# Help me identify this B&W movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-b-w-movie/391442 "2007-02-09T02:02:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-b-w-movie/391442/1 "2007-02-09T02:02:37Z")
The name of this movie is evading my father, driving him nuts, and therefore the rest of us. The movie is black and white, likely from the late 1930s or early 1940s. The plot involves a group that commits murders indirectly, so that there is no connection between the people that are killed and the murderer. There is a scene where one person is explaining how the system works to a potential murderer and then stabs a man in a kitchen in a restaurant. There is also a plot point about them killing the wrong person, ie the roommate or sister of the intended victim. There is also a scene where they are dragging the car out of the lake. He thinks this is one movie, but it might be two. Any ideas? Otherwise I’m going to have to listen to this when I’m visiting them this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-b-w-movie/391442/2 "2007-02-09T02:16:32Z")
Well, “Psycho” has a scene with a car being dragged out of a swamp but that came well after the 1940s, and “Strangers on a Train” involves two unrelated people “swapping” murders, but those don’t fit the time frame or the remainder of the description. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-b-w-movie/391442/3 "2007-02-09T13:44:04Z")
There are several I can think of with the ingredients you mention, but I can’t remember a specific movie with all those ingredients. This Gun For Hire Murder, Inc. Kiss of Death **Otto** ’s comments ring bells for me, too. The thing about stabbing the guy in the restaurant feels familiar, as if I saw that movie on cable not too long ago, but all that’s seeping into my mind is _Asphalt Jungle_ and that may not even be close. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-b-w-movie/391442/4 "2007-02-09T14:22:46Z")
[QUOTE=gfloyd] The name of this movie is evading my father, driving him nuts, and therefore the rest of us. The movie is black and white, likely from the late 1930s or early 1940s. The plot involves a group that commits murders indirectly, so that there is no connection between the people that are killed and the murderer. There is a scene where one person is explaining how the system works to a potential murderer and then stabs a man in a kitchen in a restaurant. There is also a plot point about them killing the wrong person, ie the roommate or sister of the intended victim. There is also a scene where they are dragging the car out of the lake. He thinks this is one movie, but it might be two. Any ideas? Otherwise I’m going to have to listen to this when I’m visiting them this weekend. [/QUOTE] _Criss-Cross_. A Hitchcock flic, I do believe. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-b-w-movie/391442/5 "2007-02-09T17:26:16Z")
Just a WAG “Compulsion”