Movies Like For the Defense

If you liked For the Defense (1930), a crime and drama movie directed by John Cromwell, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Fallen Angel (1945)
★ 6.6/10Also crime and drama
An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman…
2
Plunder Road (1957)
★ 6.9/10Also crime and drama
A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
3
Bad Girl (1931)
★ 6/10Also romance and drama
A man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
4
They Live by Night (1949)
★ 6.8/10Also crime and romance
An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning.
5
You Only Live Once (1937)
★ 7.1/10Also crime and drama
Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham…
6
The Locket (1946)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and crime
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
7
Supercross (2005)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and romance
Faced with the suspicious death of their father, two brothers must motivate one another to get back on their bikes and take the Las Vegas Motocross Championships by storm.
8
Party Girl (1958)
★ 6.8/10Also crime and drama
Slick lawyer Thomas Farrell has made a career of defending mobsters in trials. It's not until he meets a lovely showgirl at a mob party that he realizes that there's more to life than winning trials. Farrell tries to…
9
Sahara (1983)
★ 5.9/10Also drama and romance
Intent on winning a competition in place of her distinguished late father, beautiful young heiress Dale takes on the guise of a man and competes in his spot, embarking on a car race that crosses the unforgiving Sahara…
10
Dishonored (1931)
★ 7/10Also drama and romance
The Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
11
The Lost Husband (2020)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and romance
Trying to put her life back together after the death of her husband, Libby and her children move to her estranged Aunt's goat farm in central Texas.
12
The Wild One (1953)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and crime
The Black Rebels Motorcycle Club ride into the small California town of Wrightsville, eager to raise hell. Brooding gang leader Johnny Strabler takes a liking to Kathie, the daughter of the local lawman, as another…
13
Absence of Malice (1981)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and romance
Megan Carter is a reporter duped into running an untrue story on Michael Gallagher, a suspected racketeer. He has an alibi for the time his crime was allegedly committed—but it involves an innocent party. When he tells…
14
The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and romance
A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe to deliver what we want.
15
Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
★ 7/10Also crime and drama
The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.
16
Time Without Pity (1957)
★ 6.5/10Also crime and drama
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…
17
Home by Spring (2018)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and romance
When an ambitious event planner gets an opportunity she can’t refuse, she goes undercover as her boss and returns to her rural hometown. With the help of her family and the man she left behind, she pulls off the…
18
The Paradine Case (1947)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and romance
In London, barrister Anthony Keane takes the case of Maddalena Paradine, a beautiful woman accused of poisoning her blind husband. Though happily married, Keane becomes infatuated with his enigmatic client and…
19
Mata Hari (1931)
★ 6.2/10Also crime and drama
A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.
20
5 Against the House (1955)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and drama
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.