Top 10 Action Movies of the 1930s
by muybueno16 | created - 03 Jan 2017 | updated - 06 May 2019 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Captain of the Guard (1930)
Passed | 83 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A captain of the king's guards secretly works for the rebels.
Directors: John S. Robertson, Pál Fejös | Stars: Laura La Plante, John Boles, Sam De Grasse, James A. Marcus
Votes: 44
2. The Night Ride (1930)
Passed | 60 min | Crime, Drama
Just after newsman Rooker and Ruth Kearns are married he covers a double murder during a bank robbery. Cigarettes at the scene implicate gangster Tony Garotta. Garotta kidnaps Rooker and another reporter, intending to kill them.
Director: John S. Robertson | Stars: Joseph Schildkraut, Barbara Kent, Edward G. Robinson, Harry Stubbs
Votes: 43
3. Outside the Law (1930)
Passed | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Fingers is planning a half-million-dollar bank robbery in gang boss Cobra Collins' territory. Fingers' moll Connie tries to bluff Cobra into thinking the hit won't be for another week when the call comes through saying it's now.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Mary Nolan, Edward G. Robinson, Owen Moore, Rockliffe Fellowes
Votes: 225
4. East Is West (1930)
Passed | 75 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Ming Toy is on the auction block in China. She is saved by Billy and taken to San Francisco by Lo Sang Kee. To save her from deportation she is sold to Charlie Yong, the Chop Suey King. Billy kidnaps her with plans of marriage.
Director: Monta Bell | Stars: Lupe Velez, Lew Ayres, Edward G. Robinson, E. Alyn Warren
Votes: 71
5. Danger Lights (1930)
Passed | 74 min | Adventure, Drama
The tough boss of a railroad yard befriends a young hobo, and unwittingly places in jeopardy his relationship with the woman he loves.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Louis Wolheim, Jean Arthur, Robert Armstrong, Hugh Herbert
Votes: 637
6. Africa Speaks! (1930)
Passed | 75 min | Documentary, Adventure, History
Explorer Paul Hoefler leads a safari into central Africa and what was then called the Belgian Congo, in the regions inhabited by the Wassara and the famous Ubangi tribes.
Director: Walter Futter | Stars: Harald Austin, Paul L. Hoefler, Lowell Thomas, Charles Gemora
Votes: 137
7. The Big Trail (1930)
Passed | 125 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Breck Coleman leads hundreds of settlers in covered wagons from the Mississippi River to their destiny out West.
Directors: Raoul Walsh, Louis R. Loeffler | Stars: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, El Brendel, Tully Marshall
Votes: 4,339
8. Moby Dick (1930)
Passed | 80 min | Adventure, Drama
In this extremely loose adaptation of Melville's classic novel, Ahab is revealed initially not as a bitter and vengeful madman, but as a bit of a lovable scamp. Ashore in New Bedford, he ... See full summary »
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: John Barrymore, Joan Bennett, Lloyd Hughes, Noble Johnson
Votes: 641
9. The Fighting Legion (1930)
Passed | 74 min | Western
After being shot, a dying Marshal Dawson gives Dave Hayes his badge and asks him to finish his job. Dave becomes Marshal but when Bowie, the man that shot Dawson appears, he exposes Dave as... See full summary »
Director: Harry Joe Brown | Stars: Ken Maynard, Tarzan, Dorothy Dwan, Harry Todd
Votes: 46
10. The Green Goddess (1930)
Passed | 73 min | Adventure
An airplane carrying three Brits--Major Crespin, his wife Lucille, and Dr. Trahern--crash lands in the kingdom of Rukh. The Rajah holds them prisoner because the British are about to ... See full summary »
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: George Arliss, Ralph Forbes, H.B. Warner, Alice Joyce
Votes: 440
11. Trapped (II) (1931)
63 min | Crime, Drama
A police captain investigating a ring of bank robbers falls in love with a nightclub entertainer suspected of being involved with the gang.
Director: Bruce Mitchell | Stars: Nick Stuart, Priscilla Dean, Nina Quartero, Tom Santschi
Votes: 24
12. The Criminal Code (1930)
Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After a failed attempt at running for governor, D.A. Mark Brady is appointed warden of the state prison where many of the criminals he prosecuted are incarcerated.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff
Votes: 1,376
13. Little Caesar (1931)
Not Rated | 79 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr.
Votes: 14,518
14. The Public Enemy (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell
Votes: 23,011 | Gross: $1.01M
15. Waterloo Bridge (1931)
81 min | Drama, Romance
A prostitute's self-loathing makes her reluctant to marry an idealistic soldier during World War I.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Mae Clarke, Douglass Montgomery, Doris Lloyd, Frederick Kerr
Votes: 3,163
16. The Seas Beneath (1931)
Passed | 90 min | Action, Drama, War
At the end of WWI the US Navy camouflages a battleship as a harmless schooner and sails for the Canary Islands to confront a notoriously effective German U-boat. No one sees the US submarine secretly escorting the schooner.
Director: John Ford | Stars: George O'Brien, Marion Lessing, Mona Maris, Walter C. Kelly
Votes: 421
17. The Battle of Gallipoli (1931)
75 min | Drama, War
Two friends enlist in the British army during World War 1 and take part in the Gallipoli campaign.
Directors: Anthony Asquith, Geoffrey Barkas | Stars: Fay Compton, Tony Bruce, Carl Harbord, Dennis Hoey
Votes: 90
18. Dishonored (1931)
Approved | 91 min | Drama, Romance, War
The Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Warner Oland
Votes: 3,193
19. The Vanishing Legion (1931)
Passed | 220 min | Adventure, Western
A mysterious master criminal known as The Voice plots with his gang to sabotage the Milesburg Oil Company, but the rightful heir has a secret army of her own to protect her rights.
Directors: Ford Beebe, B. Reeves Eason | Stars: Harry Carey, Edwina Booth, Rex, William Desmond
Votes: 106
20. Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)
TV-PG | 86 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Anne Chevalier, Matahi, Hitu, Bill Bambridge
Votes: 6,380
21. Rango (1931)
66 min | Adventure
The frame story is narrated by a white father to his son. He explains that man's closest relative in nature is the orangutan, which translates literally as "man of the forest." He then ... See full summary »
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Jaro Fürth, Claude King, Rango, Roby Roberts
Votes: 35
22. They Just Had to Get Married (1932)
Passed | 69 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
Molly Hull, a maid, and Sam Sutton, a butler, are bequeathed a million dollars, and they encounter many problems and difficulties as they try to become the newest members of the idle rich.
Director: Edward Ludwig | Stars: Slim Summerville, Zasu Pitts, Roland Young, Verree Teasdale
Votes: 30
23. Scarface (1932)
PG | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.
Directors: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson | Stars: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins
Votes: 30,289
24. Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
Passed | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A trader and his daughter set off in search of the fabled graveyard of the elephants in deepest Africa, only to encounter a wild man raised by apes.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 8,211
25. The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
PG-13 | 63 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.
Directors: Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 14,002 | Gross: $0.97M
26. Air Mail (1932)
Approved | 84 min | Adventure, Drama
A group of air mail pilots risk their lives to deliver important mail through bad weather conditions.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Pat O'Brien, Ralph Bellamy, Gloria Stuart, Slim Summerville
Votes: 527
27. Hell Divers (1931)
Passed | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Rival fighter-pilots train in the art of dive bombing while teasing each other about their bravery and manliness. They wind up stranded and must work together for a common goal.
Director: George W. Hill | Stars: Clark Gable, Wallace Beery, Conrad Nagel, Dorothy Jordan
Votes: 659
28. Chandu the Magician (1932)
Passed | 71 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
When delusional madman Roxor kidnaps a scientist in hopes of using his death ray to achieve world dominance, he is opposed by Chandu, a powerful hypnotist and yogi.
Directors: William Cameron Menzies, Marcel Varnel | Stars: Edmund Lowe, Irene Ware, Bela Lugosi, Herbert Mundin
Votes: 1,138
29. Shanghai Express (1932)
Approved | 82 min | Adventure, Drama, Film-Noir
A notorious woman rides a train through a dangerous situation with a British captain she loved.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland
Votes: 10,319
30. Roar of the Dragon (1932)
Passed | 69 min | Adventure, Romance
A boatload of Westerners is trapped in Manchuria as bandits led by Russian renegade Voronsky ravage the area. Seeking refuge in a fortified inn, the group is led by the boat's Captain ... See full summary »
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Richard Dix, Gwili Andre, Edward Everett Horton, Arline Judge
Votes: 251
31. The Hatchet Man (1932)
74 min | Crime, Drama
A hatchet man is ordered to kill his close friend for the sake of Tong.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Dudley Digges, Leslie Fenton
Votes: 906
32. Die Herrin von Atlantis (1932)
87 min | Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Two French Foreign Legionnaires are lost amid the shifting sands of the Sahara Desert when they stumble across the entrance to an underground world. Searching this new found subterranean ... See full summary »
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Brigitte Helm, Heinz Klingenberg, Tela Tchaï, Gustav Diessl
Votes: 592
33. The Hurricane Express (1932)
Passed | 227 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
When his father is killed in a train wreck, Larry Baker vows to unmask a mysterious criminal called "The Wrecker," who has targeted the L&M Railroad for deadly" accidents."
Directors: J.P. McGowan, Armand Schaefer | Stars: John Wayne, Shirley Grey, Conway Tearle, Tully Marshall
Votes: 684
34. Bird of Paradise (1932)
Passed | 80 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A native girl falls for a visitor to her island, but she's chosen to be sacrificed to the volcano god.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Dolores Del Río, Joel McCrea, John Halliday, Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher
Votes: 1,577
35. Bring 'Em Back Alive (1932)
TV-G | 65 min | Adventure, Documentary
American animal trapper Frank Buck travels with Ali, his "number one boy," on an expedition into the Malayan jungle. From their jungle headquarters just north of Singapore, Frank, Ali and a... See full summary »
Director: Clyde E. Elliott | Star: Frank Buck
Votes: 102
36. Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
Passed | 68 min | Adventure, Drama
In the depths of the Depression, two teenage boys strike out on their own in order to help their struggling parents and find life on the road tougher than expected.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Frankie Darro, Rochelle Hudson, Edwin Phillips, Dorothy Coonan Wellman
Votes: 2,334
37. The Big Chance (1933)
Passed | 62 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Gangsters try to get a boxer to throw an important fight.
Director: Albert Herman | Stars: John Darrow, Merna Kennedy, Natalie Moorhead, Mickey Rooney
Votes: 204
38. Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Passed | 70 min | Film-Noir, Horror, Sci-Fi
A mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.
Director: Erle C. Kenton | Stars: Charles Laughton, Bela Lugosi, Richard Arlen, Leila Hyams
Votes: 10,898
39. To the Last Man (1933)
Passed | 74 min | Western
In Kentucky just after the Civil War, the Hayden-Colby feud leads to Jed Colby being sent to prison for 15 years for murder. The Haydens head for Nevada and when Colby gets out of prison he heads there also seeking revenge. The head of the Hayden family tries to avoid more killing but the inevitable showdown has to occur, complicated by Lynn Hayden and Ellen Colby's plans to marry.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Randolph Scott, Esther Ralston, Jack La Rue, Buster Crabbe
Votes: 671
40. King of the Jungle (1933)
Passed | 73 min | Action, Adventure
A white youth who is raised in the jungle by the animals is captured by a safari and brought back to civilization as an attraction in a circus.
Directors: H. Bruce Humberstone, Max Marcin | Stars: Buster Crabbe, Frances Dee, Sidney Toler, Nydia Westman
Votes: 231
41. Tarzan the Fearless (1933)
Passed | 86 min | Adventure, Family
Mary Brooks' father, who has been studying ancient tribes, falls into the hands of the people of Zar, god of the Emerald Fingers. Tarzan helps Mary locate her father, rescues everyone from the High Priest of Zar and takes Mary to his cave.
Director: Robert F. Hill | Stars: Buster Crabbe, Julie Bishop, Edward Woods, Philo McCullough
Votes: 824
42. The Three Musketeers (1933)
Passed | 210 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Tom Wayne rescues Clancy, Renard and Schmidt in the Arabian desert and they join him in going after El Shaitan, a bad guy who is never seen as he tries to wipe out the Foreign Legion.
Directors: Colbert Clark, Armand Schaefer | Stars: Jack Mulhall, Raymond Hatton, Francis X. Bushman Jr., John Wayne
Votes: 500
43. The Murder in the Museum (1934)
65 min | Mystery, Thriller
When a city councilman is murdered while investigating allegations of drug dealing going on a a somewhat disreputable sideshow, the daughter of the chief suspect teams up with a newspaper reporter to find the real killer.
Director: Melville Shyer | Stars: Henry B. Walthall, John Harron, Phyllis Barrington, Tom O'Brien
Votes: 213
44. The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)
Passed | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After greedy men have Edmond Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to get his revenge on them.
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Robert Donat, Elissa Landi, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 3,240
45. British Agent (1934)
Passed | 80 min | Drama, History, Romance
It's 1917. In Russia, the Communist revolution is in full swing. Stephen 'Steve' Locke is a British agent in Russia. The main task of Steve is to prevent the Bolsheviks, led by Joseph ... See full summary »
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Leslie Howard, Kay Francis, William Gargan, Phillip Reed
Votes: 749
46. Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
Passed | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
The idyllic life of Tarzan and Jane is challenged by men on safari who come seeking ivory, and come seeking Jane as well.
Directors: Cedric Gibbons, James C. McKay, Jack Conway | Stars: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Neil Hamilton, Paul Cavanagh
Votes: 5,569
47. The New Adventures of Tarzan (I) (1935)
Passed | 257 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Tarzan goes to Guatemala to find his lost friend, D'Arnot. On the way he helps Major Matling search Mayan ruins for hidden jewels and an idol containing the formula for a powerful explosive.
Directors: Edward A. Kull, Wilbur McGaugh | Stars: Bruce Bennett, Ula Holt, Ashton Dearholt, Frank Baker
Votes: 424
48. Devil Dogs of the Air (1935)
Approved | 85 min | Action, Drama, Comedy
A talented but brash stunt pilot enters the Marine Corps and becomes more disciplined.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay, Frank McHugh
Votes: 407
49. China Seas (1935)
Passed | 87 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
When earthy Dolly Portland is rejected by Captain Gaskell in favor of a socialite, she aids Jamesy McCardle, in league with Malay pirates, in his plot to seize Gaskell's ship.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone
Votes: 2,942
50. Barbary Coast (1935)
Approved | 91 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Mary Rutledge arrives from the East, finds her fiance dead, and goes to work at the roulette wheel of Louis Charnalis' Bella Donna, a rowdy gambling house in 1850s San Francisco.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Edward G. Robinson, Joel McCrea, Walter Brennan
Votes: 2,045
51. Captain Blood (1935)
Passed | 119 min | Action, Adventure, History
After treating a Monmouth rebel against King James II in 1680s England, a young Irish doctor is exiled as a slave to Jamaica where he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the most feared pirate of the Caribbean.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone
Votes: 16,091 | Gross: $2.96M
52. Born for Glory (1935)
Approved | 69 min | Action, Drama, War
In 1914, after a German warship picks-up survivors from a sinking British warship it undergoes repairs off a deserted island but it faces sabotage attempts and attacks from one of the escaped rescued sailors.
Director: Walter Forde | Stars: Betty Balfour, John Mills, Barry MacKay, Jimmy Hanley
Votes: 184
53. Jungle Jim (1937)
Approved | 232 min | Adventure
Two safaris enter the African jungle intent on finding a white girl who is the heiress to a fortune. One tries to help her and the other one wants to kill her.
Directors: Ford Beebe, Clifford Smith | Stars: Grant Withers, Betty Jane Rhodes, Raymond Hatton, Evelyn Brent
Votes: 122
54. Kid Galahad (1937)
Passed | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Wayne Morris
Votes: 3,927
55. Marked Woman (1937)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
A crusading district attorney persuades a clip joint hostess to testify against her mobster boss after her innocent sister is accidentally murdered during one of his unsavory parties.
Directors: Lloyd Bacon, Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell
Votes: 4,828
56. Love Under Fire (1937)
Passed | 75 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
During the Spanish Civil War, a detective from Scotland Yard falls in love with a woman he had believed to be a jewel thief.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: Loretta Young, Don Ameche, Frances Drake, Walter Catlett
Votes: 95
57. Secret Agent X-9 (1937)
Approved | 294 min | Adventure
A secret agent goes after the gang that stole the crown jewels of a European monarchy.
Directors: Ford Beebe, Clifford Smith | Stars: Scott Kolk, Jean Rogers, David Oliver, Monte Blue
Votes: 113
58. Isle of Fury (1936)
Passed | 60 min | Adventure, Romance
In the South Seas, Val Stevens and Lucille Gordon are getting married when a ship goes down offshore. Val rescues Captain Deever and passenger Eric Blake. Later Eric saves Val from an ... See full summary »
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods, E.E. Clive
Votes: 749
59. Secret Agent (1936)
Not Rated | 86 min | Mystery, Thriller
After three British Agents are assigned to assassinate a mysterious German spy during World War I, two of them become ambivalent when their duty to the mission conflicts with their consciences.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll, Robert Young, Peter Lorre
Votes: 9,039
60. Sabotage (1936)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Thriller
A Scotland Yard undercover detective is on the trail of a saboteur who is part of a plot to set off a bomb in London. But when the detective's cover is blown, the plot begins to unravel.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, Desmond Tester, John Loder
Votes: 18,720
61. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan
Votes: 23,191
62. Racket Busters (1938)
Passed | 71 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Manhattan gangster John "Czar" Martin enters the trucking business in an effort to control the produce market. When he catches popular trucker Danny Jordan robbing the gang's office to ... See full summary »
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, George Brent, Gloria Dickson, Allen Jenkins
Votes: 807
63. The Dawn Patrol (1938)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, War
British flying aces in World War I contend with the harsh realities of war.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven, Donald Crisp
Votes: 3,419
64. The Crowd Roars (1938)
Passed | 90 min | Action, Drama, Romance
A young boxer gets caught between a no-good father and a crime boss when he starts dating the boss's daughter, although she doesn't know what daddy does for a living.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Robert Taylor, Edward Arnold, Frank Morgan, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 459
65. Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, War
FBI agent Ed Renard investigates the pre-war espionage activities of the German-American Bund.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, George Sanders, Francis Lederer, Paul Lukas
Votes: 2,136
66. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Passed | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George
Votes: 15,499
67. You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939)
Approved | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Youthful tough Johnnie Stone has fallen under the influence of petty crook Frank Wilson, who involves him and robbery and murder using his sister's boyfriend's stolen gun.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop, John Litel
Votes: 1,286
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