Best Adventure Movies of 1956

In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service abroad the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a strict disciplinarian who exhorts his men to find Moby Dick, the great white whale. Ahab lost his his leg to that creature and is desperate for revenge. As the crew soon learns, he will stop at nothing to gain satisfaction.

Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.

Aging lawman Ben Stride burns a trail of murderous revenge across a hardscrabble landscape searching for his wife's murderers.

Selfish Chris Teller pressures his older brother, a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims.

Davy Crockett and his sidekick Georgie compete against boastful Mike Fink ("King of the River") in a boat race to New Orleans. Later, Davy and Georgie, allied with Fink, battle a group of river pirates trying to pass themselves off as Native Americans.

A South American plane loaded with an assortment of characters crash lands in a remote jungle area in the middle of a storm. The passengers then discover they are in an area inhabited by vicious cannibals and must escape before they are found. A remake of Five Came Back (1939).

The territorial governor asks the Lone Ranger to investigate mysterious raids on settlers by Indians who ride with saddles. Wealthy rancher Reese Kilgore wants to mine silver on Spirit Mountain which is sacred to the Indians.

In the early years of the World War II, the Royal Navy is fighting a desperate battle to keep the Atlantic convoy routes open to supply the British Isles, facing the great danger posed by the many German warships, such as the Admiral Graf Spee, which are scouring the ocean for cargo ships to sink.

During the Civil War, a Union spy, Andrews, is asked to lead a band of Union soldiers into the South so that they could destroy the railway system. However, things don't go as planned when the conductor of the train that they stole is on to them and is doing everything he can to stop them. Based on a true story.

Anglo-Indian Victoria Jones seeks her true identity amid the chaos of the British withdrawal from India.

Prince Paris of Troy, shipwrecked on a mission to the king of Sparta, meets and falls for Queen Helen before he knows who she is. Rudely received by the royal Greeks, he must flee...but fate and their mutual passions lead him to take Helen along. This gives the Greeks just the excuse they need for much-desired war.

Mike, a Hemingway-esque adventure novelist, is spending his days in a self-imposed exile somewhere in Central America. A reporter for Sight Magazine, Katie, has tracked him down in the hope of getting the biggest scoop of her career. Mike falls for Katie. On a flight to Mexico City, their plane crashes near a remote hideaway of Nazi war criminals in hiding. The Nazis want to stay hidden and plan to dispose of their new guests

He was a fierce military commander who led huge armies into battle without a single defeat; a magnificent warrior who many believed was part god - this was Alexander the Great (Richard Burton), the legendary Greek hero hailed by his countrymen as "The King of Kings". Born in 356 B.C. into a turbulent world of political unrest, educated by Aristotle (Barry Jones) and chosen to lead his people in the grand tradition of his powerful father (Fredric March), this glamorous world conqueror rose above all conflict to unite the continents of Europe and Asia to become one of the most celebrated rulers of all time! Written, produced and directed by Oscar - winner Robert Rossen and featuring the extraordinary Claire Bloom and a remarkable cast of thousands, this stunning portrait of one of history's most fascinating figures is colossal entertainment and an amazing spectacle.

Four astronauts returning from man's first mission to Mars enter a time warp and crash on a 26th Century Earth devastated by atomic war. At first unaware where they are, but finding the atmosphere safe to breathe, they start exploring and find themselves in a divided future where disfigured mutants living like cavemen inhabit the surface, while the normals live comfortably below the surface but are dying as a race from lack of natural water, air and sunlight.

Opportunistic con man Dan Kehoe ingratiates himself with the cantankerous mother of four outlaws and their beautiful widows in order to find their hidden gold.

Scientists surgically transform the Creature into an air-breather, but being able to live on land is not enough to make him comfortable with humans. Enraged, he turns his wrath on anyone who comes near as he desperately tries to return to the deep-water world where he truly belongs.

An American travels to East Africa, where he tries to find out how his brother died.

For Capt. Robert John Evans, smuggling black-market goods is nothing out of the ordinary. But one day he's hired by Aristides Mavros for a more involved assignment -- sneaking an imprisoned American out of communist-controlled territory. The job seems challenging enough, but when he meets the prisoner's sultry wife, Sylvia, he realizes his mission comes with a startling catch: Not only must he rescue this man, he must bring him back from the dead.

A party of archaeologists discovers the remnants of a mutant five millennia-old Sumerian civilization living beneath a glacier atop a mountain in Mesopatamia.

Two American gun runners at odds with each other and looking to sell guns to the rebels during the Cuban War of Independence navigate a boat to Cuba. Along for the ride is a beautiful Cuban rebel in who both men are interested.

Oil explorers suspect a South American jungle boy (Sabu) of murder.

Notorious outlaw Clay Anderson and gang rob the town bank and flee in separate directions. Riding hard, Clay's horse goes lame and he is forced to pull-up at a nearby farm. He soon discovers that the place belongs to local preacher Hollis Jarret, his new wife, and a son from a previous marriage. Clay, posing as a weary traveler, tries to insinuate himself into a secure hideout, but the reverend isn't fooled. He agrees to allow Clay to remain at the farm for a few days, but his motive isn't the preservation of his family's safety. Hollis reasons that, with time, patience and a lot of faith, he can convince the outlaw to turn over a new leaf. But Clay's criminal tendencies may run deeper than the preacher had imagined

Ex-lumberjack Brad Collins (Dennis Morgan) and mining engineer Grady Mathews (William Talman) find uranium in the Colorado badlands. While Grady guards the claim, Brad goes to register it in town, where he meets and marries Jean Williams (Patricia Medina.) Returning to the claim, Brad learns that Jean was once Grady's fiancee. Grady, as one would expect, is somewhat put out and leaves the mine in Brad's hands, while he hooks up with a confidence man and engineers a scheme to break the back of Brad's somewhat rapidly-created mining empire.

The pioneering trail to Oregon was littered with constant danger. Yet, the hope of the "promised land" keeps American families westward bound despite overwhelming odds. A calm, clear-thinking pioneer attempts to lead a wagon train through territory occupied by Pawnees and Sioux. Along the way, the hardy settlers face horse thieves, kidnappers, and unpredictable Indian attacks in their push to establish a new life in the rugged West.

Wealthy eccentric Sir Vincent Brampton and his fiancée Linda Latham hire Ken Duffield to lead them on a jungle hunt. Duffield is looking for the murderer of his son; he gets the killer and Linda.

Landing on a small island not far from Havana, Cuba, Lt. Cmdr. Ben Staves joins a Navy scientific project engaged in finding an effective shark repellent to help save the lives of WWII military personnel stranded in shark-infested waters. His zeal for completing the project as fast as possible is explained by his having lost a large percentage of his crew to sharks when his ship was sunk by the Japanese. Against the advice of the others on the project, Staves demands that the new repellent be tested on a live subject surrounded by hungry sharks and will allow no one but himself to be the test subject!

Seeking the whereabouts of international gangster Nick Randall, the US State Department contacts Scotland Yard, as his girlfriend, Angela Booth, is currently in a British prison. Angela has refused to give Nick up to the law, so the combined authorities arrange for Angela to escape, aided by stoolie Gran' Ramsey who is at the same prison. The police will then follow Angela to Nick. Gran' stages the getaway, and the two women, accompanied by a third convict, Marguerite, whose prison-born baby is about to be turned over to welfare authorities. It is up to Gran' to keep the police informed of Angela's movements without being detected by the escapees, until Angela contacts Nick. This film is a reworking of principal footage from the UK film WOMEN WITHOUT MEN (1955), q.v., which, with added new footage (including scenes with original star Beverly Michaels), significantly revises the plot and central characters from a story about a wrongly imprisoned waif to one about a gangster's moll.

Congotanga, West Africa, has no extradition laws; the government is controlled by foreign gangsters, headed by Carl Rittner. The latest plane from Europe carries lovely Louise Whitman, fleeing a French murder charge, and Mannering, who pays resident hit man O'Connell to kill her. Through a chain of circumstances Louise, O'Connell, and heroic surveyor David Carr end up alone in the jungle on Carr's mission to determine the true border of Congotanga... in which Rittner is keenly interested.

An artist suffering from mental problems from his experiences during the war goes to Acapulco on his honeymoon. Soon young women are turning up dead in the area, and the ex-GI comes to believe he might be responsible, as he has long stretches where he can't remember anything.

A Hammer Films short recounting the adventures of Dick Turpin.

Jungle natives are treated by a physician who goes against the wishes of a witch doctor to provide burn healing methods caused by radioactive rocks discovered when the elephants were felling trees.

Mongol chief Temujin battles against Tartar armies and for the love of the Tartar princess Bortai. Temujin becomes the emperor Genghis Khan.

Rock and Dr. Andrea travel up the Amazon to find out why the plantation workers have left their work in panic, allegedly because of attacks from Curucu, a monster who is said to live up the river where no white man has ever been before...

Two men search the jungle for a woman who has been captured by a tribe of murderous gorillas. When they finally find her, they must fight off attacks by the gorillas, who are determined to keep her.

Three deep sea divers get involved in murder while searching for a lost treasure.

Famed explorer Lewis Cotlow leads a hunting and archaeological expedition into Africa.

An undercover policewoman helps three female convicts escape from prison so that they can lead her to a stash of stolen diamonds hidden in a swamp.

Venetian merchant Marco Polo travels to the East and the court of Kublai Khan who makes him an emissary and sends him on diplomatic missions throughout his empire. Over many years, Polo learns new cultures and languages, but he is haunted by the face of a mysterious woman whom he had met before leaving Venice and encounters her face in every woman he sees. Eventually returning to Venice to share his exotic and esoteric knowledge, Marco Polo once again finds the woman of his dreams. The Adventures of Marco Polo was an original, live television musical which was broadcast on NBC on April 14, 1956.

A nontheatrical (16mm) film comprise of three contiguous episodes of the TV series "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger".

A notorious bandit develops a grudging respect for the English military man assigned to capture him.

The widows and children of survivors of the H.M.S. Bounty rule Pitcairn Island, fighting off sailors and intruders.

Steve Stratton (Macdonald Carey) is a hardboiled hunter who catches and keeps wild animals in an African sanctuary in order to sell them to zoos and circuses. When he hires a new veterinarian named "P.J. Muir," he does not imagine that the "P" stands for Pamela, played by the gorgeous Rhonda Fleming!

Separately released feature version of the 1935 Serial, Call of the Savage.

Rocky Jones, Space Ranger fights space pirates over an invisible spaceship.

An overambitious shutterbug almost gets his lights put out permanently when he decides to snap a picture of a mob boss.