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Movies Like Tension

If you liked Tension (1949), a thriller and crime movie directed by John Berry, 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. 1The File on Thelma Jordon

    The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)

    ★ 6.5/10Also thriller and crime

    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.

  2. 2Nightfall

    Nightfall (1956)

    ★ 6.9/10Also crime and thriller

    An innocent man turns fugitive as he reconstructs events that implicate him for a murder and robbery he did not commit.

  3. 3Sorry, Wrong Number

    Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

    ★ 6.8/10Also thriller

    Leona Stevenson is confined to bed and uses her telephone to keep in contact with the outside world. One day she overhears a murder plot on the telephone and is desperate to find out who is the intended victim.

  4. 4Black Widow

    Black Widow (1987)

    ★ 6.2/10Also thriller

    Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple…

  5. 5Double Indemnity

    Double Indemnity (1944)

    ★ 8.1/10Also crime and thriller

    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.

  6. 6Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: The Disappearing Game

    Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: The Disappearing Game (2018)

    ★ 7/10Also crime

    Crime-solving librarian Aurora Teagarden leaps headfirst into Lawrenceton’s latest murder investigation when her nephew Phillip and his college roommate go missing after the roommate’s girlfriend is found dead…

  7. 7Conflict

    Conflict (1945)

    ★ 6.7/10Also thriller

    Unhappily married Richard Mason concocts a meticulous scheme to kill his shrewish wife so that he'll be free to marry her sister.

  8. 8Fallen Angel

    Fallen Angel (1945)

    ★ 6.6/10Also crime

    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…

  9. 9Pushover

    Pushover (1954)

    ★ 6.6/10Also crime and thriller

    A police detective falls for the bank robber's girlfriend he is supposed to be tailing.

  10. 10The Blue Gardenia

    The Blue Gardenia (1953)

    ★ 6.5/10Also crime

    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…

  11. 11Caught

    Caught (1949)

    ★ 6.6/10Also thriller

    Wide-eyed and poor young Leonora weds an obsessive millionaire named Ohlrig, but the marriage is loveless. Even worse, Ohlrig seems to have manic, violent tendencies. Eventually, young Leonora escapes her unhappy life…

  12. 12This Gun for Hire

    This Gun for Hire (1942)

    ★ 7/10Also crime and thriller

    Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates, Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new…

  13. 13They Live by Night

    They Live by Night (1949)

    ★ 6.8/10Also crime

    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.

  14. 14Hollow Triumph

    Hollow Triumph (1948)

    ★ 6.6/10Also thriller and crime

    Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity—with unfortunate results.

  15. 15I Confess

    I Confess (1953)

    ★ 7.1/10Also thriller and crime

    When a priest hears a murderer’s confession, he becomes bound by his vow of silence—even as circumstantial evidence turns suspicion toward him. Torn between faith and self-preservation, he faces public scandal and…

  16. 16Lady in the Lake

    Lady in the Lake (1946)

    ★ 6.1/10Also thriller and crime

    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…

  17. 17Pickup on South Street

    Pickup on South Street (1953)

    ★ 7.4/10Also thriller and crime

    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…

  18. 18The Naked City

    The Naked City (1948)

    ★ 7.2/10Also crime and thriller

    After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

  19. 19Plunder Road

    Plunder Road (1957)

    ★ 6.9/10Also crime

    A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.

  20. 20The Killer Is Loose

    The Killer Is Loose (1956)

    ★ 6.7/10Also crime and thriller

    A savings-and-loan bank is robbed; later, a police wiretap identifies meek bank teller Leon Poole as the inside man. In capturing him, detective Sam Wagner accidentally kills Poole's young wife, and at his trial Poole…

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