# List of thriller films before 1940

A list of thriller films released in the before 1940.
| Title | Director | Cast | Country | Subgenre/notes |
| 1926 |||||
| The Bat | Roland West | Tullio Carminatti, Charles Herzinger, Jewel Carmen, Louise Fazenda | United States | |
| The Bells | James Young | Gustav von Seyffertitz, E. Alyn Warren | United States | |
| The Lodger | Alfred Hitchcock | Ivor Novello | United Kingdom | |
| 1928 |||||
| Spies | Fritz Lang | Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gerda Maurus, Lien Deyers, Craighall Sherry | Germany | |
| 1929 |||||
| Blackmail | Alfred Hitchcock | Anny Ondra, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton | United Kingdom | |
| 1930 |||||
| The Bat Whispers | Roland West | Spencer Charters, Chester Morris, Una Merkel | United States | |
| 1931 |||||
| Charlie Chan Carries On | Hamilton MacFadden | Warner Oland, John Garrick, Marguerite Churchill | United States | Crime thriller |
| M | Fritz Lang | Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Gustaf Gründgens | Germany | |
| 1932 |||||
| Freaks | Tod Browning | Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova | United States | |
| The Most Dangerous Game | Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks | United States | |
| Number 17 | Alfred Hitchcock | Leon M. Lion, Anne Grey, Donald Calthrop | United Kingdom | |
| Rome Express | Walter Forde | Conrad Veidt, Esther Ralston, Joan Barry | United Kingdom | |
| Tangled Destinies | Frank Strayer | Lloyd Whitlock, Doris Hill, Glenn Tryon | United States | |
| Thirteen Women | George Archainbaud | Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, Ricardo Cortez | United States | |
| 1933 |||||
| Charlie Chan's Greatest Case | Hamilton MacFadden | Warner Oland, Heather Angel, Roger Imhof | United States | Crime thriller |
| 1934 |||||
| Charlie Chan in London | Eugene J. Forde | Warner Oland, Drue Leyton, Douglas Walton | United States | Crime thriller |
| The Man Who Knew Too Much | Alfred Hitchcock | Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre | United Kingdom | |
| The Thin Man | W.S. Van Dyke | William Powell, Myrna Loy | United States | |
| 1935 |||||
| The 39 Steps | Alfred Hitchcock | Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll | United Kingdom | |
| Mad Love | Karl W. Freund | Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive | United States | |
| 1936 |||||
| After the Thin Man | W.S. Van Dyke | William Powell, Myrna Loy | United States | Comedy thriller |
| Black Gold | Russell Hopton | Frankie Darro, LeRoy Mason, Gloria Shea | United States | Crime thriller |
| The Invisible Ray | Lambert Hillyer | Bela Lugosi, Frances Drake, Frank Lawton | United States | |
| Sabotage | Alfred Hitchcock | Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, Desmond Tester | United Kingdom | |
| 1937 |||||
| L'alibi | Pierre Chenal | Louis Jouvet, Erich von Stroheim, Albert Préjean | France | |
| Love From a Stranger | Rowland V. Lee | Ann Harding, Basil Rathbone, Binnie Hale | United Kingdom | |
| Night Must Fall | Richard Thorpe | Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell | United States | |
| Young and Innocent | Alfred Hitchcock | Nova Pilbeam, Derrick de Marney, Percy Marmont | United Kingdom | |
| 1938 |||||
| They Drive by Night | Arthur B. Woods | Emlyn Williams, Ernest Thesiger, Anna Konstam | United Kingdom | |
| The Lady Vanishes | Alfred Hitchcock | Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas | United Kingdom | |
| 1939 |||||
| Another Thin Man | W.S. Van Dyke | William Powell, Myrna Loy | United States | |
| Clouds over Europe | Tim Whelan, Sr. | Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Valerie Hobson | United Kingdom | |
| Exile Express | Otis M. Garrett | Anna Sten, Alan Marshal, Jerome Cowan | United States | |
| The Human Monster | Walter Summers | Bela Lugosi, Hugh Williams, Great Gynt | United Kingdom | |
| Jamaica Inn | Alfred Hitchcock | Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara | United Kingdom | |