Movies like The Madonna's Secret (1946)
The best movies like The Madonna's Secret (1946) are The Deadly Affair (1967), Time Without Pity (1957) and Sleep, My Love (1948). If The Madonna's Secret hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)6.6/10 from 568 votes
- NewestGrayscale (2025)Released 2025
The Deadly Affair (1967)
Charles Dobbs is a British secret agent investigating the apparent suicide of Foreign Office official Samuel Fennan. Dobbs suspects that Fennan's wife, Elsa, a survivor of a Nazi Germany extermination camp, might have some clues, but other officials want Dobbs to drop the case. So Dobbs hires a retiring inspector, Mendel, to quietly make inquiries. Dobbs isn't at all sure as there are a number of anomalies that simply can't be explained away. Dobbs is also having trouble at home with his errant wife, whom he very much loves, having frequent affairs. He's also pleased to see an old friend, Dieter Frey, who he recruited after the war. With the assistance of a colleague and a retired policeman, Dobbs tries to piece together just who is the spy and who in fact assassinated Fennan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleep, My Love (1948)
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor Who: Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014)
In this epic two-part finale, the Doctor comes face to face with the mysterious Missy, and an impossible choice is looming. With Cybermen on the streets of London, old friends unite against old enemies, and the Doctor takes to the air in a startling new role.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFramed for Murder: A Fixer Upper Mystery (2017)
In the small resort town of Lighthouse Cove, everyone knows that the best man for the job is a woman. And that woman is Shannon Hughes, owner of a construction company and an expert in Victorian home restoration and renovation. Through her renovations she will find clues to uncover the house’s secret past and in turn become an unlikely sleuth to help crack these unsolved mysteries
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeeds of Yesterday (2015)
The Sheffield family reveal and go through some home truths as their middle child inherits the Foxworth mansion. The family's ghosts looming over, and more tragedies are in store as the curse lives on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
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 mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDonovan's Echo (2011)
A series of uncanny déjà vu events force a man to re-examine his tragic past, memory, instinct, and future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022)
A murder investigation is reignited in a house that is considered haunted by the Lawrenceton locals and where years ago Aurora and Sally, as teenagers, discovered a body.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mirror Crack'd (1980)
Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEach 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 drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Bundle of Trouble: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery (2017)
Aurora Teagarden and her boyfriend Martin are thrilled when they get an unexpected visit from his niece and her new baby. Their excitement is short lived when his niece disappears and the baby is left behind. Once again, Aurora finds herself drawn into a deadly investigation as she risks it all to help Martin reunite with his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020)
After being forced into early retirement, former detective Jeff Jackson returns to a quiet life on Martha's Vineyard. Quiet, at least, until a body washes up and he's drawn back into crime solving.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors (1992)
At the insistence of Ruth Van Rydock, an old schoolfriend who is convinced that there is something wrong, Miss Marple agrees to visit 'Stonygates', the country house of Ruth's sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: A Case Of Murder (2017)
Jenn buys an old reel-to-reel recorder at a garage sale only to find that it includes the sound of a man pleading for his life. When the former owner of the recorder, a retired therapist, is found murdered in a patient’s apartment, Jenn’s investigation leads to other patients whose love lives are more entangled than she was first led to believe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHouse of Anubis: The Touchstone of Ra (2013)
The students of Anubis House are on the eve of their graduation when they encounter a new group of underclassmen and a mysterious stone that leads them on a quest to save the world from evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCop Killer (1994)
A woman is found murdered in a closed amusement park. A young couple who happen to be there at the same time become, without their knowledge, suspects for the murder. They are chased by a large number of police but only Martin Beck believes them to be innocent.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Fleshtone (1994)
Matthew Greco is fascinated by death. As a successful artist, he paints gruesome portraits of murders and suicides. Yet, despite his success, he is unhappy and alone. In desperation, he answers a phone sex ad and becomes entangled with Edna; a woman who seems to share his morbid desires and strange needs. They decide to meet one another in person, but the rendezvous goes horribly wrong when Matthew finds Edna dead – or is it Edna?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Grayscale (2025)
An anti establishment painter is forced by his brother, who is a high ranking officer, to paint the portrait of the fascist dictator in a dystopian Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Magnum Opus (2017)
This spy thriller pits veteran-turned-artist, Daniel Cliff, against US intelligence, and secrets from his past lead to hellish journey of lies, betrayal, and government retribution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Headway (TBA)
Dylan Prescott an expressionist painter, struggles with substance abuse, untreated bipolar disorder, a recently deceased mother and neglected childhood trauma. Dylan must face his deepest fears in a reoccurring dream; while checked into rehab. He is ready to take back his life and salvage the closest relationships, even if they are dead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Marked Woman (1937)
In the underworld of Manhattan, a woman dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoman with a Landscape (1989)
A ranger whose passion is nude painting comes to work in a remote Bosnian village. He asks the local women to pose naked for him. They are shy at first, but they eventually agree to do so. This makes their husbands furious, who think that the ranger is sleeping with their wives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Untitled (Without Sound) (2025)
A highfalutin art movie crumbles into a meta-fictional disaster that betrays its director’s incompetence in real time, and it’s all on film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Losing Ground (1982)
Sara, a cold college professor, and her husband, an ecstatic painter, spend a summer away from the city, straining their rocky relationship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Postcards from London (2018)
Jim is a young man from Essex who moves to Soho with dreams of fame and fortune. When he joins a group of luxury male escorts, he finds himself embarking on a psychedelic journey of decadence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Madonna's Secret?
The closest matches to The Madonna's Secret are The Deadly Affair (1967), Time Without Pity (1957) and Sleep, My Love (1948). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Madonna's Secret?
Start with The Deadly Affair (1967), the closest match to The Madonna's Secret.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Madonna's Secret?
The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), rated 6.6/10 by 568 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Madonna's Secret?
Grayscale (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Madonna's Secret?
Yes: The Deadly Affair (1967), Time Without Pity (1957) and Sleep, My Love (1948).
How are movies similar to The Madonna's Secret chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Madonna's Secret, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.