| Rank | Title | Year | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | The Third Man | 1949 | Carol Reed | 27 |
| 2 | Sunset Blvd. | 1950 | Billy Wilder | 33 |
| 3 | Double Indemnity | 1944 | Billy Wilder | 41 |
| 4 | The Maltese Falcon | 1941 | John Huston | 44 |
| 5 | Touch of Evil | 1958 | Orson Welles | 54 |
| 6 | The Night of the Hunter | 1955 | Charles Laughton | 61 |
| 7 | Notorious | 1946 | Alfred Hitchcock | 104 |
| 8 | The Big Sleep | 1946 | Howard Hawks | 163 |
| 9 | Sweet Smell of Success | 1957 | Alexander Mackendrick | 177 |
| 10 | Strangers on a Train | 1951 | Alfred Hitchcock | 235 |
| 11 | Out of the Past | 1947 | Jacques Tourneur | 242 |
| 12 | Laura | 1944 | Otto Preminger | 259 |
| 13 | White Heat | 1949 | Raoul Walsh | 313 |
| 14 | Scarface | 1932 | Howard Hawks | 328 |
| 15 | Shadow of a Doubt | 1943 | Alfred Hitchcock | 382 |
| 16 | Mildred Pierce | 1945 | Michael Curtiz | 388 |
| 17 | Gun Crazy | 1950 | Joseph H. Lewis | 425 |
| 18 | Kiss Me Deadly | 1955 | Robert Aldrich | 427 |
| 19 | In a Lonely Place | 1950 | Nicholas Ray | 486 |
| 20 | Rififi | 1955 | Jules Dassin | 521 |
| 21 | The Killing | 1956 | Stanley Kubrick | 542 |
| 22 | The Asphalt Jungle | 1950 | John Huston | 558 |
| 23 | The Big Heat | 1953 | Fritz Lang | 566 |
| 24 | The Killers | 1946 | Robert Siodmak | 574 |
| 25 | Gilda | 1946 | Charles Vidor | 643 |
| 26 | Pickup on South Street | 1953 | Samuel Fuller | 675 |
| 27 | Detour | 1945 | Edgar G. Ulmer | 702 |
| 28 | The Big Carnival | 1951 | Billy Wilder | 728 |
| 29 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | 1946 | Tay Garnett | 779 |
| 30 | Body and Soul | 1947 | Robert Rossen | 785 |
| 31 | Force of Evil | 1948 | Abraham Polonsky | 891 |
| 32 | The Lady from Shanghai | 1947 | Orson Welles | 904 |
| 33 | They Live by Night | 1949 | Nicholas Ray | 910 |
| 34 | Brighton Rock | 1947 | John Boulting | 925 |
| 35 | D.O.A. | 1950 | Rudolph Maté | 1106 |
| 36 | Angels with Dirty Faces | 1938 | Michael Curtiz | 1145 |
| 37 | Key Largo | 1948 | John Huston | 1148 |
| 38 | Murder, My Sweet | 1944 | Edward Dmytryk | 1241 |
| 39 | Night and the City | 1950 | Jules Dassin | 1251 |
| 40 | The Set-Up | 1949 | Robert Wise | 1275 |
| 41 | Spellbound | 1945 | Alfred Hitchcock | 1289 |
| 42 | Kiss of Death | 1947 | Henry Hathaway | 1312 |
| 43 | Champion | 1949 | Mark Robson | 1463 |
| 44 | The Spiral Staircase | 1945 | Robert Siodmak | 1564 |
| 45 | The Big Combo | 1955 | Joseph H. Lewis | 1584 |
| 46 | High Sierra | 1941 | Raoul Walsh | 1666 |
| 47 | The Reckless Moment | 1949 | Max Ophüls | 1799 |
| 48 | Suspicion | 1941 | Alfred Hitchcock | 1822 |
| 49 | The Wrong Man | 1956 | Alfred Hitchcock | 1848 |
| 50 | Scarlet Street | 1945 | Fritz Lang | 1870 |
| 51 | The Harder They Fall | 1956 | Mark Robson | 1926 |
| 52 | The Woman in the Window | 1944 | Fritz Lang | 1991 |
| 53 | The Narrow Margin | 1952 | Richard Fleischer | 2026 |
| 54 | Leave Her to Heaven | 1945 | John M. Stahl | 2194 |
| 55 | The Naked City | 1948 | Jules Dassin | 2252 |
| 56 | The Letter | 1940 | William Wyler | 2259 |
| 57 | T-Men | 1947 | Anthony Mann | 2286 |