| Rank | Title | Year | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Sunset Blvd. | 1950 | Billy Wilder | 41 |
| 2 | The Third Man | 1949 | Carol Reed | 42 |
| 3 | Double Indemnity | 1944 | Billy Wilder | 51 |
| 4 | The Night of the Hunter | 1955 | Charles Laughton | 57 |
| 5 | The Maltese Falcon | 1941 | John Huston | 81 |
| 6 | Touch of Evil | 1958 | Orson Welles | 87 |
| 7 | Notorious | 1946 | Alfred Hitchcock | 148 |
| 8 | Sweet Smell of Success | 1957 | Alexander Mackendrick | 209 |
| 9 | The Big Sleep | 1946 | Howard Hawks | 215 |
| 10 | Strangers on a Train | 1951 | Alfred Hitchcock | 286 |
| 11 | Laura | 1944 | Otto Preminger | 408 |
| 12 | Shadow of a Doubt | 1943 | Alfred Hitchcock | 425 |
| 13 | White Heat | 1949 | Raoul Walsh | 447 |
| 14 | Mildred Pierce | 1945 | Michael Curtiz | 454 |
| 15 | Out of the Past | 1947 | Jacques Tourneur | 461 |
| 16 | Kiss Me Deadly | 1955 | Robert Aldrich | 480 |
| 17 | The Killing | 1956 | Stanley Kubrick | 502 |
| 18 | Ace in the Hole | 1951 | Billy Wilder | 510 |
| 19 | In a Lonely Place | 1950 | Nicholas Ray | 568 |
| 20 | The Big Heat | 1953 | Fritz Lang | 594 |
| 21 | The Asphalt Jungle | 1950 | John Huston | 641 |
| 22 | Scarface | 1932 | Howard Hawks | 665 |
| 23 | The Lost Weekend | 1945 | Billy Wilder | 892 |
| 24 | To Have and Have Not | 1944 | Howard Hawks | 907 |
| 25 | Pickup on South Street | 1953 | Samuel Fuller | 939 |
| 26 | The Lady from Shanghai | 1947 | Orson Welles | 1074 |
| 27 | Night and the City | 1950 | Jules Dassin | 1106 |
| 28 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | 1946 | Tay Garnett | 1112 |
| 29 | Gilda | 1946 | Charles Vidor | 1139 |
| 30 | Gun Crazy | 1950 | Joseph H. Lewis | 1141 |
| 31 | The Killers | 1946 | Robert Siodmak | 1207 |
| 32 | I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang | 1932 | Mervyn LeRoy | 1260 |
| 33 | Detour | 1945 | Edgar G. Ulmer | 1271 |
| 34 | Force of Evil | 1948 | Abraham Polonsky | 1354 |
| 35 | They Live by Night | 1948 | Nicholas Ray | 1472 |
| 36 | Key Largo | 1948 | John Huston | 1486 |
| 37 | Odd Man Out | 1947 | Carol Reed | 1487 |
| 38 | Angels with Dirty Faces | 1938 | Michael Curtiz | 1586 |
| 39 | Fury | 1936 | Fritz Lang | 1708 |
| 40 | The Fallen Idol | 1948 | Carol Reed | 1722 |
| 41 | Island of Lost Souls | 1932 | Erle C. Kenton | 1735 |
| 42 | The Set-Up | 1949 | Robert Wise | 1801 |
| 43 | Shanghai Express | 1932 | Josef von Sternberg | 1827 |
| 44 | Nightmare Alley | 1947 | Edmund Goulding | 1844 |
| 45 | Murder, My Sweet | 1944 | Edward Dmytryk | 1855 |
| 46 | Leave Her to Heaven | 1945 | John M. Stahl | 1954 |
| 47 | All the King's Men | 1949 | Robert Rossen | 2001 |
| 48 | High Sierra | 1940 | Raoul Walsh | 2044 |
| 49 | Brighton Rock | 1948 | John Boulting | 2048 |
| 50 | Spellbound | 1945 | Alfred Hitchcock | 2099 |
| 51 | The Hitch-Hiker | 1953 | Ida Lupino | 2126 |
| 52 | The Woman in the Window | 1944 | Fritz Lang | 2341 |
| 53 | Scarlet Street | 1945 | Fritz Lang | 2398 |
| 54 | The Naked City | 1948 | Jules Dassin | 2542 |
| 55 | The Letter | 1940 | William Wyler | 2543 |
| 56 | Suspicion | 1941 | Alfred Hitchcock | 2566 |
| 57 | Body and Soul | 1947 | Robert Rossen | 2660 |
| 58 | The Wrong Man | 1956 | Alfred Hitchcock | 2707 |
| 59 | The Big Combo | 1955 | Joseph H. Lewis | 2740 |
| 60 | Murder by Contract | 1958 | Irving Lerner | 2768 |
| 61 | D.O.A. | 1949 | Rudolph Maté | 2822 |
| 62 | The Docks of New York | 1928 | Josef von Sternberg | 2837 |
| 63 | Outrage | 1950 | Ida Lupino | 2882 |
| 64 | Caught | 1949 | Max Ophüls | 2984 |
| 65 | The Narrow Margin | 1952 | Richard Fleischer | 3013 |
| 66 | You Only Live Once | 1937 | Fritz Lang | 3016 |