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Shadow of a Doubt poster

Movies that feel likeShadow of a Doubt (1943)

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.

If you loved Shadow of a Doubt, the closest films we have are The Big Sleep (1946), The 39 Steps (1935) and The Naked City (1948). All three share Shadow of a Doubt'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 The Narrow Margin (1952).

🍅 100% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Alfred Hitchcocktensetwistygrittyatmospheric
6 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Shadow of a Doubt hit the spot, these will too

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

The same two preoccupations: detective, and film noir

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.

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

Both are Alfred Hitchcock's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Trades the grit of Shadow of a Doubt for an angle of its own

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.

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: murder

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

Both are built on the same subject: detective

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Shadow of a Doubt does

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

Common ground: small town life

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

The same preoccupation in both: film noir

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

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog poster
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
1927 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 96%★ 7.3crime · thriller · mysteryMax

Alfred Hitchcock directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Takes it somewhere less atmospheric than Shadow of a Doubt does

London. A mysterious serial killer brutally murders young blond women by stalking them in the night fog. One foggy, sinister night, a young man who claims his name is Jonathan Drew arrives at the guest house run by the Bunting family and rents a room.

The Narrow Margin poster
The Narrow Margin
1952 · dir. Richard Fleischer
🍅 100%★ 7.6thriller · crime

Two things both keep coming back to: widow and telegram

A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's widow on a train journey from Chicago to Los Angeles.

The Maltese Falcon poster
The Maltese Falcon
1941 · dir. John Huston
🍅 99%★ 7.9mystery · crime · thrillerMax

One thread runs through both: murder

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

Out of the Past poster
Out of the Past
1947 · dir. Jacques Tourneur
🍅 87%★ 7.9crime · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: small town life

The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

Dark Passage poster
Dark Passage
1947 · dir. Delmer Daves
🍅 90%★ 7.5thriller · mystery

Tense and twisty in the same breath

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

Double Indemnity poster
Double Indemnity
1944 · dir. Billy Wilder
🍅 97%★ 8.3crime · thriller

Both are working the same pair: california, housewife

An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.

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The best-reviewed films that share Shadow of a Doubt’s defining feeling.