Movies like Headline (1943)
The best movies like Headline (1943) are Each Dawn I Die (1939), Islands (2025) and Strangers on a Train (1951). If Headline hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDouble Indemnity (1944)8.1/10 from 2,135 votes
- NewestIslands (2025)Released 2025
Each Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIslands (2025)
In this twisty thriller, a tennis coach at a tropical resort finds himself at the center of a missing persons mystery. Tom teaches tennis during the day and parties at night. When an enigmatic tourist arrives, Tom is unable to shake the feeling he has met her before. Tension and attraction grow, until her husband disappears, and the police suspect Tom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrangers on a Train (1951)
A charming psychopath tries to coerce a tennis star into his theory that two strangers can commit the perfect crime by exchanging murders—each killing the other’s most-hated person.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMurder in Three Acts (1986)
In Acapulco, Hercule Poirot attends a dinner party in which one of the guests clutches his throat and suddenly dies. The causes seem to be natural until another party with most of the same guests produces another corpse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSherlock: The Abominable Bride (2016)
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this holiday special.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWitness to Murder (1954)
A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder while looking out her bedroom window.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDial M for Murder (1954)
When her American lover visits London, a wealthy woman’s jealous husband hatches a plan to murder her and inherit her fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTime Without Pity (1957)
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFramed (1947)
Truck driver Mike Lambert is a down-and-out mining engineer searching for a job. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he happens upon a venomous seductress. When her boyfriend robs a bank, they intend to frame Lambert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe File on Thelma Jordon (1949)
Cleve Marshall, an assistant district attorney, falls for Thelma Jordon, a mysterious woman with a troubled past. When Thelma becomes a suspect in her aunt's murder, Cleve tries to clear her name.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAgatha (1979)
England, 1926. An American journalist looks for mystery writer Agatha Christie when she suddenly disappears without explanation, leaving no trace.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Narrow Margin (1952)
A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's widow on a train journey from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhile the City Sleeps (1956)
Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadigan (1968)
NYPD detectives Bonaro and Madigan lose their guns to fugitive Barney Benesch. As compensation, they are given a weekend to bring Benesch to justice. While they follow various leads, Police Commissioner Russell goes about his duties, including attending functions, meeting with aggrieved relatives, and counseling the spouses of fallen officers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDouble Indemnity (1944)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMurder on the Orient Express (1974)
In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Deadly Summer (1983)
Shortly after Elle Wieck moves to a small French village, she begins dating Pin-Pon, a quiet young mechanic who has grown obsessed with the beautiful newcomer. But Elle has her own reason for the relationship...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEagle Rock (2019)
In the early 1970s, a young woman in prison for murder reflects on what led her to the crime, the cult she was a part of, and her relationship with its leader.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
The Element of Crime (1984)
Fisher, an ex-detective, decides to take one final case when a mysterious serial killer claims the lives of several young girls. Fisher, unable to find the culprit, turns to Osbourne, a writer who was once respected for his contributions to the field of criminology. Fisher begins to use Osbourne's technique, which involves empathizing with serial killers; however, as the detective becomes increasingly engrossed in this method, things take a disturbing turn.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBuffalo Soldiers (2002)
A criminal subculture operates among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrick (2006)
A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath to Smoochy (2002)
Tells the story of Rainbow Randolph, the corrupt, costumed star of a popular children's TV show, who is fired over a bribery scandal and replaced by squeaky-clean Smoochy, a puffy fuchsia rhinoceros. As Smoochy catapults to fame - scoring hit ratings and the affections of a network executive - Randolph makes the unsuspecting rhino the target of his numerous outrageous attempts to exact revenge and reclaim his status as America's sweetheart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRocco and His Brothers (1960)
When a impoverished widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her five sons become romantic rivals with deadly results.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTristan & Isolde (2006)
An affair between the second in line to Britain's throne and the princess of the feuding Irish spells doom for the young lovers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPolice Story (1985)
Officer Chan Ka Kui manages to put a major Hong Kong drug dealer behind the bars practically alone, after a shooting and an impressive chase inside a slum. Now, he must protect the boss' secretary, Selina, who will testify against the gangster in court.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSicario (2015)
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Headline?
The closest matches to Headline are Each Dawn I Die (1939), Islands (2025) and Strangers on a Train (1951). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Headline?
Start with Each Dawn I Die (1939), the closest match to Headline.
What is the highest-rated movie like Headline?
Double Indemnity (1944), rated 8.1/10 by 2,135 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Headline?
Islands (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Headline?
Yes: Each Dawn I Die (1939), Islands (2025) and Strangers on a Train (1951).
How are movies similar to Headline chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Headline, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.