Thrillers over time

1930s 
The Invisible Ray (1936 film)
The Invisible Ray (1936) is a Universal Pictures science fiction film starring Boris Karloff (credited merely as "Karloff") and Béla Lugosi.

A visionary doctor, Dr. Janos Rukh (Boris Karloff) invents a telescope that can look far out into space — into the Andromeda Galaxy — and pick up rays of light that will show the Earth's past. Looking at the past on a television-like screen, a group of assembled doctors as well as Dr. Rukh see a large meteor hit the earth thousands of years ago. Rukh convinces the doctors to go on an expedition to find the meteor that appeared to land in Africa. While in Africa, Rukh finds the meteor but is exposed to strong radiation ("Radium X") from the rock. Dr. Benet (Bela Lugosi) takes a piece of the stone back to Europe and uses the meteorite to heal people, including curing the blind. Rukh, suffering from the radiation, glows at night when not treated and is slowly losing his mind.

 Cast 

Boris Karloff as Dr. Janos Rukh (as Karloff)
Béla Lugosi as Dr. Felix Benet
Frances Drake as Diana Rukh
Frank Lawton as Ronald Drake
Violet Kemble Cooper as Mother Rukh
Walter Kingsford as Sir Francis Stevens
Beulah Bondi as Lady Arabella Stevens
Frank Reicher as Professor Meiklejohn
Paul Weigel as Monsieur Noyer
Georges Renavent as Chief of the Sûreté (as Georges Renevant)

Sabotage (1936 film)

Sabotage, also released as The Woman Alone, is a 1936 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is based on Joseph Conrad's novel The Secret Agent. It should not be confused with Hitchcock's film Secret Agent released the same year, or his 1942 film Saboteur.

Karl Verloc (Oscar Homolka), the owner of a cinema, is part of a gang of saboteurs from an unnamed European country who are planning a series of attacks in London. Their exact motives are not made clear. Scotland Yard suspects Verloc's involvement in the plot and assigns Detective Sergeant Ted Spencer (John Loder) to investigate Verloc, initially under cover. Spencer conducts the investigation posing as a greengrocer's helper, selling fruit and vegetables in a shop right next to the cinema.

Cast

• Sylvia Sidney as Mrs Verloc
• Oskar Homolka as Karl Anton Verloc
• Desmond Tester as Steve
• John Loder as Sergeant Ted Spencer
• Joyce Barbour as Renee
• Matthew Boulton as Superintendent Talbot
• S.J. Warmington as Hollingshead
• William Dewhurst as The Professor
• Charles Hawtrey as a Studious Youth
• Peter Bull as Michaelis (uncredited)

Summray:
 In the 1930s thrillers were basic and focused on one genre area and were still being filmed in black and white which gave them a bit of depth.