The 40 most popular 1920s action movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


White Mice
1926 · 1h · US
Roddy Forrester has formed the White Mice club with a pal. The purpose of the club is to help those in trouble. When Roddy's father sends him to the South American republic of Montebello, he gets his chance to be of service. General Rojas, the former president, is locked away in a prison and slowly dying. Roddy decides to rescue him, especially since he has been inspired by the general's pretty daughter, Inez.


Burning Words
1923 · 50m · US
David Darby and his younger brother Ross are both members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Ross is accused of murdering Slip Martin, but David doesn't believe his brother committed the murder and, not wanting to see him executed, takes the blame himself.


Tommy Atkins
1928 · 1h 20m · UK
A cleric enlists on learning he loves his brother's sweetheart, saves his life, and finds he is really an Earl.


Wings
1927 · 2h 24m · US
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.


Border Vengeance
1925 · 48m · US
After Wes Channing's partner, the feckless Buck Littleton, loses his half-interest in their ranch to gambler Flash Denby, Wes stands up against the sheriff's men when they try to seize the ranch-- land that has a gold mine on it. Denby tries to trick Mary Sims, granddaughter of Wes's neighbor Rufe Sims, into signing over the rights to the land. Denby's machinations are all set in order-- but Wes's right hook may prove to be a hell of a monkey wrench!


The Navigator
1924 · 1h 5m · US
The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas.


Helen of Troy
1924 · 3h 24m · DE
Helena is a 1924 German silent drama film directed by Manfred Noa and starring Edy Darclea, Vladimir Gajdarov and Albert Steinrück. The film was based on the poem the Iliad by Homer. It was released in two separate parts: The Rape of Helen and The Fall of Troy. It was produced by Bavaria Film at the Emelka Studios in Munich. The film was made on an epic scale with thousands of extras, and large sets which rivalled those of the larger Berlin-based UFA.


Sherlock Jr.
1924 · 45m · US
A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meager skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.


White Eagle
1922 · 5h · US
Two factions struggle to gain and keep possession of a pool of molten gold.


Bride 13
1920 · 5h · US
A gang of Tripolitan pirates swooped down and kidnapped 13 wealthy brides, whom they held for ransom.
Dog Justice
Dog Justice
1928 · 1h · US
A silent film from 1928.


Soiled
1925 · 56m · US
Chorus girl Mary Brown promises to give herself to playboy cad John Duane in exchange for $2500 so she can pay back a theft her brother made from his employers. Her sweetheart, race-car driver Jimmie, learns about it and gives her a check for $2500, but the check is worthless unless he can win the Big Race that afternoon. He leads through every lap but blows a tire on the last lap and finishes fourth. It appears that Duane will soon be hugging sweet Mary, unless Jimmie can find a buyer for a race-car with a flat tire.


Silver Valley
1927 · 50m · US
Fired for crashing his aeroplane into his employer's ranch, Tom Mix is elected sheriff in a town with, as a title stated, "a high mortality rate among sheriffs." Mix, of course, prevails against almost impossible odds, at one point cornering a gang of cutthroats holding leading lady Dorothy Dwan captive in the crater of a volcano about to erupt.


The Demon
1926 · 50m · US
A band of marauders are burning the property of ranchers in Slocum Valley. Dane Gordon, Percival Wade's silent partner, poses as an ex-convict, joins the gang, and falls in love with Goldie Fleming, stenographer to Bat Jackson, the brains of the gang. He learns that the raids are conducted for the purpose of depreciating the properties so that they can be purchased for a song. The gang learns Dane's real identity and plots to blow him up.


The Warning
1927 · 56m
This story of the British Silent Service operating on the coast of China finds Tom Fellows, captain of an opium-smuggling ship, going into a notorious Chinese joint called "The House of a Thousand Delights," where he finds a beautiful girl, Mary Blake, bound and captive. He starts a brawl, rescues Mary in the mêlée that follows, and then loses her when she flees to a hotel. He follows her and finds she is mixed up in some mysterious activity. However, he knows more about her than she does him (because he isn't what he is supposed to be - and she isn't, either), he stays close by, even to the point of using a machine-gun to dispel a mob at a Chinese temple.


Chasing Trouble
1926 · 50m · US
"Blizz" Ballard, summoned by the Homesteaders' League to track down a gang of cattle rustlers, arrives in Paradise Valley. In the saloon, he is taunted by Jerome Garrett, who hopes to intimidate him but is himself beaten in a fight. Ballard, after proving himself by riding an outlaw horse, is taken on at the Gregg ranch. Garrett, in the family's favor and admired by Emily, the judge's daughter, accuses Ballard of being a cattle thief, while his accomplices capture and torture the sheriff.


Lightning Speed
1928 · 55m · US
Jack Pemberton, a cub reporter falls in love with Betty (Mary Mayberry), the governor's daughter. During an investigation into racketeering, Jack learns that gangster Velvet is attempting to kidnap Betty in order to force her father to pardon a relative on death row.


American Pluck
1925 · 56m · US
Blaze Derringer is a Texas cattle baron's son. He goes to a cabaret on his birthday, helps a pretty young woman and her guardian avoid a raid, but gets tossed from college for bad behavior. His disgusted father dispatches him to seek his fortune. Blaze jumps a freight, befriends a fake British duke and a sporting African-American, and is offered a prize fight in Galveston. He wins, but may have killed his opponent, so he takes the offer of the woman from the cabaret to accompany her to Begonia, where she's a princess about to be crowned. A court minister, the dastardly Count Verensky, has plans to share the throne and her affections. Can the plucky American help the Europeans sort things out?


Pirate Gold
1920 · US
No overview available


Wüstenrausch
1923 · 1h 32m · DE
A romantic adventure set in the Sahara desert.


The Code of the Scarlet
1928 · 57m · US
Assigned to catch a gang of outlaws, officers Bruce Kenton and Paddy Halloran rescue Helen Morgan when her wagon is attacked by the very same gang. Through a ruse, Kenton manages to infiltrate the gang, which is holed up in the lawless community of Caribou Flats. While in the employ of villainous trading post operator Jack Blake, Kenton discovers that Blake is not only the leader of the gang but also the man who murdered Helen's brother.


The Nut
1921 · 1h 14m · US
Eccentric, accident-prone inventor Charlie Jackson is deeply in love with Estrell Wynn, a progressive philanthropist who believes that if the wealthy host poor children in their homes for an hour each day, it will reform the children into good citizens.


Virgin Lips
1928 · 59m · US
In a banana republic, way south of the Texas border, a dumb-Dora American girl, Norma (Olive Borden), lets her ruby-red lips promise more than she is willing to deliver, and she finds herself a prisoner in a notorious dance-hall/brothel. But her American aviator boyfriend, Barry Blake (John Boles), is flying to her rescue. He does just that but, alas, they are quickly captured by a gang of outlaws. Possibly the many expensive pieces of jewelry she has gathered from the many male friends she has made along the way, including El Presidente, captured the outlaws' attention.


Casey Jones
1927 · 1h 10m · US
A silent film from 1927.


The King of the Kongo
1929 · 3h 9m · US
A Secret Service agent seeks his missing brother in Africa, and finds his mission complicated by ivory thieves, a girl with a mysterious past, and a troublesome gorilla.


Battling Brewster
1924 · 2h 30m · US
An action movie serial that premiered in 1924


Hot Heels
1927 · 1h · US
Glenn Higgins and Patsy Jones are a song-and-dance team traveling the vaudeville circuit across the United States, and land in a Kentucky tank-town filled with sharpies and wise-guys , wearing spats and carrying canes, who have reasons for wanting a horse named "Hot Heels, not to win the race he is scheduled to run in. This does not bode well for the vaudevillians as Glenn, acting on a hot tip from a hot vamp, has bet the pair's bankroll on "Hot Heels" to win.


Phantom Police
1926 · 3h 20m · US
Phantom Police is a 1926 American action film serial directed by Robert A. Dillon.


The Girl from Chicago
1927 · 1h 10m · US
Mary Carlton, who lives with her invalid father on a cotton plantation, receives a letter from Bob, her brother, in New York, stating that he faces death in the electric chair for a crime of which he claims to be innocent. Determined to save him, she goes there, learns of his association with an underworld gang, and begins to suspect Handsome Joe of a connection with the crime.


Golf
1922 · 25m · US
Comedy on the golf links.


Speed Mad
1925 · 50m · US
Bill Sanford (William Fairbanks), a daredevil race-car driver, is abducted by his main competitor Alan Lawson (Lloyd Whitlock) and his henchmen, on the eve of a race he hopes will win him $5,000. But he escapes his captors and arrives ate the race track just in time to drive his speedster to victory. With the prize money, he saves the father, Charles Hampton (Charles K. French) of his sweetheart Betty Hampton (Edith Roberts) from losing the family.
Flyin' Thru
Flyin' Thru
1925 · 50m · US
Lieutenant Willis returns home from France, where he was an aviation ace, to find that his father has been falsely jailed for the murder of Judson Blair.


Super Speed
1925 · 50m · US
Pat O'Farrell, a rich young man, takes a job as a truck-driver for his uncle's milk company, and falls in love with Cliare Knight, daughter of the Knight Car Company.


The Suitor
1920 · 18m
Larry having to go through a lot of trouble to get his girl. All from bomb baking cooks to high flying crashes.


Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
1925 · 2h 23m · US
Judah Ben-Hur, a wealthy Jewish prince in Jerusalem, is betrayed by his childhood friend, Roman tribune Messala, and wrongfully sent to the galley slaves.


Roaring Rails
1924 · 1h · US
A railroad engineer adopts a French orphan while he's fighting in the army in World War I, and takes him back to the US when the war ends. Later the boy needs an eye operation that the engineer can't afford, so he takes the rap for a murder he didn't commit in order to get his son the operation.


The Soda Water Cowboy
1927 · 50m · US
1927 American silent Western film directed by Richard Thorpe.


Hidden Aces
1927 · 1h 2m · US
Larry 'Hutch' Hutchdale, gentleman thief, is keeping an eye on the newly-arrived Princess Orloff of Russia...and not just because of her curvaceous figure. The woman's jewel necklace is worth a fortune. But her secretary, Natalie Knowles, is secretly a famed cat burglar, and wants the necklace for herself. The two thieves outwit each other at every turn, all the while realizing they're a perfect match. But the star-crossed lovers have a surprise on their hands when they realize the jewels are a fake, and the princess an imposter! Hidden Aces was Charles Hutchison's seventh and final appearance as 'Hutch' Hutchdale, the character he originated in 1921's Hurricane Hutch.
Speed Cop
Speed Cop
1926 · 50m · US
A motorcycle cop falls in love with a pretty girl when he gives her a speeding ticket, and she realizes that she loves him at the dinner she stages, with the help of her uncle, a judge, as a joke on the policeman.


Plunder
1923 · 17m · US
Various groups of people, both well-intentioned and otherwise, search for a buried treasure that is buried underneath a skyscraper.
The 1920s were silent cinema's artistic peak, when directors had perfected a purely visual storytelling language just as sound arrived to displace it. German Expressionism and Soviet montage both date from here.
Action cinema runs from the stunt-driven spectacle of Hollywood blockbusters to the choreographed precision of Hong Kong and Korean thrillers. The best of it treats physical performance as storytelling — chases, fights, and set pieces that reveal character rather than pause for it.