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Best Action Movies of the 1930s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB

32 action films from the 1930s are in our catalog; the 32 best are ranked below. Top of the list is The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), at 7.9 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 6.3. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Hell's Angels, 7.2 on IMDb against 39 on Metacritic.

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#MovieGenreIMDbTomatoMetaTMDBDirector
1 The Adventures of Robin Hood '1938 Romance / Action 7.9 100% 97 7.5 William Keighley
2 Scarface '1932 Crime / Action / Drama / Thriller 7.7 98% 90 7.4 Howard Hawks
3 The Dawn Patrol '1938 Action / Drama / War 7.5 - - 6.8 Edmund Goulding
4 Gunga Din '1939 War / Action 7.2 89% - 6.5 George Stevens
5 The Hurricane '1937 Action / Drama / Romance 7.1 - - 6.7 John Ford
6 Tarzan and His Mate '1934 Action 7.2 100% - 6.5 Cedric Gibbons
7 Hell's Angels '1930 Drama / War / Action 7.2 76% 39 6.6 Howard Hughes
8 The Most Dangerous Game '1932 Thriller / Horror / Action 7.1 100% - 6.9 Irving Pichel
9 The Eagle and the Hawk '1933 War / Drama / Action 7.0 - - 6.6 Stuart Walker
10 The Dawn Patrol '1930 War / Drama / Action 7.1 100% - 6.6 Howard Hawks
11 Flash Gordon '1936 Sci-Fi / Action 6.9 - - 6.4 Ray Taylor
12 China Seas '1935 Action / Drama 6.9 80% - 6.3 Tay Garnett
13 San Quentin '1937 Action / Drama 6.5 - - 6.7 Lloyd Bacon
14 King Solomon's Mines '1937 Action / Drama 6.3 100% - 5.4 Robert Stevenson
15 The Lost Patrol '1934 Action / War 6.8 100% 85 6.6 John Ford
16 Gulliver's Travels '1939 Animation / Action / Fantasy 6.6 69% - 6.2 Dave Fleischer
17 Allegheny Uprising '1939 Western / Action 6.3 - - 5.9 William A. Seiter
18 Tarzan Finds a Son! '1939 Action 6.5 - - 6.1 Richard Thorpe
19 Tarzan Escapes '1936 Action 6.5 71% - 6.9 Richard Thorpe
20 The Desert Trail '1935 Action / Western 5.2 - - 4.7 Lewis D. Collins
21 Riders of Destiny '1933 Action / Western 5.4 - - 5.3 Robert N. Bradbury
22 Texas Terror '1935 Action / Western 5.1 - - 4.8 Robert N. Bradbury
23 West of the Divide '1934 Action / Western 5.3 - - 5.2 Robert N. Bradbury
24 The Trail Beyond '1934 Action / Western 5.3 - - 4.9 Robert N. Bradbury
25 The Dawn Rider '1935 Action / Western 5.1 - - 4.7 Robert N. Bradbury
26 Randy Rides Alone '1934 Action / Western 5.3 - - 5.1 Harry L. Fraser
27 The Lawless Frontier '1934 Action / Western 5.1 - - 4.8 Robert N. Bradbury
28 'Neath the Arizona Skies '1934 Action / Western 5.1 - - 4.8 Harry L. Fraser
29 The Man from Utah '1934 Action / Western 5.1 - - 4.8 Robert N. Bradbury
30 The Star Packer '1934 Action / Western 5.1 - - 4.5 Robert N. Bradbury
31 Blue Steel '1934 Western / Action 5.3 - - 4.8 Robert N. Bradbury
32 The Son of Kong '1933 Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller 5.6 42% 50 5.4 Ernest B. Schoedsack

Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.

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Action

All movies of the 1930s

1930s

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Other genres in the 1930s

Animation of the 1930s Comedy of the 1930s Crime of the 1930s Drama of the 1930s Fantasy of the 1930s Horror of the 1930s Musical of the 1930s Mystery of the 1930s Romance of the 1930s Thriller of the 1930s War of the 1930s Western of the 1930s

Directors on this list

William Keighley Howard Hawks Edmund Goulding George Stevens John Ford Irving Pichel Lloyd Bacon Robert Stevenson Dave Fleischer William A. Seiter Richard Thorpe Robert N. Bradbury

Actors on this list

Errol Flynn Olivia de Havilland Basil Rathbone Cary Grant Victor McLaglen Dorothy Lamour Johnny Weissmüller Maureen O'Sullivan Joel McCrea Fay Wray Fredric March Douglas Fairbanks Jr.