| Rank | Title | Year | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Vertigo | 1958 | Alfred Hitchcock | 10 |
| 2 | The Third Man | 1949 | Carol Reed | 26 |
| 3 | The Maltese Falcon | 1941 | John Huston | 33 |
| 4 | Sunset Blvd. | 1950 | Billy Wilder | 34 |
| 5 | Double Indemnity | 1944 | Billy Wilder | 40 |
| 6 | Touch of Evil | 1958 | Orson Welles | 49 |
| 7 | The Night of the Hunter | 1955 | Charles Laughton | 73 |
| 8 | M | 1931 | Fritz Lang | 74 |
| 9 | Notorious | 1946 | Alfred Hitchcock | 121 |
| 10 | The Big Sleep | 1946 | Howard Hawks | 122 |
| 11 | Sweet Smell of Success | 1957 | Alexander Mackendrick | 170 |
| 12 | Laura | 1944 | Otto Preminger | 207 |
| 13 | Strangers on a Train | 1951 | Alfred Hitchcock | 220 |
| 14 | Out of the Past | 1947 | Jacques Tourneur | 222 |
| 15 | Rebecca | 1940 | Alfred Hitchcock | 225 |
| 16 | White Heat | 1949 | Raoul Walsh | 249 |
| 17 | Scarface | 1932 | Howard Hawks | 315 |
| 18 | To Have and Have Not | 1944 | Howard Hawks | 332 |
| 19 | The Lost Weekend | 1945 | Billy Wilder | 341 |
| 20 | Mildred Pierce | 1945 | Michael Curtiz | 371 |
| 21 | Shadow of a Doubt | 1943 | Alfred Hitchcock | 401 |
| 22 | Kiss Me Deadly | 1955 | Robert Aldrich | 418 |
| 23 | Gun Crazy | 1950 | Joseph H. Lewis | 434 |
| 24 | In a Lonely Place | 1950 | Nicholas Ray | 453 |
| 25 | The Killing | 1956 | Stanley Kubrick | 550 |
| 26 | I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang | 1932 | Mervyn LeRoy | 553 |
| 27 | The Asphalt Jungle | 1950 | John Huston | 557 |
| 28 | The Big Heat | 1953 | Fritz Lang | 558 |
| 29 | Gilda | 1946 | Charles Vidor | 614 |
| 30 | Johnny Guitar | 1954 | Nicholas Ray | 619 |
| 31 | The Killers | 1946 | Robert Siodmak | 622 |
| 32 | Rififi | 1955 | Jules Dassin | 623 |
| 33 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | 1946 | Tay Garnett | 633 |
| 34 | Pickup on South Street | 1953 | Samuel Fuller | 656 |
| 35 | Detour | 1945 | Edgar G. Ulmer | 757 |
| 36 | Force of Evil | 1948 | Abraham Polonsky | 789 |
| 37 | The Lady from Shanghai | 1947 | Orson Welles | 801 |
| 38 | The Big Carnival | 1951 | Billy Wilder | 830 |
| 39 | Ossessione | 1943 | Luchino Visconti | 869 |
| 40 | Angels with Dirty Faces | 1938 | Michael Curtiz | 898 |
| 41 | Body and Soul | 1947 | Robert Rossen | 936 |
| 42 | They Live by Night | 1948 | Nicholas Ray | 957 |
| 43 | D.O.A. | 1950 | Rudolph Maté | 988 |
| 44 | Key Largo | 1948 | John Huston | 990 |
| 45 | Murder, My Sweet | 1944 | Edward Dmytryk | 991 |
| 46 | The Roaring Twenties | 1939 | Raoul Walsh | 1144 |
| 47 | Champion | 1949 | Mark Robson | 1225 |
| 48 | High Sierra | 1941 | Raoul Walsh | 1387 |
| 49 | The Set-Up | 1949 | Robert Wise | 1420 |
| 50 | Saboteur | 1942 | Alfred Hitchcock | 1437 |
| 51 | Suspicion | 1941 | Alfred Hitchcock | 1522 |
| 52 | Kiss of Death | 1947 | Henry Hathaway | 1556 |
| 53 | The Spiral Staircase | 1945 | Robert Siodmak | 1579 |
| 54 | The Wrong Man | 1956 | Alfred Hitchcock | 1593 |
| 55 | The Woman in the Window | 1944 | Fritz Lang | 1694 |
| 56 | Scarlet Street | 1945 | Fritz Lang | 1781 |
| 57 | The Naked City | 1948 | Jules Dassin | 1785 |
| 58 | The Letter | 1940 | William Wyler | 1835 |
| 59 | Crossfire | 1947 | Edward Dmytryk | 1930 |
| 60 | Night and the City | 1950 | Jules Dassin | 1934 |
| 61 | The Narrow Margin | 1952 | Richard Fleischer | 1946 |
| 62 | The Big Combo | 1955 | Joseph H. Lewis | 1955 |
| 63 | Stray Dog | 1949 | Akira Kurosawa | 1998 |
| 64 | Beyond a Reasonable Doubt | 1956 | Fritz Lang | 2063 |
| 65 | The Reckless Moment | 1949 | Max Ophüls | 2065 |
| 66 | Leave Her to Heaven | 1945 | John M. Stahl | 2169 |
| 67 | Criss Cross | 1949 | Robert Siodmak | 2171 |
| 68 | This Gun for Hire | 1942 | Frank Tuttle | 2293 |
| 69 | The Harder They Fall | 1956 | Mark Robson | 2308 |
| 70 | You Only Live Once | 1937 | Fritz Lang | 2309 |
| 71 | Niagara | 1953 | Henry Hathaway | 2351 |