Best Action Movies of 1936

Three earthlings visit the planet Mongo to thwart the evil schemes of Emperor Ming the Merciless.

Based on the novel by Hervey Allen, this expansive drama follows the many adventures of the eponymous hero, Anthony Adverse. Abandoned at a convent by his heartless nobleman father, Don Luis, Anthony is later mentored by his kind grandfather, John Bonnyfeather, and falls for the beautiful Angela Giuseppe. When circumstances separate Anthony and Angela and he embarks on a long journey, he must find his way back to her, no matter what the cost.

A well-established tale of a long-running feud between two mountain clans.

China, 1930s, during the ravaging civil war. General Pen entrusts O'Hara, an intrepid American adventurer, with the mission of providing a large sum of money to Mr. Wu with the task of buying weapons in Shanghai to help end General Yang's tyranny that keeps an entire province under his ruthless iron boot.

A 14-episode serial in which Mala, a Polynesian in the employ of U.S. Intelligence investigates sabotage on Clipper Island. A gang of spies causes the eruption of a volcano, for which our hero is blamed. He convinces the local Princess Melani of his innocence and helps her ward off a takeover by rival high priest Porotu.

In a town called New Jerusalem, three bandits hold up a bank. After a gun battle with the townspeople, the three robbers retreat into the scorching Arizona desert. There, they happen upon an ill woman stranded with her child. As the mother dies, she begs the men to take care of her infant. The fugitives want to save the baby -- but to do so, they'll have to travel back to New Jerusalem, where they are wanted men.

The arrival of the telegraph put Pony Express riders like John Blair and his pal Smoky out of work. A race will decide whether they or stageline owner Drake get the government mail contract.

Christopher Powell is in Malaysia with his fiancée and her father, capturing wild animals. While out hunting, he is attacked by a tiger, and his native guides run away, leaving him for dead. But the tiger is the pet of Ulah, a beautiful young woman who grew up by herself in the jungle. She rescues Chris and takes him back to her cave, where she nurses him to health and falls in love with him. When he eventually returns to camp, she follows. The fiancée is jealous, and the natives don't like Ulah or her pet tiger either, all of which leads to a lot of trouble.

This 13 chapter serial is based on the comic strip character Ace Drummond created by Eddie Rickenbacker. Ace is a 'G-Man of the sky' working out of Washington D.C. He is sent to Mongolia to find out why a mysterious villain known only as 'The Dragon' is trying to prevent the newly formed International Airways from setting up an airport there. Ace meets Peggy Trainor (Jean Rogers) who is searching for her archaeologist father who has disappeared. Together they search for answers to the puzzles.

As the sheriff of a small western town, Autry sings his way into a relationship with Eleanor, a singer from a Chicago nightclub who earlier witnessed a murder.

The Commandant is making life rough for the colonials in Spanish California. While trying to help, Zorro is charged with the murder of the new Governor, but in the end he triumphs over the evil Commandant.

Reporter Terry Brewer goes to the Los Angeles airport to say goodbye to his sweetheart, airline hostess Rita Moore. He notices G-Man Mike Phelan among the passengers and assuming Phelan is on the trail of a criminal, decides to go along to get a story.

A woman and her weakling brother inherit a mine. When the brother commits suicide the guide is accused of murder.

Marion Hastings returns to her father Dan's cattle property in western Queensland after being away in Europe for fifteen years. She is treated with hostility by her father's foreman, Dick Drake, and her father's neighbour, Don Lawton.

Investigators set out to capture a gang of thieves transporting stolen cash through the U.S. mail.

Profiteer Alexander Stiles lays claim to a million acres of range in the Pecos River country, but a rancher named Claybor stands in his way as he has already claimed the water-rich location of Sweetwater as his own.

A masked hero called "The Eagle" leads California ranchers in a struggle against Russian Cossacks who are plotting to take over California and turn it into a Russian colony.

Terry is the chief car tester for Emery Motors and Frank is an Engineer. Jane has just been hired to work in publicity. Frank and Terry both want Jane to be their girl. Terry has designed a new carburetor that should bring him fame and money, but he cannot get it to work correctly. Terry and Gadget have tested it for over a year, but it still is not perfected. Emery Motors assigns Frank to help Terry with the carburetor, but Terry is not happy because Frank is an Engineer and is also vying for Jane. They finish the carburetor, and to test it, they enter a car in the Indianapolis 500 race. Terry is not yet satisfied with the carburetor before the big race even though it has passed all the tests.

When a group of World War 1 buddies head west to farmstead, they run into trouble.

A card sharp steps in when a Mexican family's ranch is threatened by swindlers and cheats.

An unhappy child, accompanied by his dog, runs away from home and is befriended by a gangster on the lam.

A radio commentator named Perry Travis fancies himself a brilliant amateur detective. The cops wish he’d stick to his microphone and let them do the detecting. This proves impossible when a famed scientist is murdered in Perry’s studio, right in the middle of the interview. All evidence points to Perry, and he sets out to clear his name before the Shadow-like villain roaming the hallways of the radio station gets away with murder.

Chet Kasedon is after the Indians hidden gold mine but Chief Moya will not reveal it's location. He has also hired mining engineers Gale and Mortimer to locate the mine. When Gale sees Kasedon's cruelty to Moya, he switches sides.

A proud, pro-capital punishment district attorney with a 90% execution rate, finds himself wrongly convicted of murdering his estranged wife and sentenced to die. The woman he loves and his investigator rival for her affections rally to find the real killer, while he is confronted by the misery of life on death row.

Martin Granville Jr. (Bruce Bennett), a star track-and-field athlete, has intentions of going to Claxton College, but changes his mind when he meets Pat Meredith (Jeanne Martel), a co-ed at a rival college, changes his mind team and goes to college there, just as his father Martin GRanville Sr. (Sam Flint), an alum of the school, had wished. But his father has ordered him not to play football. "Dad" Granville, has offered a $100,000 endowment to his old school, not knowing his son has joined the football team, but is going to withdraw it if his son plays in the Big Game against Claxton.

Joyce Reid (Fay Wray), a wealthy young debutante, stows away on a cargo ship to China, carrying as passengers her dashing aviator sweetheart, Dan Bailey (Ralph Bellamy) and and her munitions-producing father, E. J. Reid (Thurston Hall) and an assortment of the usual south-seas characters along with some orientals with varying agendas...and some plot-lines straight out of "Terry and the Pirates." The cargo included a shipment of bombs and machine guns. She soon finds herself being held hostage by some wily orientals who will free her only if dashing Dan agrees to pilot a bombing plane for some Chinese bandits.

A lawman captures the notorious "Pecos Kid", who is tried and hanged for his crimes--then starts to have doubts as to whether the Kid actually committed the crimes.

In the 1840's Mexico has ceded California to the United States, making life nearly impossible for the Mexican population due to the influx of land and gold-crazy Americans. Farmer Joaquin Murrieta revenges the death of his wife against the four Americans who killed her and is branded an outlaw. The reward for his capture is increased as he subsequently kills the men who brutally murder his brother. Joining with bandit Three Fingered Jack, Murrieta raises an army of disaffected Mexicans and goes on a rampage against the Americans, finally forcing his erstwhile friend, Bill Warren, to lead a posse against him.

When a gang tries to rob Haldain, Jim and Walla Walla break it up. Haldain is carrying stuffed animals and Jim's suspicion that they are stuffed with gold is soon confirmed. The gang's boss is banker Cutting and he is after Haldain's gold. He also receives Jim's mail at his bank and changes one of Jim's letters to make it look like Jim is after the gold. His sends Haldain's daughter after her father thereby leading the gang to the secret gold field.

Wildcat riggers risk their lives in the pursuit of oil. Their jobs get even more dangerous when ruthless oil baron J.C. Anderson sets his sights on their territory. When longtime driller Dan O'Reilly falls to his death from a well tower sabotaged by Anderson's strong-arm thugs, his teenage son 'Fishtail' inherits the property and the troubles that come with it. With the help of his geologist pal, Hank Langford, the boy fights to bring in a gusher before the deed to the well-site expires.

Womanizer and airline pilot Jack Gordon must fly the world's fastest airliner from New York to California while dealing with dangerous jewel thieves on the run from the law.

Reporter Steve Haines (Boyd), on the trail of a business tycoon, follows his subject onto an ocean liner and gets wound up in a cruise full of intrigue, romance and murder.

Two prospectors in Africa, Tony Cooper and Dalton come across a skeleton that has nearly been picked clean by vultures. They find a letter on the body addressed to a clerk in London named Wilkins . Cooper goes to Wilkins in London and tells him that his brother, whose body they had found, has left a map and a deed to a large diamond mine. Wilkins decides to go to Africa with Cooper to find the mine and, in order to speed up and finance their venture, they give a third interest to Carol Reade and her partner John Trevor), who operate a barnstorming airplane service. In Africa, close to the mine location, they are greeted by some tough gentlemen named Collins and Quincy who have terrorized the natives and lorded over the region, who quickly discover the reason for the party's mission. They join, unasked, in the race for the diamonds. The race is interrupted by the death of Trevor who is found knifed in his bunk.

Fate brings a job at Boulder Dam and romance with a saloon singer into the life of a young man on the run.

It is the story of Gene's, a Cavalry scout, who manages to quell an Indian uprising.

In his film debut Ritter is sent to investigate miners being killed and their mines confiscated. The culprit is Evans and after Tex joins the gang, he is sent to kill two more miners. When Estaban is killed, Tex is put on trial for all three murders.

When Brent Halston returns he finds his father in an insane asylum and Wilton about to foreclose on their ranch and bring sheep onto the cattle range. When Wilton kills a rancher, Brent is blamed and jailed. Escaping jail he gets Ware to confess that he payed to have Halston committed. He then gets unexpected help from Ethel Gordon when Wilton tries to foreclose.

At the Texas Centennial in Dallas Autry confuses two girls by being himself and his own stunt double. When cowboy star Tom Ford disappears, Wilson gets his double Gene Autry to impersonate him. But Ford owes gangster Rico $10,000 and Rico arrives to collect. He fails to get the money but learns that Autry is an impersonator and now blackmails Wilson and his movie studio. Original version runs 71 minutes, edited version runs 59 minutes.

After causing his friend's death, an animal trainer marries the man's daughter to atone.

A cop is fired from the force and attempts to solve a string of truck holdups.

Two brothers are separated when young. One becomes the pony express rider Clint Knox and the other the outlaw Ace Carter.

An investigator looks into the activities of a movie producer he believes is involved in smuggling Asians into the U.S.

Crash Corrigan, a recent graduate of Annapolis, and Diana, a go-getting reporter, join Professor Norton for a search for the source of a string of earthquakes, Atlantis. They ride Prof. Norton's rocket submarine searching the sea and little Billy Norton, the professor's son stows away, of course. When they find Atlantis they are caught in a war between peaceful Atlanteans, note their white capes, and war-monging Atlanteans, note their black capes. After many harrowing moments for Crash, Diana, Prof. Norton and Billy, they barely get away with their lives when they escape a tower of Atlantis raised to the surface for the sole purpose of dominating or destroying the Earth (Which one depends on the compliance of the upper world dwellers.)

Kit Cardigan seeks the killer of his father...among other plot threads leading up to the famous historical incident.

A South Seas skipper fights off thieves and pirates who are after a lost treasure.

An evil gang is involved in both cattle rustling and the robbing of stagecoaches. Hoppy must stop them without help from the sheriff who turns out be a major outlaw himself.

The Phantom Rider helps Mary Grayson thwart a plot to steal her land.

In this action film, a courageous test pilot works with experimental aircraft for the US Armed Forces. When an important airplane manufacturer dies, his daughter is left to run the company. The company seems to be producing dangerous prototypes, so the woman decides to close the company.

Jim Cole, heir to a mining operation, takes over the mine, which is suffering from unexplained low production, and is facing a strike by the miners. Jim will soon loose the mine if production doesn't increase and the sabotage continues. Mary Norsen, office-secretary, accidentally learns of a plot by Fred Johnson to wreck the mine and force Cole to sell his coal-mine. She and her brother, Joe, join Cole in his fight to stop Johnson.