Recommendations
Senior Film Conservator

After experiencing the cinematic excellence of As the Devil Commands (1932), finding other movies that capture that same lightning in a bottle is a top priority. These recommendations provide a deep dive into the same stylistic territory occupied by As the Devil Commands.
This 1932 Crime classic stands as a testament to challenge the status quo through its avant-garde structure.
Millionaire John Duncan is dying from an illness which cannot be cured. He plans to divide his fortune between his cousin, lawyer Robert Waldo, who has taken him in during his sickness, and Dr. David Graham. David considers Duncan his mentor, although, unknown to him, Duncan is actually his father. Waldo convinces Duncan to leave all his estate to David in a plot to get the money along with Duncan's nurse, Jane Chase, who loves David. Waldo, who has a smiling face and apparently benevolent personality, has a hateful, treacherous soul. He plans to frame David by giving him a motive for a murder that Waldo will commit. Now a hopeless invalid, John asks David to end his suffering, but David refuses to give him the necessary medication, so Waldo decides to help John die to suit his own purposes. At Christmas, Waldo invites David to a party for orphans, asking him to play Santa Claus. Instead, David sends Wilfred Morgan, an idle tramp, who becomes drunk and disappears. Left alone with Duncan, Waldo gives him an overdose of the drug David had prescribed, believing he is committing the "perfect crime." However, Morgan recovers sufficiently to see what is happening. When David is arrested and tried for murdering John, Waldo offers to defend him, but presents a very poor defense, hoping that the jury will convict David and sentence him to die. David instead receives a life sentence, and while Waldo is awarded John's estate due to David's disqualification, the land is unobtainable while David is still alive. Waldo secures David's release by forging a suicide note left by John, then decides to kill the young man himself. Waldo must first deal with Morgan, however, for the tramp has used his knowledge of the murder to blackmail him. Waldo runs Morgan over with his car, but the injured man reaches Jane and tells her of Waldo's schemes before he dies. Meanwhile, Waldo has enticed David into his cellar, where he intends to asphyxiate him by surrounding him with candles that will use up all of the oxygen. Jane rushes to Waldo's house and shoots him when he fails to reveal where David is. The police arrive in time to save David, and Waldo dies realizing that people cannot be manipulated like pawns in a chess game.
Critics widely regard As the Devil Commands as a cult-favorite piece of Crime cinema. Its cinematic excellence is frequently cited as its strongest asset, solidifying its place in United States's film legacy.
Based on the unique cinematic excellence of As the Devil Commands, our vault has identified these titles as the most compelling follow-up experiences for fans of Crime cinema:
Dir: Roy William Neill
Rita Hackett's father has unscrupulously gained possession of an old southern mansion. The owner, Randolph Manners, is evicted and takes up residence in the training quarters on the estate. It is there when Rita meets Randolph and learns of her father's deeds. Rita disguises herself as a jockey and enters a a race, determined to help Randolph reclaim what is his.
View Details
Dir: Roy William Neill
In a Western mining town, millionaire Gordon Appleby meets Maida Madison, a civil engineer, and proposes. The two marry and return to Philadelphia, where they are coldly received by Gordon's snobbish family. Gordon's elder brother Mortimer's highbrow sensibilities are particularly offended by Maida's breezy manner, and he determines to break up the marriage. Meanwhile, Maida learns that Gordon's sister Eunice, whose husband is a lieutenant overseas, has formed an attachment to playboy Rupert Fenton. Maida decides to save Eunice when, at a party, she overhears her planning to elope with Rupert to Egypt. Late that evening, Maida follows Eunice to Rupert's apartment, where she is seen by Mortimer, who almost succeeds in convincing Gordon of her unfaithfulness. Maida refuses to explain her presence at Rupert's in order to shield Eunice, who, ashamed, confesses her guilt. Filled with gratitude, the Applebys accept their Western daughter-in-law into the family.
View Details
Dir: Harry Southwell
A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.
View Details
Dir: Maurice Elvey
A lady marries a horse trainer but withholds herself until her crippled brother is cured.
View Details
Dir: F. Martin Thornton
In Paris an orphan cartoonist loves a man with a mad wife, who dies in time to prevent her marriage to a jilted Comte.
View Details
Dir: Roy William Neill
Allaine Grandet lives with her father in the barren land of the north, where women are nothing more than mere chattels. She is sold by her father to Jules Latour, a brutal and primitive trapper, who subsequently gambles her away to James Dermot, the keeper of a den in the gold settlement. She is here befriended by a besotted pianist, who has seen better days, but whose manhood revives in Allaine's environment. The gambling hall proprietor seeks to bend her to his will, but she resists him, nameless fear tugging at her heartstrings. When he seeks to enforce his will upon her, she shoots and wounds him, and with this act her fear vanishes and she becomes mistress of herself. She goes with the pianist into the snows, and in a drift their dog unearths the body of Latour. So she finds happiness in the love of her protector, whose manhood has restored her faith in him.
View Details
Dir: Roy William Neill
New bride Winnie Davis wants to buy her husband Elmer a birthday present, but she can't because he insists that all household expenses be charged to him, and she doesn't want him finding out what she's buying him. She decides to make money by using the family car as a taxi, puts on a "chauferette" uniform and soon is attracting many new customers--mostly male. Matters become more complicated when a jealous former suitor of Winnie tries to ruin her husband by putting financial pressure on Elmer so Winnie will come back to him..
View Details
Dir: Roy William Neill
Marcella Duranzo finds it increasingly difficult to support herself and her ailing father on her earnings as a clothing store fashion model, she accepts an assignment from Lois Underwood, the bored wife of millionaire Robert Underwood. For $1,000, Marcella agrees to live in Reno for a time under Lois' name; meanwhile, the restless wife may accompany her lover, Count Louis Le Favri, on a yacht trip and still sue her husband for divorce. Robert, however, visits the fashionable Reno hotel in which Marcella is registered and soon learns the truth. In Reno, Robert's son Bobby becomes seriously ill, and when Marcella nurses him back to health, Robert falls in love with her. Lois, who has found a new lover in Jack Porter, is about to sue Robert, naming Marcella as the co-respondent, when the jealous count, posing as Jack's chauffeur, drives himself, Jack and Lois into an oncoming train. Marcella then consents to marry Robert.
View Details
Dir: Roy William Neill
Trixie Darling, a leading chorus girl in the musical comedy number "Chicken, Chicken, You're Some Pickin'," refuses Broadway Benham's seductive wine parties and luxuries. Instead, she marries John Collins, an awkward Westerner, who, she is surprised to learn, is a multi-millionaire with a huge orange grove in California. John, overhearing jealous dancers say Trixie married for money, decides to test her. He takes her in a rickety Ford to their "home," a shack, where he throws things, raves, and makes her fix his breakfast at five. When Benham brings the troupe to town, he easily convinces the disillusioned Trixie to appear, but John carries her off the stage. Gertie Brown, John's jealous former sweetheart, starts the Committee on Public Morals to get rid of Trixie. When Trixie interrupts their meeting and has a hair-pulling fight with Gertie, a dislodged kerosene lamp starts a fire. After nearly losing her life saving Gertie, Trixie awakens from unconsciousness to find herself in John's mansion, now accepted by all.
View Details
Dir: Roy William Neill
A poor girl determines to right the wrong done to her father, and will let no one stand in her way.
View DetailsAnalysis relative to As the Devil Commands
| Film Title | Atmosphere | Complexity | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| They're Off | Gothic | Dense | 87% Match |
| Love Me | Ethereal | High | 85% Match |
| The Kelly Gang | Tense | Linear | 95% Match |
| The Hundredth Chance | Gritty | Dense | 87% Match |
| The Flame | Surreal | High | 97% Match |
This guide was algorithmically generated using the cinematic metadata of Roy William Neill's archive. Last updated: 5/27/2026.
Back to As the Devil Commands Details →