Adventure Classics
by vectormanp | created - 23 May 2014 | updated - 19 Apr 2020 | PublicThe absolutely best classic adventure flicks.
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1. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
Not Rated | 155 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
A recalcitrant thief vies with a duplicitous Mongol ruler for the hand of a beautiful princess.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Julanne Johnston, Snitz Edwards, Charles Belcher
Votes: 6,972 | Gross: $4.36M
2. The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
Not Rated | 106 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
After being tricked and cast out of Bagdad by the evil Jaffar, King Ahmad joins forces with a thief named Abu to reclaim his throne, the city, and the Princess he loves.
Directors: Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda, William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez, John Justin
Votes: 14,499 | Gross: $0.27M
3. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
PG | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
When Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement.
Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains
Votes: 54,499 | Gross: $3.98M
4. Robin Hood (1922)
Not Rated | 143 min | Adventure, Family, Romance
A nobleman becomes the vigilante Robin Hood who protects the oppressed English people from the tyrannical Prince John.
Director: Allan Dwan | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Beery, Sam De Grasse, Enid Bennett
Votes: 2,481 | Gross: $5.45M
5. Ivanhoe (1952)
Approved | 106 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A knight seeks to free the captive King Richard and put him back on the throne.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders
Votes: 10,225
6. Captain Blood (1935)
Passed | 119 min | Action, Adventure, History
After treating a Monmouth rebel against King James II in 1680s England, a young Irish doctor is exiled as a slave to Jamaica where he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the most feared pirate of the Caribbean.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone
Votes: 16,097 | Gross: $2.96M
7. The Sea Hawk (1940)
Approved | 127 min | Action, Adventure, History
Geoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for the attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills on the sword.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp
Votes: 10,734
8. The Black Pirate (1926)
Not Rated | 88 min | Adventure, Action
Seeking revenge, an athletic young man joins the pirate band responsible for his father's death.
Director: Albert Parker | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, Tempe Pigott, Donald Crisp
Votes: 2,140 | Gross: $0.68M
9. The Buccaneer (1958)
Approved | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, History
During the War of 1812, Louisiana buccaneer Jean Lafitte assists the Americans in defending New Orleans against the attacking British war fleet.
Director: Anthony Quinn | Stars: Yul Brynner, Claire Bloom, Charles Boyer, Inger Stevens
Votes: 2,758
10. The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
Approved | 101 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
An Englishman on a Ruritarian holiday must impersonate the king when the rightful monarch, a distant cousin, is drugged and kidnapped.
Directors: John Cromwell, W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey
Votes: 5,066
11. The Prisoner of Zenda (1952)
Approved | 96 min | Adventure, Mystery, Romance
An Englishman vacationing in a Ruritarian kingdom is recruited to impersonate his cousin, the soon-to-be-crowned king, after the monarch is drugged and kidnapped.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, James Mason, Louis Calhern
Votes: 4,006
12. King Solomon's Mines (1950)
Passed | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
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.
Directors: Compton Bennett, Andrew Marton | Stars: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson, Hugo Haas
Votes: 7,015
13. King Kong (1933)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Horror
A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher
Votes: 90,969 | Gross: $10.00M
14. The Three Musketeers (1948)
Not Rated | 125 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
D'Artagnan and his Musketeer comrades thwart the plans of Cardinal Richelieu to usurp King Louis XIII's power.
Director: George Sidney | Stars: Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Van Heflin
Votes: 6,934
15. The Three Musketeers (1921)
119 min | Action, Adventure, Family
Cardinal Richelieu, engaged in intrigue at the court of Louis XIII, attempts to rule by threatening the queen, who is secretly in love with the Duke of Buckingham. From Gascony comes ... See full summary »
Director: Fred Niblo | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Nigel De Brulier, George Siegmann, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 1,140 | Gross: $3.27M
16. The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Approved | 94 min | Action, Adventure, Family
A young Spanish aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard
Votes: 10,981 | Gross: $4.36M
17. Scaramouche (1952)
Approved | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
In France during the late 18th Century, a man sets out to avenge the death of his friend at the hands of a master swordsman.
Director: George Sidney | Stars: Stewart Granger, Janet Leigh, Eleanor Parker, Mel Ferrer
Votes: 6,366
18. The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
Not Rated | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
A noblewoman discovers her husband is The Scarlet Pimpernel, a vigilante who rescues aristocrats from the blade of the guillotine.
Director: Harold Young | Stars: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey, Nigel Bruce
Votes: 4,768
19. The Lost Patrol (1934)
Passed | 73 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A dozen British soldiers, lost in a Mesopotamian desert during World War I, are menaced by unseen Arab enemies.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff, Wallace Ford, Reginald Denny
Votes: 3,603
20. Treasure Island (1950)
PG | 96 min | Adventure, Family
The treasure seeking adventures of young Jim Hawkins and pirate captain Long John Silver.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton, Basil Sydney, Walter Fitzgerald
Votes: 9,468
21. Treasure Island (1934)
Passed | 110 min | Adventure, Family
Young Jim Hawkins is torn between his loyalty to his benefactors and his affection for lovable rogue Long John Silver in their struggle to recover a buried pirate treasure.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Lionel Barrymore, Otto Kruger
Votes: 3,165 | Gross: $2.54M
22. She (1935)
Passed | 101 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
A group of explorers search of the legendary "flame of life," a mysterious force that bestows immortality.
Directors: Lansing C. Holden, Irving Pichel | Stars: Helen Gahagan, Randolph Scott, Helen Mack, Nigel Bruce
Votes: 1,906
23. Captains Courageous (1937)
G | 117 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship in the 1920s gets picked up by a New England fishing boat, where he's made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas
Votes: 10,922
24. Beau Geste (1939)
Passed | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Three adopted English brothers join the French Foreign Legion in North Africa after one of them steals their adoptive family's famous heirloom sapphire.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy
Votes: 6,523
25. The Four Feathers (1939)
Passed | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A British Army officer resigns, burning his last-day summons to war in the Sudan. Accusing him of cowardice, his girlfriend and three friends give him white feathers. To gain redemption, he shadows his friends to save their lives.
Director: Zoltan Korda | Stars: John Clements, Ralph Richardson, C. Aubrey Smith, June Duprez
Votes: 6,589
26. Gunga Din (1939)
Approved | 117 min | Adventure, Comedy, War
In 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Votes: 12,798
27. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 132,435 | Gross: $5.01M
28. The African Queen (1951)
PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In WWI East Africa, a gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced English missionary to undertake a trip up a treacherous river and use his boat to attack a German gunship.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull
Votes: 84,324 | Gross: $0.54M
29. The Crimson Pirate (1952)
Not Rated | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
During the 1700s, pirate Captain Vallo seizes a British warship and gets involved in various money-making schemes involving Caribbean rebels led by El Libre, British envoy Baron Jose Gruda, and a beautiful courtesan named Consuelo.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok, Torin Thatcher
Votes: 6,990
30. Knights of the Round Table (1953)
Approved | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
King Arthur's rule is threatened by the adulterous love between Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, a relationship the king's enemies hope to exploit.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, Anne Crawford
Votes: 4,074
31. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
G | 175 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days.
Directors: Michael Anderson, John Farrow | Stars: David Niven, Cantinflas, Finlay Currie, Robert Morley
Votes: 29,702 | Gross: $42.00M
32. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
Passed | 80 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson investigate the legend of a supernatural hound, a beast that may be stalking a young heir on the fog-shrouded moorland that makes up his estate.
Director: Sidney Lanfield | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Richard Greene, Wendy Barrie
Votes: 11,687
33. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
Approved | 85 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
The master sleuth hunts his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century.
Director: Alfred L. Werker | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino, Alan Marshal
Votes: 7,468
34. The Corsican Brothers (1941)
Passed | 111 min | Adventure, Romance
After their parents are killed, co-joined twin boys are separated, with one raised as a gentleman in Paris and the other in the mountains becoming a bandit.
Director: Gregory Ratoff | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Ruth Warrick, Akim Tamiroff, J. Carrol Naish
Votes: 757
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