Since it’s Throwback Thursday, let’s travel back to the Golden Age of Hollywood to check out five superb suspense classics that you may not be familiar with. All of these feature engaging mysteries waiting to be revealed and an assortment of stars whose shine has never diminished. Even if you haven’t seen of all these before, we think you’ll find each of these whodunits to be as captivating today as they were in their original theatrical runs all those years ago!
Dinner at the Ritz (1937)
There’s mystery and danger amongst the smart set in this engaging thriller about a beautiful young woman out to catch her father’s killer. When a wealthy financier is murdered, his death is made to look like a suicide, damaging his business and his reputation. Now, it’s up to his daughter to figure out which of her dad’s colleagues is behind the sinister plot. Annabella, David Niven, Paul Lukas star.
Murder by Invitation (1941)
The greedy relatives of an eccentric, wealthy old woman are invited to her mansion for a weekend visit, but one of the family members turns up dead. Will the quest for a hidden fortune lead the killer to strike again? RSVP yes and find out for yourself! Well-made Monogram suspenser stars Wallace Ford, Marian Marsh, Sarah Padden.
Eyes in the Night (1942)
Superb suspenser directed by Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, From Here to Eternity) and starring Edward Arnold as a blind detective who works with help from a seeing eye dog. He’s enlisted to investigate the relationship between an egocentric actor and the stepdaughter of an old friend. Murder, a secret formula and Nazis eventually play a part in the mystery. Ann Harding, Donna Reed, Allen Jenkins co-star.
Circle of Danger (1951)
In this atmospheric drama, Ray Milland plays Clay Douglas, an American who travels to England to investigate the mysterious death of his brother, who died during a wartime commando raid. Douglas meets members of his sibling’s platoon, each of whom leads him closer to the truth. Patricia Roc, Marius Goring, and Hugh Sinclair star; Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past) directs.
A Bullet for Joey (1955)
Royal Canadian Police inspector Edward G. Robinson believes an important nuclear physicist is the key to a series of killings and soon finds himself battling gangster George Raft, hired by the head of a Communist spy ring to kidnap the scientist and “convince” him to help their plan for world domination. George Dolenz, Peter Van Eyck co-star.
Check all of these out for a tour of cinema’s rich suspense film history!