# List of thriller films of the 1940s

A list of thriller films released in the 1940s.
| Title | Director | Cast | Country | Subgenre/notes |
| 1940 |||||
| Before I Hang | Nick Grinde | Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett | United States | |
| Foreign Correspondent | Alfred Hitchcock | Joel McCrea, Laraine Day | United States | |
| Gaslight | Thorold Dickinson | Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell | United Kingdom | |
| Night Train to Munich | Carol Reed | Rex Harrison, Margaret Lockwood | United Kingdom | |
| Rebecca | Alfred Hitchcock | Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson | United States | Psychological thriller |
| Stranger on the Third Floor | Boris Ingster | Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet | United States | Psychological thriller |
| 1941 |||||
| Among the Living | Stuart Heisler | Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward, Harry Carey | United States | |
| Le Dernier des Six | Georges Lacombe | Michele Alfa, Pierre Fresnay, Jean Tissier | France | Psychological thriller |
| I Wake Up Screaming | H. Bruce Humberstone | Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis | United States | |
| Man Hunt | Fritz Lang | Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders | United States | |
| Shadow of the Thin Man | W.S. Van Dyke | William Powell, Myrna Loy, Barry Nelson | United States | Comedy thriller |
| Suspicion | Alfred Hitchcock | Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine | United States | Psychological thriller |
| 1942 |||||
| L'Assassin Habite au 21 | Henri-Georges Clouzot | Suzy Delair, Pierre Fresnay, Noël Roquevert | France | Comedy thriller |
| Bowery at Midnight | Wallace W. Fox | Bela Lugosi, John Archer, Wanda McKay | United States | Crime thriller |
| Cat People | Jacques Tourneur | Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway | United States | Supernatural thriller |
| Eyes in the Night | Fred Zinnemann | Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Katherine Emery | United States | Crime thriller |
| The Glass Key | Stuart Heisler | Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd | United States | |
| I Live on Danger | Sam White | Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Elizabeth Risdon | United States | |
| Nightmare | Tim Whelan | Diana Barrymore, Brian Donlevy, Henry Daniell | United States | |
| Saboteur | Alfred Hitchcock | Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Norman Lloyd | United States | |
| This Gun for Hire | Frank Tuttle | Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar | United States | Crime thriller |
| 1943 |||||
| Above Suspicion | Richard Thorpe | Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt | United States | Political thriller |
| Le Corbeau | Henri-Georges Clouzot | Pierre Fresnay, Pierre Larquey, Micheline Francey | France | Psychological thriller |
| The Fallen Sparrow | Richard Wallace | John Garfield, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak | United States | |
| Journey into Fear | Norman Foster | Joseph Cotten, Dolores del Río, Ruth Warrick, Orson Welles | United States | |
| The Leopard Man | Jacques Tourneur | Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks | United States | |
| Shadow of a Doubt | Alfred Hitchcock | Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright, MacDonald Carey | United States | |
| 1944 |||||
| Bluebeard | Edgar G. Ulmer | John Carradine, Jean Parker, Nils Asther | United States | |
| The Climax | George Waggner | Boris Karloff, Susanna Foster | United States | |
| Dark Waters | André De Toth | Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone, Thomas Mitchell | United States | |
| Double Indemnity | Billy Wilder | Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson | United States | Crime thriller |
| Gaslight | George Cukor | Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman | United States | |
| Laura | Otto Preminger | Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb | United States | Psychological thriller |
| The Lodger | John Brahm | Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Laird Cregar | United States | |
| The Mask of Dimitrios | Jean Negulesco | Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson | United States | |
| Ministry of Fear | Fritz Lang | Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond | United States | Psychological Thriller |
| Murder, My Sweet | Edward Dmytryk | Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley | United States | |
| Phantom Lady | Robert Siodmak | Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis | United States | |
| The Scarlet Claw | Roy William Neill | Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gerald Hamer | United States | |
| The Thin Man Goes Home | Richard Thorpe | William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gloria DeHaven | United States | Comedy thriller |
| When Strangers Marry | William Castle | Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum | United States | |
| The Woman in the Window | Fritz Lang | Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey | United States | |
| 1945 |||||
| The Body Snatcher | Robert Wise | Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell | United States | |
| Conflict | Curtis Bernhardt | Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet | United States | |
| Cornered | Edward Dmytryk | Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Nina Vale | United States | |
| Dead of Night | Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer | Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Sally Ann Howes, Mary Merrall | United Kingdom | Psychological thriller |
| Hangover Square | John Brahm | Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders | United States | |
| The House on 92nd Street | Henry Hathaway | William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso | United States | |
| My Name Is Julia Ross | Joseph H. Lewis | Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready | United States | |
| Spellbound | Alfred Hitchcock | Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Jean Acker | United States | Psychological thriller |
| Strange Illusion | Edgar G. Ulmer | Charles Arnt, Jameson Clark, Jimmy Clark | United States | |
| 1946 |||||
| Bedlam | Mark Robson | Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House | United States | |
| The Brute Man | Jean Yarbrough | Rondo Hatton, Jane Adams, Tom Neal | United States | |
| Crack-Up | Irving G. Reis | Pat O'Brien, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall | United States | Psychological thriller |
| Deadline at Dawn | Harold Clurman | Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Bill Williams | United States | |
| Dragonwyck | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Gene Tierney, Spring Byington, Walter Huston | United States | |
| I See a Dark Stranger | Frank Launder | Deborah Kerr, Trevor Howard, Raymond Huntley | United Kingdom | |
| Leave Her to Heaven | John M. Stahl | Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde | United States | Psychological thriller |
| Notorious | Alfred Hitchcock | Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains | United States | Political thriller |
| Shadow of a Woman | Joseph Santley | Helmut Dantine, Andrea King, Don McGuire | United States | |
| Shock | Alfred L. Werker | Vincent Price, Lynn Bari, Anabel Shaw | United States | |
| The Spiral Staircase | Robert Siodmak | Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore | United States | Psychological thriller |
| The Stranger | Orson Welles | Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young | United States | Psychological thriller |
| 1947 |||||
| Kiss of Death | Henry Hathaway | Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray | United States | Psychological thriller, crime thriller |
| The Lady from Shanghai | Orson Welles | Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles | United States | |
| Love from a Stranger | Richard Whorf | John Hodiak, John Howard, Ann Richards | United States | |
| The Red House | Delmer Daves | Edward G. Robinson, Lon McCallister, Judith Anderson | United States | |
| Song of the Thin Man | Edward Buzzell | William Powell, Myrna Loy | United States | Comedy thriller |
| 1948 |||||
| The Big Clock | John Farrow | Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan | United States | Psychological thriller |
| Cry of the City | Robert Siodmak | Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark | United States | |
| He Walked by Night | Alfred L. Werker | Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts | United States | |
| Key Largo | John Huston | Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Monte Blue | United States | Crime thriller |
| Sorry, Wrong Number | Anatole Litvak | Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards | United States | Psychological thriller |
| 1949 |||||
| The Bribe | Robert Z. Leonard | Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price | United States | Crime thriller |
| D.O.A. | Rudolph Maté | Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler | United States | Psychological thriller |
| Follow Me Quietly | Richard Fleischer | William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey | United States | |
| Gun Crazy | Joseph H. Lewis | Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger | United States | Crime thriller |
| The Third Man | Carol Reed | Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles | United Kingdom | Psychological thriller |
| Stray Dog | Akira Kurosawa | Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura | Japan | |
| White Heat | Raoul Walsh | James Cagney | United States | Crime thriller |
| Whirlpool | Otto Preminger | Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer | United States | Psychological thriller |