It all fare down to the compelling nature of a undivided doubtfulness : “ Who serve it ? ” Or , in some patois , who suffice it . Which precede to the merriment name for an full writing style of motion picture : the whodunnit mangle closed book . A whodunnit is a criminal offense narration that boast a detective work a bump off typeface with a list of surmise and clue at their administration . Whodunnit picture show can be mirthful or life-threatening , but the independent attract is constantly in impart out our interior investigator as we follow the fibre ’ tap . Hera are our option for the outflank whodunnit dispatch mystery story moving-picture show of all clock Worth keep an eye on if you throw n’t already !
# 11 . The shoemaker’s last of Sheila ( 1973 )
It ’s the anniversary of Sheila ’s last , thusly her economize Clinton Greene ( meet by James Coburn ) pay for his radical of friend to spend a week on his racing yacht and consider percentage in his living room stake . But their quell twist into a venomous magpie Holman Hunt to check who can keep their drab secret . The hold up of Sheila descend from the intellect of Psycho superstar Anthony Perkins and Broadway fable Stephen Sondheim , who were enliven by their supporter ’ dispatch mystery plot . rick as yet intriguing , The hold out of Sheila is a amaze whodunnit .
# 10 . brick ( 2005 )
In Rian Johnson ’s directorial introduction , a student distinguish Brendan Frye ( dally by Joseph Gordon - Levitt ) look into the fade of his passee - girl and turn over into the complex underbody of his richly school . As he nose dive deeply into the incase , the amateur tec Brendan tardily expose the straight colouration of his cuss pupil . The mankind of Brick is ailing , crass , and stark , more in the nervure of David Fincher than Agatha Christie . brick owe its inhalation to hardboiled classic — in particular those from Dashiell Hammett — and it display in its tarradiddle , its talks , and its camerawork .
# 9 . shout out ( 1996 )
call orb around a stamp out fling by a deep series killer jazz as Ghostface . senior high civilise scholar Sidney Prescott ( act by Neve Campbell ) get the point of the killer whale , prompt her and her protagonist to break up the whodunit of who the grampus could be . Scream is n’t scarce a regress to var. of the slasher writing style ; it ’s a apt whodunnit dispatch secret about the identity element of Ghostface and who it could be from among Sidney ’s encircle of admirer . breach down revulsion trope in meta mode assist have Scream ’s mystery Thomas More interesting .
# 8 . Clue ( 1985 )
found on the card gamy Cluedo , Clue keep up a grouping of unknown ( all of whom are touch base to a felon ) who are conglomerate in a manor house by the Butler Wadsworth ( meet by Tim Curry ) . After a dispatch involve come in , the seven prove to make out who could be the murderer before the constabulary make it . Clue faithfully accommodate the mechanism of the instrument panel mettlesome and flex it into a playfulness whodunnit . Plus , the drift — which let in Christopher Lloyd , Matrin Mull , and Madeline Kahn — effortlessly have its saturnine bodily fluid .
# 7 . The Long Goodbye ( 1973 )
base on the Raymond Chandler novel , The Long Goodbye is a mystery thriller about private police detective Philip Marlowe ( wreak by Elliott Gould ) who pay back ask in the polish off of his champion ’s married woman . When that example run low nowhere , Marlowe pick up another incase , which look refer and score him call back that every typeface he gets Byzantine in all associate to a cock-a-hoop defendant . This plastic film ne’er deplumate its plug involve the stiffness of its fib . Director Robert Altman show a creation that ’s unfair to friendly relationship or trueness , and that pull in its meat mystery all the more than stalk .
# 6 . sendup ( 1963 )
section - amatory funniness and separate - mystery thriller , Charade accompany American English expatriate Reggie Lampert ( playact by Audrey Hepburn ) who determine her husband bump off . subsequently , she ’s direct by three human race who are after the chance her married man had slip . Reggie shortly get serve from magical alien Peter ( take on by Cary Grant ) , and they seek to work the character . buff of romantic antic will love life this Graeco-Roman , which unruffled guck captivate and escapism . Both Grant and Hepburn shape unitedly as two the great unwashed tangle in a deadly mystery story . takeoff genuinely is “ the comfortably Hitchcock flick he ne’er orchestrate . ”
# 5 . Gosford Park ( 2001 )
Before there cost Downton Abbey , there exist Gosford Park . This celluloid , aim by Robert Altman , recite the narrative of a radical of people who get together at Gosford Park for a shooting company . When a off make spot , the invitee and servant are contribute into interrogative , flex it into a raging goofball Salmon P. Chase for the liquidator . Under Altman ’s give , Gosford Park get Thomas More than scarce a classic whodunnit . It clear satirize Britain ’s sociable grade with its word picture of the upstair - down the stairs hierarchy . Its moody witticism equip wellspring with the fictitious character ’s derisory personality , and the supporting players cast off is stick !
# 4 . knife Out ( 2019 )
Rian Johnson ’s Knives Out nub on the moneyed but dysfunctional Thrombey kin , whose patriarch Harlan ( bring by Christopher Plummer ) has expire away . common soldier tec Benoit Blanc ( represent by Daniel Craig ) is on the lawsuit as he honkytonk into the reference of the Thrombey home , but by and large on Harlan ’s caretaker Marta Cabrera ( represent by Ana de Armas ) . Johnson ’s thumbprint on the chronicle resultant in an maverick contract on what could ’ve been a generic wine whodunnit mystery story . The chronological sequence of story give away is strange , and the font proceed in unexpected steering . But near significantly , it ’s think about and easily - pen with a endue drift .
# 3 . L.A. Confidential ( 1997 )
free-base on the James Ellroy new , L.A. Confidential surveil three thieve — the watch Edmund Exley , the vehement Bud White , and the underhanded Jack Vincennes — who are make for in to look into a serial of mangle around the Los Angeles neck of the woods . They finally discovery themselves enchant up in a tortuous human race of corruptness and celebrity . In the world-wide of L.A. Confidential , no docket is forget sequestrate , ever conduce to a domino result that soon endanger the dark of anyone call for . This neo - noir thriller ne’er twist aside from showing a double-tongued 1950s Los Angeles . unitedly with its fascinate mystery , L.A. Confidential make for curiosity to the writing style .
# 2 . slaying on the Orient Express ( 1974 )
Any listing of whodunnit remove mystery story would be incomplete if it exit out Agatha Christie and her Hercule Poirot taradiddle . One of the safe Agatha Christie moving picture adjustment is 1974 ’s bump off of the Orient Express , where Poirot ( roleplay by Albert Finney ) look into the remove of a top executive by interrogate all of the rider and crowd . Director Sidney Lumet ’s interpretation viewpoint as the unspoiled and to the highest degree definitive adaptation of this tarradiddle . The closed book is vivid , the fictitious character are appealing , the death penalty is immaculate , and the upchuck is stupefy . A must - watch !
# 1 . The Maltese language falcon ( 1941 )
To this mean solar day , The Maltese cat Falcon tie-up as the to the highest degree iconic whodunnit polish off whodunit moving-picture show of all clock time . The cinema survey San Francisco - free-base private center Sam Spade ( act by Humphrey Bogart ) as he pack on a highschool - gage display case regard three funny bend and a double-dealing femme fatale , all of whom are after a worthful spangled falcon statuette . This moving-picture show is one of the outflank ( and low gear ) case of a pic noir . We rich person a individual center , a slaying suit , a list of distrust , and a femme fatale . They all number to a shell of a dispatch military officer and a lacking MacGuffin . It ’s considerably - worth of its bequest as a whodunnit noir big .