Movies Similar to Armchair Detective: Mystery at Malibu

The Conspiracy(1914)

Winthrop Clavering a mystery writer, is continually ridiculed for the fiction of the crimes he depicts, so he decides to solve a case himself. To that end, he determines to find the slayer of Pedro Alvarez, who whispered before dying that his assailant was a woman. At the City Refuge for Homeless Girls, Clavering obtains the assistance of Margaret Holt, the sister of Victor Holt, the district attorney. Margaret, it is revealed, was abducted by Juanita, a member of a gang of white slavers led by Alvarez. After escaping from a brothel, Margaret became Alvarez' stenographer, hoping to gather secret information on his gang. While searching for evidence, Margaret was surprised by Alvarez, whom she killed. Finally, Clavering captures the gang, clears Margaret, and encourages her romance with cub reporter Jack Howell. This film is presumably lost.

Greater Than Love(1919)

Pursued by two suitors, James Brunton and Bob Standing, Grace chooses James followed by a sumptuous wedding at his family home. Suddenly a shot rings out and James’s father is fatally wounded. Just before dying Mr. Brunton makes James promise not to apprehend the murderer. Later trouble arises when Grace suspects James of an involvement the young Helen. Crushed, Grace leaves home settling in another town. Shortly after James has a car accident and is taken to Grace's nearby house. When Helen and Bob arrive, it is revealed that Helen is James’s sister. Mr. Brunton had abandoned Helen's mother Alice years before and it was Alice who fired the fatal shot. James and Grace are reconciled.

The Dream Woman(1914)

In this story the hero is haunted by a beautiful young woman who tries to stab him to death with a knife. This fantasy recurs on each of his birthdays, becoming more and more real as the years go on. He leaves home to secure a place as groom, but arrives at his destination too late. Forced to retrace his steps, he seeks shelter in a little inn, forgetting that the hour of his birth is approaching. In the middle of the night he awakens, terrified with fright… Based on Wilkie Collins' novel “The Dream Woman”.

At the Sign of the Jack'O Lantern(1922)

When Harlan Carr inherited his Uncle Ebenezer's "Jack-O Lantern" house and too his bride there to live, he found himself the unwilling host of a score of hungry relatives within a week. Soon, strange things began to happen. A black cat made the house his headquarters, unexplained sounds could be heard and a shadowy figure floated through the halls at night.

Sisters of Eve(1928)

Young London realtor Leonard Tavernake becomes involved with two sisters, one good and one evil, which leads to much melodrama but things work out in the end.

The Circular Staircase(1915)

A Blind Bargain(1922)

Chaney plays two roles: mad scientist Arthur Lamb and Lamb's "experiment", known only as the Ape Man. This hideous creature was the result of Lamb's attempts to transplant animal glands into human beings. A lost film.

The Menace of the Mute(1915)

Young Edyth Vail, believes her fiancé Allen Morris may have committed a murder, asking Ashton Kirk to investigate the crime. The fiancé admits he went to the David Hume's home to retrieve plans for a submarine, invented by his scientist father and stolen by the murdered man, but Allen claims he left the home before retrieving the plans. Kirk uses a train conductor's punch ticket to discover the identity of the murderers, one of whom is mute, and sets a trap to apprehend the suspects.

The House of Secrets(1929)

A young American man arrives in London to claim an estate he has inherited. One of the conditions is that he signs a paper stating he will never sell the estate. When he arrives at the estate he now owns, he runs into a ring of American gangsters there and discovers that the estate is the site of some buried pirate treasure.

A Scarlet Week-End(1932)

A woman's cheating husband is murdered at their country estate, and suspicion immediately falls on her.

Who's Guilty?(1946)

Feature version of the 1945 American serial film of the same name, composed for export only, never seen in the USA and now evidently a long-lost film.

The Open Door(1919)

After serving fifteen years of a twenty-year prison term for embezzlement, Joe Moore is released early for good behavior. In New York, he finds Matthew Owens and James Horton, his former business associates, and demands that they pay what they owe him.

Worlds Apart(1921)

Having been rejected by Phyllis Leigh in favor of wealthier suitor Peter Lester, Hugh prevents Elinor Ashe from drowning herself. Hugh recklessly marries Elinor, but they occupy different wings of his house. Lester and Phyllis arrive as guests, and a new manservant favored by Elinor is hired. When Lester is murdered, the servant is charged with the crime, and Elinor admits to Hugh that he is indeed her father, recently released from prison. While in the company of Marcia Marshall, Hugh discovers her husband Harley dying in a Chinese opium den. He confesses that, victimized by Lester, he killed him. Elinor's father is released, and she reconciles with Hugh.

C.O.D.(1932)

A man assists a woman to dispose of the body of her stepfather....

It Is the Law(1924)

This silent mystery is considered a lost film.

After the Fog(1929)

Millionaire Joshua Barker insists that his daughter, Faith, must marry Phil Langhorne, a man that neither likes, and Faith is in love with and eager to marry her childhood sweetheart, John Temple.

Paging Emma(1999)

An operator at a mobile pager company has her life turned upside down by a seemingly senseless abduction. Currently considered to be a lost film (never released to the general public, after its theatrical premiere in Puerto Rico).

London After Midnight(1927)

The abandoned Balfour House, the owner of which was found dead five years earlier, comes back to life with the arrival of two suspicious sinister-looking tenants. This film was lost in the 1965 MGM vault fire; only a few stills exist.

The Film Lost To Time(2024)

A film buff's obsession with an elusive, possibly nonexistent film spirals into a dangerous descent, blurring the line between reality and madness.

The Book of Murder(1974)

Much-married and once successful writer Henry T. Aythecliff, now heavily in debt, summons his three ex-wives to his mansion, planning to extort a sizable amount of money from each. When he is discovered dead, clues indicate that each of his four wives had motive and opportunity to murder him, and a young detective must sift through some ingeniously devised evidence.