90 Barbara Stanwyck Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

In this film adaptation of James M. Cain.1935 novel, a manipulative Phyllis Dietrichson convinces an insurance agent Walter Neff to murder her husband in order to claim his accidental insurance policy. The plan is successful but trouble begins when Neff’s boss Barton Keyes decides to get to the bottom of the matter and investigates the case himself.

The Lady Eve is a romantic comedy film which revolves around three con artists, Jean, her father Harrington, and his friend Gerald, who plan to target a socially awkward heir named Charles. However, Jean soon falls in love with him, and decides to shield him from her cunning father. But Charles discovers the truth about her and decides to dump her.

After his father kills himself after losing his fortune, his son Stephen Dallas tries to build his wealth on his own so that he can get married to his fiancée Helen Morrison. However, just before he was about to reach his goal, he reads in a newspaper that Helen has got married already. Therefore, he gets married to Stella Martin, the daughter of a mill-worker. Years later, Stephen runs into Helen, who is now a wealthy widow with three sons. Stephen finds himself attracted to Helen once again, and decides to ask Stella for a divorce.

An academic makes up his mind to learn about the evolving American slang to finish working on a comprehensive encyclopedia and chances upon a nightclub performer. She agrees to teach him slang vocabulary in exchange for a place to stay.

A tramp turns into a national hero and becomes a pawn of big business, thanks to a reporter's fraudulent story.

Baby Face is a romantic drama film which tells the story of Lily Powers, a girl from a small town, who has been sexually exploited for most of her life. Eventually, she decides to turn the tables and begins to seduce men and make it to the top of the prestigious bank that she works for.

A thirteen year old girl named Martha Ivers tries to run away from the guardianship of her wealthy and despicable aunt Mrs Ivers, but she is eventually caught and brought back home. When Mrs Ivers starts to beat her kitten, Martha tries to prevent it, and strikes her across the head, which causes Mrs Ivers to fall down the stairs, killing her in an accident. Martha lies about the incident to Walter Jr., the son of her tutor, although he plays along, despite knowing the truth. However, his cunning father decides to use this fact to his advantage.

Due to a telephone glitch, a wheelchair-bound woman named Leona Stevenson overhears a conversation about a plan which involves the murder of a woman. She wants to prevent the murder, although she is unable to leave her home, or reach her husband. She struggles to uncover the truth through a series of phone calls that lead her even deeper into a mystery which might even involve Sally, a girl she used to know in college.

The church decides to substitute Florence Fallon’s father with younger preacher. When her father dies, a disillusioned Florence berates the congregation as hypocrites. Con-man Bob Hornsby influences her to start phony church, ‘Temple of Happiness,’ to squeeze money from gullible. When she meets and falls for blind aviator John Carson, she wants to end the sham. But will Bob agree to it?

Based on real events, Titanic is a romantic drama film which tells the story of an unhappily married couple trying to deal with their problems while aboard the RMS Titanic. However, their problems seem to apper minor, when their ship hits an iceberg.

Clash By Night is a drama film which tells the story of a woman named Mae Doyle, who returns to her hometown in Monterey, California, after spending ten years on the East Coast. All this time, she was seeing a married politician who has now passed away. Although he had left her some money, unfortunately his wife and relatives took her to court and won the case. Although Mae has now become quite cynical in nature, she begins to date Jerry D’Amato, a good natured and unsophisticated fisherman. However, she dislikes his friend Earl, who seems to be a misogynist.

Visiting Shanghai during Chinese Civil War to marry her missionary fiancé Robert Strike, Megan Davis accompanies him to rescue some orphans. She gets knocked and is taken to palace of warlord General Yen. Enchanted by her beauty, Yen promises to send her back when it’s safe. She resists her attraction to him, but stands by him when he is ruined and deserted.

On a cruise to Cuba, Lula Smith, who works as a librarian, falls for a man named Bob Grover. However, after she finds out that Bob is married to an invalid wife whom he cannot abandon, Lulu decides to break off their relationship.    

Selina lived a comfortable life until her father Simeon passed away. However, after his death, her aunt puts her in boarding school and sells the estate. After growing up, she decides to become a teacher. She falls for Pervus, a Dutch farmer whom she has been tutoring, and they decide to get married.  

The movie tells three unrelated supernatural stories. In the first, a girl attains true beauty by giving up her selfish attitude. The second focuses on a palmist who predicts one of his clients is going to murder someone. The third focuses on a high-wire artist who encounters a mysterious woman he has only seen in dreams. 

The partly-collage film is a parody, and homage to film-noir and detective movies. When a reputed cheese-scientist dies in a car-crash, his daughter, Juliet Forrest, who believes he was murdered for his secret formula, hires private investigator Rigby Reardon. As Rigby delves deep into complex clues, he comes across legends from the detective movies of the 40s and 50s, who help him unravel a wicked plot. 

Although Joe Bonaparte is an excellent violin player, he decides to pursue a career in boxing instead. His father however tries to convince him not to throw away his musical talent, but he continues to pursue his boxing career till a tragedy occurs in the ring.

The plot of the movie, drawn from Marjorie Carleton’s novel of the same name, follows Sandra Marshall, a widow, as she arrives at her late husband’s remote mansion. When her sister-in-law, Julie, informs her of weird noises from a part of the estate, Sandra sets out to investigate the matter and uncovers dangerous secrets.

Businessman Steve Bradford travels to his hometown to find the son he put up for adoption twenty years ago. He befriends orphanage owner, Ann Dempster, who is sworn to keep the identity of adoptive parents secret. Steve resorts to betraying Ann but ultimately experiences a change of heart after meeting an abandoned pregnant girl Suzie. 

Barbara is a beautiful taxi dancer at a city dance hall. One day, she is hired by wealthy Bradley Carlton, who later invites her to dinner and agrees to give a job to her unemployed neighbor Eddie when she asks for it. Later she realizes that she is in love with Eddie and decides to quit her job to marry him. But is Eddie the right person for her? 

Jerry is the son of a rich businessman who aspires to become a painter. He hires a model named Kay, in order to pose for him. Over time, the two fall for one another and plan to get married. However, Jerry’s parents strongly object to the marriage.  

After their oil rig is blown up, Jeff Dawson and "Dutch" Peterson return to the town, looking for work.  There they meet "Paco" Conway, their old friend who has struck rich and is now married to Jeff’s ex, Marina. Although initially unwilling, circumstances force Jeff to accept a job under Paco; but he must now learn to ignore Marina’s romantic overtones. 

Madeline Minot arrives in New York, to ask for monetary aid from Charles Thevenet, on behalf of his grandson Paul, fighting in the French revolution. But she finds her and Charles’ lives in danger at the hands of the scheming housekeeper Lorna Bounty, the butler, and the cook, and her only friend is the heavy-drinking poet Dupin. 

A distinguished naval officer is recruited by President McKinley to infiltrate a ring of well-connected bank robbers. While on the mission, he falls for the stepsister of a gang leader and introducing himself as Joe, he soon penetrates the gang. But when he is arrested, there is nobody to reveal his true identity because the President has been assassinated by then.  

David Boothe’s wife Jane gets terribly engrossed in gambling, and her husband gets worried that it might consume and destroy her life. He tries to find ways to help her get rid of her addictive gambling. 

After a drunk night in town, Jonathan Blair, a playboy, wakes up to find that a woman named Valentine Ransome has spent the night in his mansion. However, he has little memory of the previous night, nor does he know much about his guest. Valentine finds herself attracted to Jonathan, but she wants him reformed before she can consider marriage.  

Mike Brannan is notorious for doing whatever it takes to win a race and unwittingly ends up causing the death of a rival. When columnist Regina Forbes gets him banned, he saves up enough to enter the big leagues. Regina and Mike later begin a relationship but the true test lies ahead as Mike enters a big race.  

During the Gold Rush, Lieutenant Jonathan Trumbo goes AWOL to guide a train to California. En route, he is joined by Lily Bishop, earning her enmity when he accuses her of cheating at cards. Lily later opens a salon in Pharaoh City and becomes friendly with powerful Pharaoh Coffin, who is against granting of statehood to California while Trumbo holds the opposite view.   

Concert pianist, Karen Duncan, is sent to a Swiss sanatorium for her terminal illness. Though she enjoys attention bestowed by caring, gentle doctor Stanton who cautions her to take rest to avoid serious consequences, she ignores his advice to have fun-filled time at the Monte Carlo nightclubs with dynamic auto-racer Paul Clermont. It is left to Dr. Stanton to save her life. 

This musical comedy film tells the story of Ernie Holley who decides to run away on his wedding night, after he thinks he has killed one of the wedding guests. His father and his bride later tries to find him and convince him to return home. 

Illicit is a romantic drama film which tells the story of Anne Vincent, an independent woman, who believes that marriage actually destroys love, and it leads to unhappiness and bitterness. Her boyfriend Dick and his father urges her to get married, but she is unwilling to do so, since she likes her independence and doesn’t want to be emotionally dependent on anyone. However, due to social pressures, she eventually agrees, only to see that she was right.

An adaptation of John Marquand’s 1946 novel of the same name, this film tells the story of university professor named Thomas Brett, who writes book espousing his radical economic theories, against capitalism and acquired wealth. However, unknown to him, his wife is an heiress, and this puts their marriage in jeopardy. 

During the Spanish-American war, US Army Lieutenant Rowan, who is under cover, carries a secret message from President McKinley of the US, to General Garcia, the leader of a rebellion against the Spanish rule in Cuba.  

Successful author-historian Jeff Warren, who detests horses, is married to Sally Warren, the owner of a horse-farm who has no interest in history. While Sally gets annoyed with literary groupie neighbor Mary-Lou’s open infatuation for Jeff, he cannot stand Sally’s friend Lance. The love in this mismatched couple’s life is restored by a steeplechase horse Albert that Jeff buys as gift for Sally. 

The Locked Door is a mystery thriller film which tells the story of a woman named Ann Reagen who finds out that her sister-in-law is involved with a shady character from her own past. Therefore she struggles to intervene and protect her. 

This musical comedy short film revolves around entertainers Bob Hope and Bing Crosby who help a young woman who wants to reach Washington DC in order to pay a visit to her brother.

Peter Kirk, a rich playboy and Helen Hunt, a doctor, meet when he crashes on her at a sea resort. They soon fall in love and get married. But shortly, Peter starts feeling jealous about Helen’s male patients, often embarrassing her in the process. But none of them are ready to give up and to save their marriage Peter becomes a salesman at a departmental store. 

This romantic comedy film tells the story of a woman who is pushed by her new husband into giving up her job as a fashion model. However, as she is unable to meet her financial obligations, she finds herself another job. 

Wes Anderson gets tangled up with a lynch mob who accidentally hang the wrong man. His brother too gets involved in Wes' bid to seek revenge, turning his former sweetheart against him. 

Based on a epoonymous play by Seán O'Casey, the film is set during the Easter Rebellion in Ireland and tells the story of an insurgent, who has joined the citizen’s army against the wishes of his wife, turning a deaf ear to her pleas that he lay down his arm. .

This 1931 short film revolves around the stolen pearls of Norma Shearer. After the theft, a detective is sent to interrogate the party guests, most of which are famous Hollywood stars.