Top 10 Action Movies of 1942
by muybueno16 | created - 03 Jan 2017 | updated - 07 Jan 2017 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Across the Pacific (1942)
Passed | 97 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In December 1941, ex-army captain Rick Leland boards a Japanese ship heading to Asia via the Panama Canal where his Japanese hosts show interest in the American defense plans for the canal zone.
Directors: John Huston, Vincent Sherman | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Charles Halton
Votes: 5,446
2. Saboteur (1942)
Passed | 109 min | Thriller, War
A young man accused of sabotage goes on the run to prove his innocence.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Otto Kruger, Alan Baxter
Votes: 27,992
3. Desperate Journey (1942)
Passed | 107 min | Drama, War
When the crew of a downed British bomber escape from their Nazi captors with Top Secret intelligence, they make a desperate journey to get out of Germany alive.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey
Votes: 2,592
4. Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942)
Approved | 98 min | Drama, History, War
A gentle widower, enraged at German atrocities against his peaceful Norwegian fishing village, escapes to Britain and returns leading a commando force against the oppressors.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Cedric Hardwicke
Votes: 969 | Gross: $1.30M
5. Submarine Raider (1942)
Approved | 64 min | Drama, War
An American yacht is sunk by a Japanese submarine on its way to Pearl Harbour, and when the single survivor is picked up by a US submarine, the commander tries desperately to warn the mainland of the imminent attack.
Directors: Lew Landers, Budd Boetticher | Stars: John Howard, Marguerite Chapman, Bruce Bennett, Warren Ashe
Votes: 207
6. The Big Shot (1942)
Approved | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fearing life in prison for a fourth offense, convict Duke Berne pulls out of an armored car robbery, planned by his crooked lawyer, but he is framed for the robbery anyway.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Irene Manning, Richard Travis, Susan Peters
Votes: 1,340
7. Stand by for Action (1942)
Passed | 109 min | War
During WW2, two Navy officers take command of an obsolete, World War I-vintage, destroyer that is assigned to convoy-escort duty in the Japanese-controlled waters of the South Pacific.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, Charles Laughton, Walter Brennan
Votes: 734 | Gross: $0.55M
8. Wake Island (1942)
Passed | 88 min | Action, Drama, War
December, 1941. With no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines tries to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island base.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix
Votes: 2,199
9. In Which We Serve (1942)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, War
This "story of a ship", the British destroyer H.M.S. Torrin, is told in flashbacks by survivors as they cling to a life raft.
Director: Noël Coward | Stars: Noël Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson
Votes: 6,449 | Gross: $0.45M
10. The Avengers (1942)
Approved | 87 min | Drama, War
On the eve of WWII, a British journalist is sent to neutral Norway to report on the possible Nazi intentions there; later he's tasked with a secret combat mission after Germany invades that country.
Director: Harold French | Stars: Hugh Williams, Griffith Jones, Deborah Kerr, Ralph Richardson
Votes: 590
11. Spy Smasher (1942)
Passed | 215 min | Action, Adventure, Family
Alan Armstrong, aka Spy Smasher, battles a Nazi villain known as The Mask, who heads a gang of saboteurs determined to spread destruction across America.
Director: William Witney | Stars: Kane Richmond, Marguerite Chapman, Sam Flint, Hans Schumm
Votes: 414
12. Invisible Agent (1942)
Passed | 81 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
The Invisible Man's grandson uses his secret formula to spy on Nazi Germany.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: Ilona Massey, Jon Hall, Peter Lorre, Cedric Hardwicke
Votes: 2,656
13. Overland Mail (1942)
Approved | 279 min | Drama, Western
Two investigators for a stagecoach company are assigned to find out why the company's stages keep being ambushed. They discover that the culprits are white men disguised as Indians, and they set out to discover who is behind the plot.
Directors: Ford Beebe, John Rawlins | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Helen Parrish, Noah Beery Jr., Don Terry
Votes: 80
14. All Through the Night (1942)
Approved | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Runyonesque Broadway gamblers turn patriotic when they stumble onto a cell of Nazi saboteurs.
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt, Karen Verne, Jane Darwell
Votes: 4,932
15. They Raid by Night (1942)
Approved | 73 min | Drama, War
The British Commandos send Bob Owen (Lyle Talbot) to Norway to prepare for a raid. His mission also includes freeing General Heden (Paul Baratoff) who is being held by the Nazis. His aides ... See full summary »
Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet | Stars: Lyle Talbot, June Duprez, Victor Varconi, George N. Neise
Votes: 294
16. The Dawn Express (1942)
Passed | 62 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Nazi spies in the USA try to steal the formula for synthetic oil and ship it to Germany by means of a night plane called the Dawn Express.
Director: Albert Herman | Stars: Michael Whalen, Anne Nagel, William Bakewell, Constance Worth
Votes: 247
17. Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942)
Passed | 62 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
After Pearl Harbor, convicts at Alcatraz prison live in fear of bomb attacks, driving Champ Larkin and his pal Jimbo to a desperate escape attempt which lands them on a tiny lighthouse ... See full summary »
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: James Craig, Bonita Granville, Frank Jenks, Cliff Edwards
Votes: 325
18. Hitler--Dead or Alive (1942)
Passed | 70 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
A team of ex-con bounty hunters go to Germany in search of Hitler. If they can find him, a million dollar reward is to be paid to them.
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Ward Bond, Dorothy Tree, Warren Hymer, Paul Fix
Votes: 372
19. Gang Busters (1942)
Approved | 251 min | Drama
Detective lieutenant Bill Bannister is assigned to run down an unknown gang of terrorists who have spread a net of crime over the city.
Directors: Noel M. Smith, Ray Taylor | Stars: Kent Taylor, Irene Hervey, Ralph Morgan, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 130
20. Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)
Passed | 71 min | Action, Adventure
Tarzan and Jane go to New York to rescue Boy after he is kidnapped into a circus.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield, Virginia Grey
Votes: 3,589
21. The Mysterious Rider (1942)
Passed | 56 min | Drama, Western
Escaping from the Marshal, Billy and Fuzzy ride to Laramy only to find it a ghost town. Sykes and his gang have driven people away while they look for the gold mine of a man they have ... See full summary »
Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Caroline Burke, John Merton
Votes: 88
22. Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942)
Approved | 57 min | Western
Billy and his pals, on the run from the law again, travel to Sage Valley where Billy is made Sheriff. The local outlaw gang is run by Kansas Ed who closely resembles Billy. Ed captures ... See full summary »
Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Dave O'Brien, Maxine Leslie
Votes: 130
23. Law and Order (1942)
Passed | 57 min | Western
In this entry in PRC's "Billy the Kid" series (aka "Billy the Kid in Law and Order") Billy the Kid and his pals Jeff Travis and Fuzzy Jones, are arrested and brought to Ft. Culver, where ... See full summary »
Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Dave O'Brien, Sarah Padden
Votes: 52
24. Jungle Siren (1942)
Approved | 68 min | Adventure
A woman who was raised in the jungle helps a man fight Nazis who are trying to start a native uprising.
Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: Ann Corio, Buster Crabbe, Evelyn Wahl, Paul Bryar
Votes: 220
25. Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns (1942)
Approved | 58 min | Drama, Western
Knowing the Army is arriving to establish a post. Doc Hagan and his gang and the crooked Sheriff are trying to drive the ranchers off the land. When the gang wound a rancher, the Doc ... See full summary »
Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Dave O'Brien, John Merton
Votes: 74
26. Billy the Kid Trapped (1942)
Approved | 59 min | Western
Stanton breaks Billy and his two friends Fuzzy and Jeff out of jail. He wants them free so three of his men can impersonate them for the robberies and murders he has planned.
Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Malcolm 'Bud' McTaggart, Anne Jeffreys
Votes: 219
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