The Spider and the Fly [1949] [DVD]

Predating Father Brown by five years, this was Robert Hamer's first attempt at depicting the grudging respect that exists between a master thief and a brilliant detective.

Evoking the Paris of Louis Feuillade's Fantomas serials, Hamer superbly captures the conspiratorial pre-First World War atmosphere, while artfully keeping the tone as light as it is suspenseful, as Eric Portman initially attempts to capture Guy Rolfe and then enlists him to procure some top-secret German plans.

With a mutual passion for Nadia Gray intensifying the rivalry, this is a cat-and-mouse thriller of the highest order that deserves to be much better known.