A list of thriller films released in the 1940s.
| Title | Director | Cast | Country | Sub-Genre/Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | ||||||
| Before I Hang | Nick Grinde | Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett | ||||
| Foreign Correspondent | Alfred Hitchcock | Joel McCrea, Laraine Day | ||||
| Gaslight | Thorold Dickinson | Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell | ||||
| Rebecca | Alfred Hitchcock | Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson | Psychological thriller | |||
| Stranger on the Third Floor | Boris Ingster | Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet | Psychological thriller | |||
| 1941 | ||||||
| Among the Living | Stuart Heisler | Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward, Harry Carey | ||||
| Le Dernier des Six | Georges Lacombe | Michele Alfa, Pierre Fresnay, Jean Tissier | Psychological thriller | |||
| I Wake Up Screaming | H. Bruce Humberstone | Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis | ||||
| Man Hunt | Fritz Lang | Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders | ||||
| Shadow of the Thin Man | W.S. Van Dyke | William Powell, Myrna Loy, Barry Nelson | Comedy thriller | |||
| Suspicion | Alfred Hitchcock | Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine | ||||
| 1942 | ||||||
| L'Assassin Habite au 21 | Henri-Georges Clouzot | Suzy Delair, Pierre Fresnay, Noël Roquevert | Comedy thriller | |||
| Bowery at Midnight | Wallace W. Fox | Bela Lugosi, John Archer, Wanda McKay | Crime thriller | |||
| Cat People | Jacques Tourneur | Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway | Supernatural thriller | |||
| Eyes in the Night | Fred Zinnemann | Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Katherine Emery | Crime thriller | |||
| The Glass Key | Stuart Heisler | Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd | ||||
| I Live on Danger | Sam White | Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Elizabeth Risdon | ||||
| Nightmare | Tim Whelan | Diana Barrymore, Brian Donlevy, Henry Daniell | ||||
| Saboteur | Alfred Hitchcock | Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Norman Lloyd | ||||
| This Gun for Hire | Frank Tuttle | Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar | Crime thriller | |||
| 1943 | ||||||
| Above Suspicion | Richard Thorpe | Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt | Political thriller | |||
| Le Corbeau | Henri-Georges Clouzot | Pierre Fresnay, Pierre Larquey, Micheline Francey | Psychological thriller | |||
| The Fallen Sparrow | Richard Wallace | John Garfield, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak | ||||
| Journey into Fear | Norman Foster | Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warrick, Orson Welles | ||||
| The Leopard Man | Jacques Tourneur | Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks | ||||
| Shadow of a Doubt | Alfred Hitchcock | Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright, MacDonald Carey | ||||
| 1944 | ||||||
| Bluebeard | Edgar G. Ulmer | John Carradine, Jean Parker, Nils Asther | ||||
| The Climax | George Waggner | Boris Karloff, Susanna Foster | ||||
| Dark Waters | André De Toth | Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone, Thomas Mitchell | ||||
| Double Indemnity | Billy Wilder | Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson | Crime thriller | |||
| Gaslight | George Cukor | Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman | ||||
| Laura | Otto Preminger | Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb | Psychological thriller | |||
| The Lodger | John Brahm | Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Laird Cregar | ||||
| The Mask of Dimitrios | Jean Negulesco | Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson | ||||
| Ministry of Fear | Fritz Lang | Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond | Psychological Thriller | |||
| Murder, My Sweet | Edward Dmytryk | Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley | ||||
| Phantom Lady | Robert Siodmak | Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis | ||||
| The Scarlet Claw | Roy William Neill | Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gerald Hamer | ||||
| The Thin Man Goes Home | Richard Thorpe | William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gloria de Haven | Comedy thriller | |||
| When Strangers Marry | William Castle | Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum | ||||
| The Woman in the Window | Fritz Lang | Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey | ||||
| 1945 | ||||||
| The Body Snatcher | Robert Wise | Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell | ||||
| Conflict | Curtis Bernhardt | Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet | ||||
| Cornered | Edward Dmytryk | Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Nina Vale | ||||
| Dead of Night | Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer | Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Sally Ann Howes, Mary Merrall | Psychological thriller | |||
| Hangover Square | John Brahm | Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders | ||||
| The House on 92nd Street | Henry Hathaway | William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso | ||||
| My Name Is Julia Ross | Joseph H. Lewis | Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready | ||||
| Spellbound | Alfred Hitchcock | Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Jean Acker | Psychological thriller | |||
| Strange Illusion | Edgar G. Ulmer | Charles Arnt, Jameson Clark, Jimmy Clark | ||||
| 1946 | ||||||
| Bedlam | Mark Robson | Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House | ||||
| The Brute Man | Jean Yarbrough | Rondo Hatton, Jane Adams, Tom Neal | ||||
| Crack-Up | Irving G. Reis | Pat O'Brien, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall | Psychological thriller | |||
| Deadline at Dawn | Harold Clurman | Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Bill Williams | ||||
| Dragonwyck | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Gene Tierney, Spring Byington, Walter Huston | ||||
| I See a Dark Stranger | Frank Launder | Deborah Kerr, Trevor Howard, Raymond Huntley | ||||
| Leave Her to Heaven | John Stahl | Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, | Psychological thriller | |||
| Notorious | Alfred Hitchcock | Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains | Political thriller | |||
| Shadow of a Woman | Joseph Santley | Helmut Dantine, Andrea King, Don McGuire | ||||
| Shock | Alfred L. Werker | Vincent Price, Lynn Bari, Anabel Shaw | ||||
| The Spiral Staircase | Robert Siodmak | Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore | Psychological thriller | |||
| The Stranger | Orson Welles | Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young | Psychological thriller | |||
| 1947 | ||||||
| Kiss of Death | Henry Hathaway | Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray | Psychological thriller, crime thriller | |||
| Love from a Stranger | Richard Whorf | John Hodiak, John Howard, Ann Richards | ||||
| The Red House | Delmer Daves | Edward G. Robinson, Lon McCallister, Judith Anderson | ||||
| Song of the Thin Man | Edward Buzzell | William Powell, Myrna Loy | Comedy thriller | |||
| 1948 | ||||||
| The Big Clock | John Farrow | Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan | Psychological thriller | |||
| Cry of the City | Robert Siodmak | Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark | ||||
| He Walked by Night | Alfred L. Werker | Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts | ||||
| Key Largo | John Huston | Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Monte Blue | Crime thriller | |||
| The Lady from Shanghai | Orson Welles | Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles | ||||
| Rope | Alfred Hitchcock | James Stewart, John Dall | Psychological thriller | |||
| Sorry, Wrong Number | Anatole Litvak | Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards | Psychological thriller | |||
| 1949 | ||||||
| The Bribe | Robert Z. Leonard | Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price | Crime thriller | |||
| D.O.A. | Rudolph Maté | Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler | Psychological thriller | |||
| Follow Me Quietly | Richard Fleischer | William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey | ||||
| Gun Crazy | Joseph H. Lewis | Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger | Crime thriller | |||
| The Third Man | Carol Reed | Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles | Psychological thriller | |||
| Stray Dog | Akira Kurosawa | Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura | ||||
| White Heat | Raoul Walsh | James Cagney | Crime thriller | |||
| Whirlpool | Otto Preminger | Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer | Psychological thriller | |||
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list and/or films:
“My list of things I never pictured myself saying when I pictured myself as a parent has grown over the years.”
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)
“Love’s boat has been shattered against the life of everyday. You and I are quits, and it’s useless to draw up a list of mutual hurts, sorrows, and pains.”
—Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930)
“Science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)