Best Adventure Movies of 1937

Harvey, the arrogant and spoiled son of an indulgent absentee-father, falls overboard from a transatlantic steamship and is rescued by a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks. Harvey fails to persuade them to take him ashore, nor convince the crew of his wealth. The captain offers him a low-paid job, until they return to port, as part of the crew that turns him into a mature, considerate young man.

An Englishman on a Ruritarian holiday must impersonate the king when the rightful monarch, a distant cousin, is drugged and kidnapped.

In the colonial era, island native Terangi (Jon Hall) spends a blissful honeymoon with his bride, Marama (Dorothy Lamour). Soon after, however, their relationship is torn asunder when Terangi is sent to prison for punching a prejudiced white man. Prominent members of the community -- including the governor's wife, Mme. De Laage (Mary Astor), petition the governor for clemency, but he refuses to budge. However, all pretense of law and order are soon shattered by an incoming tropical storm.

Two boys – the prince Edward and the pauper Tom – are born on the same day. Years later, when young teenage Tom sneaks into the palace garden, he meets the prince. They change clothes with one another before the guards discover them and throw out the prince thinking he's the urchin. No one believes them when they try to tell the truth about which is which. Soon after, the old king dies and the prince will inherit the throne.

In 1897, little Priscilla Williams, along with her widowed mother, goes to live with her army colonel paternal grandfather on the British outpost he commands in northern India.

Madeline Goddard, is a British double agent who meets and falls in love with a German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz during World War I. This tale of espionage blends high adventure and romance making perfect order from wartime chaos and growing in faith from despair.

The film is a historical drama set during the reign of Elizabeth I (Flora Robson), focusing on the English defeat of the Spanish Armada, whence the title. In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at the breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I, British sea raiders such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen bringing gold from the New World.

British agent working in Russia is forced to remain longer than planned once the revolution begins. After being released from prison in Siberia he poses as a Russian Commissar. Because of his position among the revolutionaries, he is able to rescue a Russian countess from the Bolsheviks.

Adventurer Allan Quartermain leads an expedition into uncharted African territory in an attempt to locate an explorer who went missing during his search for the fabled diamond mines of King Solomon.

The California-Yucatan Railroad, being built for the good of Mexico, is under siege by a gang of terrorists hoping to force its sale; no one can prove their connection to profiteer Marsden. Manuel Vega, aged co-owner, calls in the aid of his nephew James, great-grandson of the original Zorro. Alas, James seems more adept at golf than derring-do; but after he arrives, Zorro rides again! Can one black-clad man on horseback defeat a gang supplied with airplanes and machine guns?

A highly respected clergyman is actually a former pirate who exacts vigilante justice in this British production.

Robert Flaherty and Zoltán Korda shared best director honors at the Venice Film Festival for collaborating on this charming translation of Rudyard Kipling’s “Jungle Book” story “Toomai of the Elephants.” A harmonious mix of the two filmmakers’ styles, Flaherty's adeptness at ethnographic documentary meeting Korda's taste for grand adventure, ELEPHANT BOY also served as the breakthrough showcase for the thirteen-year-old Sabu, whose beaming performance as a young mahout leading the British on an expedition made him a major international star.

In the face of rebellion in Russia, Czar Alexander II sends soldier Michael Strogoff 2,000 miles away, with a critical message for Grand Duke Vladimir. On the train journey, Michael befriends a traveler and comes into contact with a mysterious spy, who both unexpectedly aid him in his quest. Once behind enemy lines, Michael is near his hometown and his mother, whom he must avoid in order to fulfill his mission.

Colonel John Wister, on duty with the British army in the desert region of Dubik, returns to England on leave. There he falls in love with Julia Ashton, who cares deeply for him but believes herself incapable of love following the death of her fiancé; some time before. Wister convinces her that he loves her enough to live without her romantic love and that she should marry him. She does so and returns to Dubik with him. There she meets his adjutant, Captain Denny Roark. Roark is a dashing young man who reminds Julia thoroughly of her lost love. Soon she finds she is indeed capable of love, but it is Roark with whom she falls in love, not her husband. As warfare with the local tribes heats up and as Wister gains awareness of the unconsummated romance growing between his wife and best friend, tragedy lurks.

Torchy Blane solves a murder and smuggling case during a round-the-world flight.

Michael 'Nuggin' Taylor and Powdah save lives during a sea tragedy in this story about the slave trade on the high seas during 1842.

Action-filled drama about a ship captain, ashamed of his background in the slave trade, forced against his will to again transport human cargo.

A radio reporter sets out to rescue his ex-girlfriend when she is kidnapped by gangsters.

Drummond manages to save a woman from jumping in front of his car but she runs away with his car. He traces her and she asks him to help her out of a dangerous situation.

An unjustly condemned corporal flees to Africa, chased by the captain blamed for his escape.

A London cat burglar falls for the girlfriend of a stockbroker who used to be his partner.

Cowboy Larry O'Day and his sidekick Lucky Smith happen upon a distraught Barbara Hartwell, who is about to be arrested for the murder of her uncle. With Barbara behind bars, Larry is determined to find the real killer and soon finds himself in the middle of a mystery involving crazed German entomologists and a smuggling ring bringing Chinese "picture girls" across the Mexican border for sale to wealthy Chinese bachelors.

A girl (Trevor) escapes marriage and hitchhikes with a young man (Whalen) in whose car a jewel thief has planted his loot.

Just after Kramer goes to Wyoming to start his protection racket, cowboy actor Jeff Carson finishes a picture and goes camping. Attracted to Joyce Butler, he hires on at her ranch and quickly gets caught up in Butler's conflict with Kramer. When the Butlers refuse to buy his service, he has their cattle stampeded.

Racketeer Jim Barnes is trying to force the independent taxicab-drivers to join his "protection service" at the cost of five bucks a day. Champion race-car driver, Bob Kane, joins with his friends Lee and "Dad" Martin in a fight for the street rights of a big city.

A detective and his bumbling sidekick join the crackdown on racketeering in '30s New York City.

Captain Drummond is travelling to Switzerland to marry his girlfriend. However, when a cargo containing dangerous explosives goes missing from its place, Drummond is forced to delay his plans.

The story of seven people: their lives and love affairs in Madrid during the Civil War.

An Arizona gas station owner faces comic adventures after traveling with an eccentric millionaire to New City, where he meets up with a small-time con woman and is repeatedly mistaken for a gangster.

American businessmen and missionaries working in China are captured and held prisoner by a local warlord.

Americans Tommy Baldwin and Joe Dugan are hired to transport a fabulous diamond from Shanghai to San Francisco. They will be paid handsomely on success or killed on failure. The diamond is stolen as they take possession of it.

A lumberjack knocks out a champion boxer in a brawl, gets drawn into the boxing world where he is unknowingly set up for a fixed fight.

A truck driver races a train to the West Coast in an attempt to determine which method of transportation is faster.

In 1620s France, dreaded swordsman Gil de Berault returns from carrying out a mission for Cardinal Richelieu, and finds the Cardinal worried about growing opposition from the Huguenots in the south. The Cardinal also warns de Berault that dueling has been outlawed, and will henceforth be punishable by death. Gil, however, promptly disobeys the law and is indeed sentenced to death. The Cardinal offers to cancel the sentence if de Berault is able to capture the duke who is organizing plans for an uprising. Gil travels to the duke's castle and is allowed to stay as a guest, but the duke's wife and sister immediately suspect that he is a spy. He and his servant still make good progress, until he falls in love with the duke's sister, which complicates everything.

Two safaris enter the African jungle intent on finding a white girl who is the heiress to a fortune. One safari, led by Jungle Jim, wants to make sure she gets the news that she is now a rich woman. The leaders of the other safari want to kill the girl so they can try to get hold of her inheritance.

A newspaperman Paul Cluett (Jack Holt) gets rival reporter Linda Lawrence (Mae Clark) to admit that she is investigating a story in Morocco that guns are being smuggled illegally.

A 15 episode serial in which Blake battles the "Scorpion" over possession of a 'death ray' machine.

Undercover agent Mark Owens is sent to aid the Border Patrol in the trans-border town of Hernandez in breaking up a well-organized band of smugglers.

Another of the Charles Starret westerns that was billed above the title as a "Peter B. Kyne Production" and story in which Kyne had nothing to do with the production or the story other than allowing his name to be used for selling purposes. This is a remake of Columbia's 1932 "Cornered" that starred Tim McCoy. Bob Pearson (Bruce Lane, also known as Yancey Lane)saves the life of his friend, Sheriff Dick Houston (Charles Starrett), who has captured two stagecoach bandits and is about to be shot from ambush by a third. Bob is found a few days later near the murdered body of cattleman Herrick (Dick Rush) with a gun in his hand.

Story of a dog that is fanatically devoted to its master.

A commercial pilot romances both a Hollywood actress and a female aviator. 1937.

Retired lawman Kentucky Wade and his three buddies, Mike Morales, "Dude" Hanford and "Trigger" Benton come to Brimstone and help their friends Larry Munro and his sister, Lucy , in their fight to retain control of Larry's rich ore mine. "Doc" Hardy , as an old friend of Wade's, joins them in their efforts to keep Matt Keeler , the scheming owner of "The Brimstone News", from his efforts to wrest control of Munro's property and mine. Keller employs a legion of henchmen, and sidelines at running runs guns to Red Hatchet and his tribe so they can also get in on the fray against the Munro's and Kentucky and friends.

Pacific pearl diver Duke Slade escapes angry natives by joining a whaler whose dying captain persuades him to marry his daughter who is already being wooed by the first mate.

In 1890, two British expatriates, Robert Herrick and Huish, and German Captain Jakob Thorbecke, are commissioned to sail a Yankee schooner called The Golden State , whose captain and crew have died of smallpox. From Tehua in the South Seas to Australia, they are to deliver a cargo of champagne. Thorbecke decides to head for Peru, however, so he can sell the merchandise and pocket the money. While sailing, Faith Wishart, daughter of the deceased captain, comes out of her hiding place on board and, by briefly holding Thorbecke at gunpoint, demands he make the delivery.

When the miners of Roaring Camp become Godfathers to a motherless baby, they name the boy Luck and promise to set aside money for him from their diggings. But when they strike it rich the money is gambled away instead.

Jerry and Connie are engaged to be married, but they're also rival newspaper reporters, and when they're both assigned to cover the same murder case, the temptation to out-scoop the other threatens their relationship.

Jim Sherwood , toughest logging boss in the timber country, takes on his toughest assignment when he agrees to cut an enormous volume of timber for Andrew MacKinley, who has to deliver the timber within sixty days.

The fourth and last of the George A. Hirliman-produced films starring George O'Brien (preceded by "Daniel Boone", "Park Avenue Logger" and "Hollywood Cowboy") that were distributed by RKO Radio. Hirliman sold O'Brien's contract to RKO, which then produced 18 series westerns starring O'Brien that ended when O'Brien went into the Navy at the outbreak of WW II. Long-time (past and future) O'Brien director David Howard served as Hirliman's Associate Producer on this film. "Windjammer" finds O'Brien as a subpoena server ordered to serve a subpoena on Brandon Evans (The Commondore) for a senate inquiry or lose his job. Posing as a playboy, he boards the Commodore's yacht during a yacht race, and the yacht is wrecked by a gun-running windjammer commanded by Captain Morgan (William Hall.) All hands are picked up by the windjammer, including the Commodore's daughter (played by Constance Worth) and put to work as galley slaves.

A 12-episode serial in which Tim Tyler goes to Africa in search of his father in gorilla country. He meets up with Laura, who is after Spider Webb who has framed her brother. Webb causes the death of Tim's father, but is eventually tracked down.