Best Crime Movies of 1946

The highest-rated crime films from 1946, ranked by MovieMagicScore based on authentic viewer ratings.

Crime 1945 Crime 1947 All Time Crime

Action Comedy Drama Horror Science Fiction Thriller Romance Animation Documentary Fantasy

The Big Sleep

1946

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.

7.6

The Stranger

1946

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.

7.2

The Killers

1946

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.

7.3

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1946

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

7.0

Dead Reckoning

1946

War heroes Rip Murdock and Johnny Drake are sent to Washington, D.C, to receive top honors for their service. Johnny, seemingly terrified by the publicity that awaits him, jumps off the train and later turns up dead. Suspecting foul play, Rip begins digging into his pal's past. He encounters cover-ups, threats to his own life and deadly femme fatale Coral Chandler.

6.8

The Blue Dahlia

1946

Soon after a veteran returns from war, his cheating wife is found dead. He evades police in an attempt to find the real murderer.

6.7

Dressed to Kill

1946

A convicted thief in Dartmoor prison hides the location of the stolen Bank of England printing plates inside three music boxes. When the innocent purchasers of the boxes start to be murdered, Holmes and Watson investigate.

6.5

Terror by Night

1946

Holmes and Watson board a passenger train bound from London to Edinburgh, to guard the Star of Rhodesia, an enormous diamond worth a fortune belonging to an elderly woman of wealth; but within the first hour of the trip, the woman's son is murdered and the diamond stolen and any of the passengers in their car could be the killer thief.

6.5

Lady in the Lake

1946

Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But when he's called to the office of editor Adrienne Fromsett, it's not to talk about his story ideas — she wants him to locate the missing wife of her boss, Mr. Kingsby. The assignment quickly becomes complicated when bodies start turning up.

6.0

Best Crime Movies of 1946

This ranking features the top crime movies released in 1946, sorted by MovieMagicScore viewer ratings. Looking for more? Browse all genres from 1946 or see the best crime movies of all time.