lewton decade"! More thrills and tension for the true connoisseur!...
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- DirectorArthur LubinStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiStanley RidgesDr. Sovac transplants the brain of a gangster into his professor friend's body to save his life, but there is a side effect that causes a dangerous split personality.
- DirectorNorman LeeStarsLeslie BanksLilli PalmerRomilly LungeA murder is found to be connected to a false heir and a secret underground torture chamber.
- DirectorGeorge KingStarsTod SlaughterSylvia MarriottHilary EavesA madman kills a man who has just inherited a large estate, then impersonates his victim to gain entrance to the estate so he can murder his enemies.
- DirectorAl ChristieStarsHeather AngelJohn 'Dusty' KingConstance CollierAlthough young and beautiful, schoolteacher Anne Gladden fears a dull future. She finally decides to take a walk on the wild side, splurging on some fashionable new clothes and setting off to find adventure. Her new confidence inspires her to flirt with complete strangers. When a gangster pays unwanted attention to her, she ditches him and flees in his car, unaware that there's a corpse in the backseat. Determined to recover his stolen vehicle and its incriminating cargo the thug begins a desperate search. The oblivious Anne, comes to the aid of a handsome young man stranded alongside the road. Romance blooms, but after the shocking discovery of a body in the trunk, the duo decide they have to return the car. The bickering lovebirds head back to the city, trailed by both the angry gangster and the cops, who suspect the young couple of murder.
- DirectorAlbert S. RogellStarsBasil RathboneHugh HerbertBroderick CrawfordElderly Henrietta Winslow lives in an isolated mansion with her housekeeper and beloved cats. As her health fails, her greedy relatives gather in anticipation of her death.
- DirectorWallace FoxStarsBela LugosiJohn ArcherWanda McKayKindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsSidney BlackmerRick VallinByron FoulgerMembers of an opera company are being blackmailed by someone called the Black Panther.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsJohn BealWanda McKayWarren HymerA honeymoon couple in New York for one night of wedded bliss before he's to join the army, become involved with gangsters after they find a cadaver under their bed.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsKim HunterTom ConwayJean BrooksA woman in search of her missing sister uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village and finds that they could have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsDennis O'KeefeMargoJean BrooksA seemingly-tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy New Mexico town.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsRichard DixRussell WadeEdith BarrettThird Officer Tom Merriam accuses Captain Will Stone of being a homicidal maniac, but no one believes him.
- DirectorWilliam BerkeStarsChester MorrisNancy KellyWilliam HenryPete Ramsey (Morris) is a hard-working coal miner who falls in love with and marries scheming showgirl Victory Kane (Kelly). Victory presses Pete to fight for the position of the mine superintendent, which he earns. Unable to bear her poor surroundings and unsatisfied with being a miner's wife, Victory decides to climb the social ladder and have an affair with the wealthy owner of the mine, Gary Linden (Conway), unbeknownst to her faithful husband. Suddenly, a ferocious tornado forms and hits the town and the mine, putting everyone's life in danger. For its time, the film has impressive visual effects for the tornado sequence.
- DirectorFrank McDonaldStarsJack HaleyJean ParkerBela LugosiAn insurance salesman arrives at a creepy mansion to discover his potential eccentric millionaire client already dead. Instead he gets embroiled in a house full of greedy, murderous relatives competing for the inheritance.
- DirectorGeorge WaggnerStarsBoris KarloffSusanna FosterTurhan BeyA demented physician becomes obsessed with a young singer whose voice sounds similar to his late mistress.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsGene TierneyCornel WildeJeanne CrainA writer falls in love with a young socialite and they're soon married, but her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of them both as well as everyone around them.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiHenry DaniellA ruthless doctor and his young prize student find themselves continually harassed by their murderous supplier of illegal cadavers.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsBoris KarloffEllen DrewMarc CramerOn a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn't enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects one young girl of being a vampiric kind of demon called a vorvolaka.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJohn LoderAudrey LongEdgar BarrierA remake of Richard Connell's famous short story, "The Most Dangerous Game," about a madman who hunts human prey on his personal island habitat.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsDorothy McGuireGeorge BrentEthel BarrymoreIn 1916, a shadowy serial killer is targeting women with "afflictions"; one night during a thunderstorm, the mute Helen feels menaced.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsBoris KarloffAnna LeeBilly HouseNell Bowen, the protégé of Lord Mortimer, wants to help change the conditions of notorious St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum (Bedlam). Though she tries to reform Bedlam, the cruel Master Sims who runs it has her committed there, but ultimately, it's the lunatics who've taken over the asylum.
- DirectorPhil KarlsonWilliam BeaudineStarsKane RichmondBarbara ReadGeorge ChandlerLamont Cranston, aka the Shadow, has his hands full as the murder of blackmailing reporter Jeff Mann is blamed on him. Not only does the real murderer seem one step ahead of him as Lamont tries to discover his identity, but he is continually hampered from gaining crucial evidence by his jealous, interfering fiancée Margo Lane. Cranston perseveres and is rewarded with the clue he needs at one of Mann's victims' nightclubs.
- DirectorCharles FrankStarsJean SimmonsDerrick De MarneyKatina PaxinouFollowing her father's death, a teenage British heiress goes to live with her guardian uncle--who is broke and schemes to murder her for her inheritance.
- DirectorLew LandersStarsJane WithersRobert LoweryBill EdwardsPat Marvin, a photographer/reporter for a magazine gets some pictures of a gambling place and barely escapes with her life. The publisher decides to sell the publication, and the staff, headed by the editor, Larry Burke, get the money together to buy it. Larry and Pat decide to get some pictures of a never-photographed society deb, Cynthia Van Loan, and, in the process, stumble upon a murder, identify the killer, expose the girl's scheming fiancée, and get their pictures.
- DirectorOscar BurnStarsMara Russell-TavernanRobert EssexKarl Meir1947. Drama. During the war, a British agent travels to the remote Glennye Castle in the wilds of Scotland to investigate a mysterious murder by a masked phantom. Directed by Oscar Burn.
- DirectorGeorge BlairStarsWarren DouglasAudrey LongGrant WithersOn their honeymoon,a young navy officer and his wife are having difficulties in finding a hotel room in Los Angeles until a lady lends them her suite. There, they receive a mysterious telephone call warning them of a murder that is about to be committed. After finding two dead women they hire two private detectives to help them. They learn that the third woman marked for death is the woman who lent them her hotel suite. She is the aerial artist at a circus and the other two women were her friends. The police arrive and arrest the navy officer and his wife, and two clowns who were attempting to kill the aerial performer.