Movies like The Phantom Thief (1946)
The best movies like The Phantom Thief (1946) are The Naked City (1948), The Blue Gardenia (1953) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022). If The Phantom Thief hooked you with its crime and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPickup on South Street (1953)7.4/10 from 342 votes
- NewestA Working Man (2025)Released 2025
The Naked City (1948)
After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
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 & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pale Blue Eye (2022)
West Point, New York, 1830. When a cadet at the burgeoning military academy is found hanged with his heart cut out, the top brass summons former New York City constable Augustus Landor to investigate. While attempting to solve this grisly mystery, the reluctant detective engages the help of one of the cadets: a strange but brilliant young fellow by the name of Edgar Allan Poe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSolace (2015)
A psychic doctor, John Clancy, works with an FBI special agent in search of a serial killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Limits of Control (2009)
A mysterious stranger works outside the law and keeps his objectives hidden, trusting no one. While his demeanor is paradoxically focused and dreamlike all at once, he embarks on a journey that not only takes him across Spain, but also through his own consciousness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night Strangler (1973)
After being run out of Las Vegas, reporter Carl Kolchak heads for Seattle and another reporting job with the local paper. It's not long before he’s on the trail of another string of bizarre murders. It seems that every 21 years, for the past century, a killer murders a certain number of people, drains them of their blood, and then disappears into the night. Kolchak is on his trail, but can he stop him?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSong of the Thin Man (1947)
While attending a glamorous jazz cruise on New York’s East River, Nick and Nora Charles witness the fatal shooting of a wealthy patron. When suspicion falls on a young bandleader and his musicians, the couple steps in to clear their friends and uncover the real killer. Their investigation leads through a lively world of jazz clubs, radio personalities, high society, and backstage rivalries, where almost everyone has a secret and the next clue may be hidden in the music.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)
In World War II, a British secret agent carrying a vitally important document is kidnapped en route to Washington. The British government calls on Sherlock Holmes to recover it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCa$h (2010)
A stroke of good luck turns lethal for Sam Phelan and his wife Leslie when they are faced with a life-changing decision that brings strange and sinister Pyke Kubic to their doorstep. As Pyke leads Sam and Leslie on a tumultuous adventure through the streets of Chicago, each are pulled deeper and deeper into a desperate spiral of deception and violence – all in the name of money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ritual Killer (2023)
Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisAngel Heart (1987)
A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFamily Plot (1976)
Spiritualist Blanche Tyler and her cab-driving boyfriend encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPickup on South Street (1953)
In New York City, an insolent pickpocket, Skip McCoy, inadvertently sets off a chain of events when he targets ex-prostitute Candy and steals her wallet. Unaware that she has been making deliveries of highly classified information to the communists, Candy, who has been trailed by FBI agents for months in hopes of nabbing the spy ringleader, is sent by her ex-boyfriend, Joey, to find Skip and retrieve the valuable microfilm he now holds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFoul Play (1978)
A shy San Francisco librarian and a bumbling cop fall in love as they solve a crime involving albinos, dwarves, and the Catholic Church.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome Sweet Home: Rebirth (2025)
When a city is overrun with a demonically-possessed crowd, a cop must find the source of evil to save his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Working Man (2025)
Levon Cade left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life working construction. But when his boss's daughter, who is like family to him, is taken by human traffickers, his search to bring her home uncovers a world of corruption far greater than he ever could have imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisM (1951)
In the city, someone is murdering children. The police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCanary Black (2024)
Top level CIA agent Avery Graves is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive and help locate the coveted intelligence that the kidnappers want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBody Cam (2020)
As a police officer investigates the gruesome murder of her colleague, she discovers that a mysterious supernatural force is behind it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
Hoping for a peaceful visit with his parents in the small town of Sycamore Springs, Nick Charles and his wife Nora soon find themselves surrounded by old rivalries, family tensions, and a mysterious murder. Nick’s father, a respected retired doctor, would much rather see his son give up detective work, but a suspicious shooting quickly draws Nick back into action. As Nick and Nora investigate, they uncover jealousy, deception, hidden motives, and a dangerous secret involving the town’s prominent citizens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Other Person (1921)
A séance proves a ghost compelled a spiritualist to kill his rich father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & crime
Boston Blackie and the Law (1946)
Blackie performs in a magic show at a women's prison, which gives an inmate an opportunity to escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942)
Blackie receives a call from a friend who asks him to retrieve some money from his apartment and deliver it to him in California. Performing this good deed, he is accused of theft, but is allowed to proceed to Hollywood to help the police find a lost diamond.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949)
Blackie is seen leaving a Chinese laundry where the proprietor has been murdered, and must track down the real killer in Chinatown.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941)
A murder is committed during the auction of a valuable statue. The prime suspect is Boston Blackie, whose reputation for living on the edge of the law makes him an easy target for the police. When the body disappears, Blackie must find it to prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
One Mysterious Night (1944)
After a rare gem is stolen from an exhibition at a posh hotel, Inspector Farraday recruits former thief Boston Blackie to retrieve the stone. Along with his assistant, 'The Runt', Blackie focuses his investigation on the hotel manager, George Daley, and his sister, Eileen. Through disguises and ruses, Blackie and the Runt trick their way to discovering the perpetrators.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & crime
Trapped by Boston Blackie (1948)
Blackie is the natural suspect when an expensive pearl necklace is stolen while he is supposed to be guarding it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
The Chance of a Lifetime (1943)
A mad scramble for stolen loot ensues after Boston Blackie has prisoners released for work in a wartime defence plant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Bones (2001)
Over 20 years after his death, local legend and benefactor Jimmy Bones returns as a ghost to get revenge on those who killed him and restore his neighborhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisAt the Villa Rose (1940)
A gang of clever thieves kill a wealthy woman in hopes of stealing her gems. But the thieves aren't clever enough to ascertain the location of those gems, so they consult a phony spiritualist. Then they decide to dispose of the mystic by framing her for the murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Phantom Thief?
The closest matches to The Phantom Thief are The Naked City (1948), The Blue Gardenia (1953) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Phantom Thief?
Start with The Naked City (1948), the closest match to The Phantom Thief.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Phantom Thief?
Pickup on South Street (1953), rated 7.4/10 by 342 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Phantom Thief?
A Working Man (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Phantom Thief?
Yes: The Naked City (1948), The Blue Gardenia (1953) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022).
How are movies similar to The Phantom Thief chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Phantom Thief, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.