History of Action Films
In the 1920’s/1930’s there were many sub-genre films (action adventure) which have a distressed and romantic element such as Swashbuckling, most of these types of films typically hold sword fighting and a heroic protagonist/protagonists which is normal set in Western Europe. Well-known actors of the 1920’s/1930’s are Douglas Fairbanks (who is an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Douglas is well known from his Swashbuckling; however at the beginning of his career he started making comedies. Douglas was known as ‘The King of Hollywood, after being a part of the ‘Talkies’ his career declined and his final film was ‘The Private Life of don Juan which was in 1934), Noah Beery (was an American actor that was in films between 1923-1945. Noah spent many years performing on stage, but came much respected when playing a villain in the film ‘The Mark of Zorra’ in 1920) and also Errol Flynn (was an Australian actor that is known for being romantic in Swashbuckler and the playboy lifestyle he had. Errol became well-known over night for being in ‘Captain Blood’ in 1935).
During the 1940’s/1950’s there was difference in sub-genre films as they was mostly based on war and cowboy films. The war films produced over this time frame were related to the warfare and were on naval, air or land battles. The plot are normally a prisoner is held by the ‘enemies’ and there’s a large conflict between both side. Some well-known films from this time period are ‘The Wooden Horse (1950)’, ‘Albert R.N (1953)’