The best James Stewart’s mystery movies

James Stewart

James Stewart

20/05/1908- 02/07/1997
James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. He was a major MGM contract star. He also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve. Throughout his seven decades in Hollywood, Stewart cultivated a versatile career and recognized screen image in such classics as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Philadelphia Story, Harvey, It's a Wonderful Life, Shenandoah, Rear Window, Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo. He is the most represented leading actor on the AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) and AFI's 10 Top 10 lists. He is also the most represented leading actor on the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list presented by Entertainment Weekly. As of 2007, ten of his films have been inducted into the United States National Film Registry. Stewart left his mark on a wide range of film genres, including westerns, suspense thrillers, family films, biographies and screwball comedies. He worked for a number of renowned directors later in his career, most notably Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Billy Wilder, Frank Capra, George Cukor, and Anthony Mann. He won many of the industry's highest honors and earned Lifetime Achievement awards from every major film organization. He died at age 89, leaving behind a legacy of classic performances, and is considered one of the finest actors of the "Golden Age of Hollywood". He was named the third Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.
Available on:

Vertigo

Vertigo
8.3/10
A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

Rear Window

Rear Window
8.5/10
  • Genre: MysteryThriller
  • Release: 01/09/1954
  • Character: L.B. 'Jeff' Jefferies
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

The Man Who Knew Too Much

The Man Who Knew Too Much
7.4/10
A widescreen, Technicolor remake by Hitchcock of his 1934 film of the same title. A couple vacationing in Morocco with their young son accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot. When the child is kidnapped to ensure their silence, they have to take matters into their own hands to save him.

Anatomy of a Murder

Anatomy of a Murder
8/10
Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

After the Thin Man

After the Thin Man
7.6/10
Nick and Nora Charles investigate when Nora's cousin reports her disreputable husband is missing, and find themselves in a mystery involving the shady owners of a popular nightclub, a singer and her dark brother, the cousin's forsaken true love, and Nora's bombastic and controlling aunt.

It's a Wonderful World

It's a Wonderful World
6.8/10
Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are nabbed by the police, tried, convicted and sentenced to jail: Guy for a year with Willie to be executed. On the way to jail, Guy comes across a clue and escapes from the police.

Death and the Maiden

Death and the Maiden
7.1/10
James Stewart stars as Billy Jim Hawkins, a crime-solving attorney, in this first of 8 television films. Teamed with Strother Martin as his cousin, RJ, he defends a young woman accused of familicide, with three dead bodies.

Die, Darling, Die

Die, Darling, Die
Hawkins defends a woman who is accused of murdering her wealthy elderly husband, who was bedridden with an incurable disease. She admits to not giving him the medicine he needed, but refuses to discuss her motives. While many believe it was a mercy killing, an ambitious assistant district attorney is trying to prove she did it because of the two million dollars she would inherit.

A Life for a Life

A Life for a Life
7.2/10
Hawkins defends a man who is charged with killing one of the two psychology professors who he blames for the suicide of his son. Making it worse is that he was recorded on a television news tape vowing to make both men pay "a life for a life."

Related actors