Best Action Movies of 1953

The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.

The final installment of the "Hunting Trilogy" once again has Elmer out hunting, while Bugs and Daffy try to con him into shooting the other.

Bugs Bunny once again making that "wrong turn at Albuquerque" burrows into a bullring, where a magnificent bull is making short work of a toreador. The bull bucks Bugs out of the arena, prompting the bunny to declare "Of course you realize, this means war!" The deft Bugs' arsenal comes plenty packed, as he uses anvils, well-placed face slaps and the bull's horns as a slingshot. The bull fights back, using his horns as a shotgun barrel. The bull's comeback is short-lived; just after Bugs makes out his will, he lures the bull out of the arena, just in time to set up a rube-like device that leads to the bull's defeat.

A group of con artists stake their claim on a bogus uranium mine.

Unhappily married, Julia Sturges decides to go to America with her two children on the Titanic. Her husband, Richard also arranges passage on the luxury liner so as to have custody of their two children. All this fades to insignificance once the ship hits an iceberg.

The story of Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Although unaware of the full potential of this new weapon, he knows that it can do tremendously more damage than any other weapon used before, and that the death toll resulting from it will be huge. He is reluctant to be the person who will end so many lives, but as time goes on, the pressure upon him only increase.

In North Africa, German Field Marshal Rommel and his troops have successfully fended off British forces, and now intend to take Tobruk, an important port city. A ramshackle group of Australian reinforcements sent to combat the Germans is put under the command of British Captain MacRoberts. The unruly Aussies immediately clash with MacRoberts, a gruff, strict disciplinarian, however this unorthodox team must band together to protect Tobruk from the German forces.

A Southern belle frees a Rebel officer and his men from a Union captain's Arizona fort.

In Camelot, kingdom of Arthur and Merlin, Lancelot is well known for his courage and honor. But one day he must quit Camelot and the Queen Guinevere's love, leaving the Round Table without protection.

Wildcatter Jeff Dawson does his best to bring in a gusher in Mexico despite continual bandit raids. He asks for help from his ex-employer Ward Conway, but Conway, now married to Dawson's ex-lover Marina refuses, fearing that his wife will want to renew her romance with the other man.

After a stagecoach holdup, Frank Slayton's notorious gang leave Ben Warren for dead and head off with his fiancée. Warren follows, and although none of the townspeople he comes across are prepared to help, he recruits two others who have sworn revenge on the ruthless Slayton.

Director Charles Marquis Warren's 1953 western stars Charlton Heston and Jack Palance.

Having been a spy for Quantrill's raiders during the Civil War, Jeff Travis thinking himself a wanted man, flees to Prescott Arizona where he runs into Jules Mourret who knows of his past. He takes a job on the stage line that Mourret is trying to steal gold from. When Mourret's men kill a friend of his he sets out to get Mourret and his men. When his plan to have another gang get Mourret fails, he has to go after them himself.

Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok join forces to establish a mail route that can get mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, in ten days. Along the way they must battle bad weather, hostile Indians and outlaws intent on robbing the mail and shutting down the entire operation.

A British naval officer has a brief affair with a woman in England and never knows that she bears him a son. 20 years later the boy is on a ship under his command when he is tracking a German Raider. When the boy is captured after his ship is sunk, he finds a way to slow the German's progress while a lethal hunt for him goes on.

A saloonkeeper sides with the sheriff for justice after she's framed for rustling.

Surviving a plane crash in the Sahara, four oilmen find and manage to repair a German Afrika Corps tank which had been buried in the sand since WWII.

It's 1876 and all the Indians are at peace except the Comanches lead by Black Cloud. When Black Cloud wipes out a town, only six soldiers are left and they head for the nearest fort. In the desert they are reinforced by members of a stagecoach and find some water at a deserted mission. Pinned down by Black Cloud they send an Indian boy who was Black Cloud's prisoner on to the fort while they try to bargain with Black Cloud whom they learn is without water.

An American insurance adjuster, stranded in Havana, becomes involved with an archaeologist and a collector of antiquities in a hunt for treasure in the Mexican ruins of Zapoteca.

In Africa, a deceased medical missionary's daughter in Africa carries on her father's work. Before long, she finds herself in danger from crooks and a local witch doctor.

Hodiak, Brian, Derek and Teal have just been released from prison. They return to Tomahawk Gap, now a ghost town, to retrieve the money that they stole and was buried by a partner somewhere in the town. While hunting, the Indians attack, and a life and death battle ensues.

The Bowery Boys take on British crooks when one of them thinks he's inherited a title.

Gilliatt, a fisherman-turned-smuggler on the isle of Guernsey, agrees to transport a beautiful woman to the French coast in the year 1800. She tells him she hopes to rescue her brother from the guillotine. Gilliatt finds himself falling in love and so feels betrayed when he later learns this woman is a countess helping Napoleon plan an invasion of England. In reality, however, the "countess" is an English agent working to thwart this invasion. When Gilliatt finds this out, he returns to France to rescue the woman who's true purpose has been discovered by the French.

Set in 1869, after the Civil War, Texas had not yet been readmitted to the Union and carpetbaggers, hiding behind the legal protection of the Union Army of occupation, had taken over the state. Federal Captain Porter, a Texan, has to carry out orders against his own people. He brings in the rebel leader Ben Westman whom he knows is innocent of a murder that he is accused of. In trying to prove his innocence, Porter himself becomes a wanted man.

A commander in the Foreign Legion romances a mysterious and exotic princess.

At the Tangier airport, a group of people await the arrival of a mysterious plane from behind the Iron Curtain. The reception committee includes Susan, an American; Gil Walker, a free-booting pilot; Danzer, a black market operator; and Danzer's girlfriend, Nicki. The plane crashes and burns. No survivors are found, nor are any corpses. Soon the search begins for a missing courier worth $3 million.

Siamese twins separated at birth retain a psychic link; each feels the other's pain and happiness.

Two adventures dive for treasure off the coast of Jamaica.

Yankee soldiers-of-fortune smash a spy plot aimed at seizing Hong Kong.

The Dutch East Indies, at the end of the nineteenth century. An adventurous captain of an American merchant vessel is looking for a sunken Dutch vessel containing 10,000 precious diamonds. Unfortunately, he's not the only one and then there's also that volcano on the nearby island of Krakatau, waiting to explode in its historical, disastrous eruption...

An outlaw woman helps one Arizona convict stop another with a Gatling gun.

Just before the Civil War (but after the South has seceded), Southern saboteurs try to prevent railroad construction from crossing Kansas to the frontier; army captain Nelson is sent out to oppose them. As the tracks push westward, Nelson must contend with increasingly violent sabotage, while trying to romance the foreman's pretty daughter Barbara.

Frame Johnson's attempt to settle down in Tombstone is interrupted when a mob tries to mete out some frontier justice.

Duke Mullane, manager of a Malayan tin mine, goes to a little-known island to open a new mine in the jungle. Initially, the natives there are friendly, especially dancer Minyora...who proves to be affianced to local ruler King Kiang. Alas, a series of unfortunate incidents changes Kiang's attitude to hostility, and Duke is stranded with his crew, Minyora, and his old flame Lory...who's now engaged to his boss!

The king of the jungle fights off ivory poachers.

Bad guys trying to steal the mineral rights away from African natives find it isn't so easy fighting Jungle Jim.

A ship of women embarks on a voyage to California. Director R. G. Springsteen's 1953 adventure drama stars Vera Ralston, David Brian, Virginia Grey, Charles Winninger, Veda Ann Borg and Hope Emerson.

A group of communist spies plan to blow up an essential commercial artery, the Panama Canal. To this end, they have kidnapped a nuclear scientist and are traveling by steamship to the coast of South America. Luckily for western civilization, the hard-nosed ship's captain, played by Barton MacLane, has other ideas.

A man returns to his home -- a post Civil-War village -- and finds the law is in the hands of a few scrupulous people.

Captain Scarlett rescues Princess Maria from being abducted while travelling. She's not exactly grateful. He finds out that she is to be married to a man she doesn't like, so Captain Scarlet attempts to help her but winds up in prison for his efforts. He escapes and finally helps the reluctant bride who winds up joining Captain Scarlett and his sidekick and they become something along the lines of the three musketeers.

A gangster who operates a sleazy dance hall uses a sadistic bodyguard to keep his girls afraid and his customers in line.

The son of a deceased Coast Guard hero is raised by a Coast Guard NCO, who also has a son the same age. When they get older both are accepted into the Coast Guard Academy, but the hero's son winds up being thrown out, bringing disgrace to his adopted family.

Two British officers are assigned to collect information to convict Captain Kidd of piracy.

Anchor is building a railroad and to get cheap labor he gets Black Hawk's Indians to attack and burn the incoming wagon train. This forces the settlers to work for Anchor and he pays them in devalued scrip. When Rex figures out Anchor's swindle, Anchor gets Black Hawk to capture him. When Anchor turns on Black Hawk and shoots him, Black Hawk gets a chance to repay a debt to Rex.

Antar is sent by Suleiman, head of the Ottoman Empire, to Bagdad to prevent Hammam, Pasha of Bagdad, from purchasing the services of local leader Mustapha to unite the hill tribes and overthrow the emperor. The intrigue mounts as Antar falls in love with dancer Selima, who tries to avenge her father's death against Hammam's right-hand-man Kasseim, whose wife Rosanna has fallen in love with Antar!

Dangerous climate changes are ravaging Earth and the U.S. government requests an investigation by masked super-scientist Commando Cody. He discovers that the disasters are being caused by space-alien forces from unknown planetary origins.

A pyromaniac tries to fight his obsession with fire.

A villain named Marlof attempts to set up secret missile bases inside Canada so he can launch missiles at the U.S. The Canadian Mounted Police dispatch agents to try to stop him.

In a 16th century kingdom in the Netherlands, the newly crowned King Stephan concludes a secret treaty with the Spanish. This puts him at odds with his younger brother, Prince Roland, who favors a treaty with the French. Stephan orders Roland imprisoned but Roland escapes and leads a revolt.