America's 100 Greatest Movies
100 YEARS...100 MOVIES


AFI's 10 Top 10 Film Genres

Part 7 - Mystery



Mystery Films:
See Filmsite's extensive section on Mystery Films

AFI described mystery films as "a genre that revolves around the solution of a crime. Steeped in the unpredictability of human nature and wrapped in a tangle of plot twists, mysteries inhabit a world where the secrets are dark and the agendas well hidden. Unlike the open-endedness that characterizes so much of real life, a movie mystery delivers the ultimate satisfaction of a solution in the final reel."

(Winners marked with this icon and ranking number)

  1. AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1945
  2. THE BIG EASY, Columbia, 1987
  3. THE BIG HEAT, Columbia, 1953
  4. THE BIG LEBOWSKI, Gramercy, 1998
  5. THE BIG SLEEP, Warner Bros., 1946
  6. BLOW OUT, Filmways, 1981
  7. BLUE VELVET, DEG, 1986 (# 8)
  8. THE BOURNE IDENTITY, Universal, 2002
  9. CHARADE, Universal, 1963
  10. CHINATOWN, Paramount, 1974 (# 2)
  11. THE CONVERSATION, Paramount, 1974
  12. D.O.A., United Artists, 1950
  13. DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS, TriStar, 1995
  14. DIAL M FOR MURDER, Warner Bros., 1954 (# 9)
  15. THE FUGITIVE, Warner Bros., 1993
  16. THE GAME, Polygram, 1997
  17. GASLIGHT, MGM, 1944
  18. GOSFORD PARK, USA, 2001
  19. THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1939
  20. HOUSE OF GAMES, Orion, 1987
  21. IN A LONELY PLACE, Columbia, 1950
  22. IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, United Artists, 1967
  23. KISS ME DEADLY, United Artists, 1955
  24. KLUTE, Warner Bros., 1971
  25. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, Warner Bros., 1997
  26. THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, Columbia, 1948
  27. THE LAST OF SHEILA, Warner Bros., 1973
  28. LAURA, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1944 (# 4)
  29. THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER, Universal, 1963
  30. THE MALTESE FALCON, Warner Bros., 1941 (# 6)
  31. THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, Paramount, 1956
  32. MEMENTO, Newmarket, 2001
  33. MULHOLLAND DR., Focus, 2001
  34. MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, Paramount, 1974
  35. THE NAKED CITY, Universal, 1948
  36. NORTH BY NORTHWEST, MGM, 1959 (# 7)
  37. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, MGM, 1946
  38. REAR WINDOW, Paramount, 1954 (# 3)
  39. REBECCA, United Artists, 1940
  40. SE7EN, New Line, 1995
  41. SEA OF LOVE, Universal, 1989
  42. A SHOT IN THE DARK, United Artists, 1964
  43. SLEUTH, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1972
  44. SPELLBOUND, United Artists, 1945
  45. SUSPICION, RKO, 1941
  46. THE THIN MAN, MGM, 1934
  47. THE THIRD MAN, Selznick, 1949 (# 5)
  48. TO CATCH A THIEF, Paramount, 1955
  49. THE USUAL SUSPECTS, Gramercy, 1995 (# 10)
  50. VERTIGO, Paramount, 1958 (# 1)

Nominees: Nine movies were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Winners:

  1. Vertigo (1958)
  2. Chinatown (1974)
  3. Rear Window (1954)
  4. Laura (1944)
  5. The Third Man (1949)
  6. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
  7. North by Northwest (1959)
  8. Blue Velvet (1986)
  9. Dial M For Murder (1954)
  10. The Usual Suspects (1995)

Comments: This category was a strange one - does it include suspense/thriller films as well? What about Sherlock Holmes films? Four Hitchcock films were in the top 10, and included one of his lesser films, Dial M For Murder (1954). Other top 10 choices might have been: Rebecca (1940), The Big Sleep (1946), Gaslight (1944), The Conversation (1974), and Se7en (1995). The Sixth Sense (1999) should have been a nominee on this list, and Blue Velvet (1986) was a 'mystery' film, of sorts, but a whole lot more.



AFI's 10 Top 10 Film Genres
Introduction | Part 1 - Animated | Part 2 - Fantasy | Part 3 - Gangster | Part 4 - Science Fiction | Part 5 - Western
Part 6 - Sports | Part 7 - Mystery | Part 8 - Romantic Comedy | Part 9 - Courtroom Drama | Part 10 - Epic



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