Movies like The Pretender (1947)
The best movies like The Pretender (1947) are The Web (1947), Each Dawn I Die (1939) and 5 Against the House (1955). If The Pretender 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 ratedNotorious (1946)7.7/10 from 1,827 votes
- NewestNight Creatures (2025)Released 2025
The Web (1947)
A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this5 Against the House (1955)
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThey Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark City (1950)
War hero Danny Haley fleeces out-of-town dupes in a rigged poker game. He and his pals see Arthur Winant as an easy mark, but they've reckoned without Winant's homicidal brother, who wants revenge after Arthur commits suicide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
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 thisNo Man of Her Own (1950)
A penniless pregnant woman adopts the identity of a rich woman killed in a train crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPitfall (1948)
An insurance man wishing for a more exciting life becomes wrapped up in the affairs of an imprisoned embezzler, his model girlfriend, and a violent private investigator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & 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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Angel (1946)
A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin, team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightfall (1956)
An innocent man turns fugitive as he reconstructs events that implicate him for a murder and robbery he did not commit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlunder Road (1957)
A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Big Knife (1955)
Movie star Charlie Castle draws the ire of Hollywood producer Stanley Hoff when he refuses to sign a new seven-year contract. Castle is sick of the low quality of the studio's films and wants to start a new life. While his estranged wife supports him in the decision, Castle's talent agent urges him to reconsider. When Castle continues to be uncooperative, Hoff resorts to blackmail in order to get his way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSide Street (1950)
A struggling young father-to-be gives in to temptation and impulsively steals an envelope of money from the office of a corrupt attorney. Instead of a few hundred dollars, it contains $30,000. When he decides to return the money, things go wrong - and that is only the beginning of his troubles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Inspector Calls (1954)
An upper-crust family dinner is interrupted by a police inspector who brings news that a girl known to everyone present has died in suspicious circumstances. It seems that any or all of them could have had a hand in her death. But who is the mysterious Inspector and what can he want of them?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 Big Combo (1955)
Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blue Lamp (1950)
P.C. George Dixon is a long-serving traditional copper who is due to retire shortly. He takes a new recruit under his aegis and introduces him to the easy-going night beat. Dixon is a classic ordinary hero but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of the 1950s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Killing (1956)
Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNotorious (1946)
In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngel Face (1953)
Ambulance driver Frank Jessup is ensnared in the schemes of the sensuous but dangerous Diane Tremayne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKey Largo (1948)
A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScandal Sheet (1952)
A tabloid editor assigns a young reporter to solve a murder the editor committed himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight Creatures (2025)
After serving his prison sentence, Dylan wants to cut ties with his past. However, because of an outstanding debt, he is forced into a final break-in at the popular Brasserie Papillon. There he meets the mysterious Margot. Their meeting unintentionally puts each other's fate in their hands. But neither considers Tonio, Papillon's flamboyant waiter. Their paths cross during 1 dramatic night that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Tension (1949)
Warren Quimby manages a drugstore while trying to keep his volatile wife, Claire, happy. However, when Claire leaves him for a liquor store salesman, Warren can no longer bear it. He decides to assume a new identity in order to murder his wife's lover without leaving a trace. Along the way, his plans are complicated by an attractive neighbor, as well as a shocking discovery that opens up a new world of doubts and accusations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Racket (1951)
The big national crime syndicate has moved into town, partnering up with local crime boss Nick Scanlon. McQuigg, the only honest police captain on the force, and his loyal patrolman, Johnson, take on the violent Nick.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNobody Lives Forever (1946)
A con artist falls for the rich widow he's trying to fleece.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Calcutta (1946)
Neale and Pedro fly cargo between Chungking and Calcutta. When their buddy Bill is murdered they investigate. Neale meets Bill's fiancée Virginia and becomes suspicious of a deeper plot while also falling for her charms.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Like The Pretender and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Pretender?
The closest matches to The Pretender are The Web (1947), Each Dawn I Die (1939) and 5 Against the House (1955). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Pretender?
Start with The Web (1947), the closest match to The Pretender.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Pretender?
Notorious (1946), rated 7.7/10 by 1,827 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Pretender?
Night Creatures (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Pretender?
Yes: The Web (1947), Each Dawn I Die (1939) and 5 Against the House (1955).
How are movies similar to The Pretender chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Pretender, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.