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Dark Passage poster

Movies that feel likeDark Passage (1947)

A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.

If you loved Dark Passage, the closest films we have are The Naked City (1948), Stray Dog (1949) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947). All three share Dark Passage's tense and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Criss Cross (1949).

🍅 90% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Delmer Davestensetwistyatmospheric
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Dark Passage hit the spot, these will too

The Naked City poster
The Naked City
1948 · dir. Jules Dassin
🍅 85%★ 7.5crime · mystery · thrillerMax

The same preoccupation in both: film noir

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Dark Passage does

After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

Stray Dog poster
Stray Dog
1949 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 100%★ 7.8crime · drama · thriller

One thread runs through both: film noir

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

The Lady from Shanghai poster
The Lady from Shanghai
1947 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 86%★ 7.5mystery · crime · thriller

Tense and twisty in the same breath

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

The Third Man poster
The Third Man
1949 · dir. Carol Reed
🍅 99%★ 8.1thriller · mystery

Atmospheric thriller in both cases

In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.

Diabolique poster
Diabolique
1955 · dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
🍅 95%★ 8.1thriller · mysteryMax

Mystery built on tension, twice over

The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.

The Killers poster
The Killers
1946 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 97%★ 7.7crime · mystery · thriller

Thriller with a pulse of twists, in both cases

Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

The Big Sleep poster
The Big Sleep
1946 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 96%★ 7.9mystery · crime · thriller

Atmospheric mystery, and it commits to that

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

Shadow of a Doubt poster
Shadow of a Doubt
1943 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 100%★ 7.8thriller · mystery · crime

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

In sleepy Santa Rosa, restless young Charlie’s world brightens when her sophisticated Uncle Charlie arrives for a long visit. But as his behavior grows increasingly strange, she begins to suspect that her beloved uncle may be hiding a terrible secret—and that danger has quietly entered her home.

Detour poster
Detour
1945 · dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
🍅 98%★ 7.3drama · thrillerPrime Video

Mystery with a pulse of atmosphere, in both cases

The difference: Takes it somewhere less twisty than Dark Passage does

The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.

The 39 Steps poster
The 39 Steps
1935 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 96%★ 7.6mystery · thrillerPrime VideoMax

Both run twisty where it counts

Richard Hanney has a rude awakening when a glamorous female spy falls into his bed - with a knife in her back. Having a bit of trouble explaining it all to Scotland Yard, he heads for the hills of Scotland to try to clear his name by locating the spy ring known as The 39 Steps.

In a Lonely Place poster
In a Lonely Place
1950 · dir. Nicholas Ray
🍅 96%★ 7.9thriller · drama · romance

The thriller is handled with the same confidence

A violent screenwriter and a female neighbor fall in love after she clears him of murder, but she begins to have second thoughts.

Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 86%★ 7.4crime · thriller

Thriller approached the same way

The difference: Easier on the twists than Dark Passage

An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.

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