Pulp Magazine Adaptations
These live-action feature films, TV series and serial films are based on the pulp magazines, also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s.
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64 titles
- DirectorCharles RaymondStarsHarry LorraineBert RexA detective is drugged with flowers and tied to a sawmill while saving an ex-gambler from a jewel theft charge.
- DirectorFred NibloStarsDouglas FairbanksMarguerite De La MotteNoah BeeryA seemingly idiotic fop is really the courageous vigilante Zorro, who seeks to protect the oppressed.
- DirectorHarry LorraineStarsDouglas PayneMarjorie VillisJeff BarlowA detective saves the kidnapped daughter of an inventor murdered for his formula.
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsEdmund LoweDiana AllenCharles EldridgeNick Carter, called to a prominent New York hotel room by a wealthy mine owner, finds him dead when he arrives. His investigation involves a number of supposed reputable business men, but he solves the mystery and brings all to justice.
- DirectorJack DentonStarsDouglas PayneGeorge BellamyMildred Evelyn
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsEdmund LoweDiana AllenHenry SedleyNick Carter is hired by a rich man to verify his suspicions that the young man that is paying his daughter attentions is deceiving her. It is discovered that the boy is being lured by society crooks into blackmail.
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsEdmund LoweDiana Allen
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsEdmund LoweDiana AllenMario MajeroniNick Carter investigates the mysterious death of a man attending a Spiritualistic seance held in the home of a psychic scientist, friend of the man who suddenly died.
- DirectorDonald CrispStarsDouglas FairbanksMary AstorJack McDonaldDon Cesar, son of Zorro, is framed for murder while visiting Spain, and becomes the whip-wielding outlaw Don Q.
- DirectorAlex BryceStarsGeorge CurzonLorraine GreyTony Sympson
- DirectorWells RootStarsRobert LivingstonHeather AngelSig RumanThe Commandant is making life rough for the colonials in Spanish California. While trying to help, Zorro is charged with the murder of the new Governor, but in the end he triumphs over the evil Commandant.
- DirectorLynn ShoresStarsRod La RocqueAgnes AndersonJames BlakeleyLamont Cranston assumes his secret identity as "The Shadow", to break up an attempted robbery at an attorney's office. When the police search the scene, Cranston takes on an impersonation of the attorney.
- DirectorJohn EnglishWilliam WitneyStarsJohn CarrollNoah BeeryRichard AlexanderThe California-Yucatan Railroad, being built for the good of Mexico, is under siege by a gang of terrorists hoping to force its sale; no one can prove their connection to profiteer Marsden. Manuel Vega, aged co-owner, calls in the aid of his nephew James, great-grandson of the original Zorro. Alas, James seems more adept at golf than derring-do; but after he arrives, Zorro rides again! Can one black-clad man on horseback defeat a gang supplied with airplanes and machine guns?
- DirectorGeorge KingStarsGeorge CurzonTod SlaughterGreta GyntSexton Blake and Tinker foil criminal plot connected with the Tongs, and master-minded by "famous stamp collector" and millionaire.
- DirectorJames W. HorneRay TaylorStarsWarren HullIris MeredithRichard FiskeA crime fighter known as The Spider battles a villain called The Octopus, who is out to sabotage America and install his own government.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsRod La RocqueAstrid AllwynThomas E. JacksonLamont Cranston (Rod La Rocque), amateur criminologist and detective, with a daily radio program, sponsored by the Daily Classic newspaper, has developed a friendly feud that sometimes passes the friendly stage with Police Commissioner Weston (Thomas E. Jackson). He complains to his managing editor, Edward Heath (Oscar O'Shea), over the problems that have developed in his department since Phoebe Lane (Astrid Allwyn) has been hired as his assistant. He is advised to forget it since she is the publisher's niece. During his broadcast about Honest John (William Pawley), a famous safe cracker who has served his time, Phoebe gives him a note that the Metropolitan Theatre is to be robbed at eight o'clock and she is so insistent that he adds it as his closing note. Off the air, he learns she got the information from a man she met in a café who had an honest face. Cranston goes to the theatre where Weston and his men have gathered and, of course, nothing happens but, across town, a safe is blown at the home of international banker Gerald Morton (John St. Polis) and the banker is killed. Cranston arrives there ahead of the police and discovers enough evidence to show him that it wasn't just a simple robbery with the banker accidentally killed. The irate Weston has him jailed as a material witness, but Phoebe comes through with a habeas corpus in time for him to make his broadcast. Honest John crashes into the studio with a gun and demands that Cranston exonerates him over the air from the police suspicion that he committed the robbery. Weston rushes to the studio but Honest John has escaped. Cranston takes Phoebe on a tour of night clubs hoping she will spot the man who gave her the robbery message. She does and Cranston poses as a new arrival from Europe and learns that the man is Flotow (Wilhelm von Brincken) and his companion is Starkov (Tenen Holtz'). They make a date for lunch the next day. While they are waiting for him to join them for lunch, Cranston breaks into Flathow's apartment where he meets Phoebe who also has had the same idea. A phone call is answered and Morton's butler says there is a meeting at the Morton home that afternoon.
- DirectorJohn EnglishWilliam WitneyStarsReed HadleySheila DarcyWilliam CorsonThe masked hero leads a fighting force to fight a villian who plots the conquest of The Republic of Mexico.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsWalter PidgeonRita JohnsonHenry HullDetective Nick Carter is brought in to foil spies at the Radex Airplane Factory, where a new fighter plane is under manufacture.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsVictor JoryVeda Ann BorgRoger MooreThe Shadow battles a villain known as The Black Tiger, who has the power to make himself invisible and is trying to take over the world with his death ray.
- DirectorGeorge B. SeitzStarsWalter PidgeonDonald MeekKaren VerneA body is found in a locked airplane compartment and a German female refugee is a suspect. Passenger, detective Nick Carter, is convinced she didn't do it and works to solve the mysterious murder.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsTyrone PowerLinda DarnellBasil RathboneA young Spanish aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsWalter PidgeonDonald MeekJoseph SchildkrautAn insurance company tasks with Carter and Beeswax to go to Panama where cargo ships are mysteriously exploding and sending their valuable cargoes to the bottom with all hands.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsWarren HullMary AinsleeDave O'BrienThe evil and masked "Gargoyle" is sabotaging all of America's industrial plants. It is up to the Spider to save the country.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetWallace GrissellStarsGeorge J. LewisLinda StirlingLucien LittlefieldHammond, a leading citizen who owns the town's stagecoach line, is opposed to Idaho becoming a state, and kills Randolph Meredith, owner of the town's newspaper, for endorsing it. Meredith's sister Barbara, expert with a bullwhip and pistol, dons a black costume and mask and becomes "The Black Whip", dealing a blow to Hammond and his gang each time they perform some heinous act in their efforts to keep the town, and their power over it, unchanged. Aided by government agent Vic Gordon, Barbara confronts Hammond in a final showdown just as the town votes on whether or not to accept statehood.
- DirectorJohn HarlowStarsDavid FarrarManning WhileyDennis ArundellFamous detective and his trusty side-kick Tinker are called in by the War Office to find some important papers that were stolen from a man killed during an air raid.
- DirectorJohn HarlowStarsDavid FarrarDennis PricePamela StirlingThe police are investigating the suspicious death of a mine owner when they stumble upon a strange Nazi plot to invade England.
- DirectorPhil RosenWilliam BeaudineStarsKane RichmondBarbara ReadTom DuganSuper-sleuth Lamont Cranston, (aka "The Shadow") investigates the theft of jewels from a grave.
- DirectorLesley SelanderStarsWilliam MarshallAdele MaraRicardo CortezA private detective is approached by a wealthy entertainment executive to stop a blackmail scheme against him. Although he hasn't decided to take the job, the blackmailers believe that he already has, and he is marked for murder.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetFred C. BrannonStarsGeorge TurnerPeggy StewartRoy BarcroftYoung cavalry officer Jeff Stewart returns to his home in the west after the Civil War to find that a ring of crooked politicians has taken over the county, bleeding the citizens with 50% of value on the main trail, and protecting the rustlers that raid the cattle ranches. With the permission of the state governor and the assistance of Kate Wells, the postmistress, Jeff plans to open another trail to beat the toll. He also decides to resurrect an ancestor of his who, in a similar situation, took the law in his own hands-----Zorro. With the aid of Pancho, Zorro manages to thwart the conspirators and exposes the guilty culprits.
- DirectorFred C. BrannonStarsClayton MoorePamela BlakeRoy BarcroftIt is 1865 and the telegraph is heading west. George Crane, wanting to keep law and order out of his territory, is out to stop the construction. The engineer on the job is Ken Mason and he is the grandson of Don Diego Vega (also known as Zorro). As Crane sends his men or Native Americans to stop the work, Mason repeatedly puts on the Zorro costume and rides to the rescue in this twelve-chapter serial.
- DirectorCharles F. HaasStarsTom HelmorePaula RaymondFrank M. ThomasLamont Cranston, a psychiatrist on retainer to the police department, is asked to assist in the Case of the Cotton Kimono murder investigation. Lamont and his girlfriend Margot Lane are not satisfied with Detective Harris' analysis and call on the two prime suspects: the victim's voice instructor and her boyfriend. When Harris, convinced that the boyfriend is guilty, frames the young man for the crime, Lamont is forced to assume his secret identity as "The Shadow", and cloaked by his power of invisibility, seeks to force the true killer to reveal himself.
- StarsGuy WilliamsGene SheldonHenry CalvinDon Diego de la Vega opposes the corrupt tyrants of Spanish California as the masked swordsman, Zorro.
- DirectorLewis R. FosterNorman FosterStarsGuy WilliamsHenry CalvinGene SheldonA masked vigilante battles a corrupt commandant by night while masquerading as an aristocrat by day.
- DirectorJames Wong HoweBen ParkerJohn SledgeStarsRichard DerrMark DanielsHelen WestcottLamont Cranston, aka The Shadow, investigates the murder of a New Orleans bandleader.
- DirectorCharles BartonStarsGuy WilliamsCharles KorvinHenry CalvinCompiled from six episodes of the original Disney Zorro series, this film has El Zorro, "The Fox," battling Jose Sebastian Varga, "The Eagle," a corrupt dictator set on taking control of all of Spanish California.
- DirectorJean-Paul SavignacStarsEddie ConstantineNicole CourcelJoe DassinNick Carter, the French counterpart of James Bond, tries to recover some stolen nuclear missiles.
- CreatorHarry BlythStarsLaurence PayneRoger FossDorothea PhillipsAdventures of the handsome, fencing detective Sexton Blake and his sidekick Tinker.
- DirectorPaul KrasnyStarsRobert ConradShelley WintersBroderick CrawfordA detective discovers that a colleague's death is tied into the disappearance of a wealthy playboy's wife.
- DirectorDon McDougallStarsFrank LangellaRicardo MontalbanGilbert RolandWhen Don Diego returns to California only to find the people overrun and overtaxed by corrupt politicians, he takes matters into his own hands as the masked crusader Zorro.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsRon ElyPaul GleasonWilliam LuckingDoc and the Amazing Five battle Captain Seas and "the green death" for control of a fabulous resource.
- StarsJeremy ClydePhil DavisLinal HaftPrivate detective Sexton Blake and Tinker find themselves on the trail of worshipers of an ancient Egyptian cult
- DirectorPeter MedakStarsGeorge HamiltonLauren HuttonBrenda VaccaroZorro, the legendary swordsman, has passed on his weapon and his sense of duty to his noble son, Diego, a dashing swashbuckler like his father. But after an injury sidelines Diego, he is forced to hand the mask over to his twin, Ramon.
- DirectorJohn MiliusStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerJames Earl JonesMax von SydowA powerful warrior seeks to avenge the genocide of his people and the murder of his parents at the hands of a snake cult.
- StarsHenry DarrowPaul ReginaBill DanaTwenty five years after defending the people of California, Zorro has fallen a victim of age. The people are still being oppressed, now by Commandant Paco Pico and his aide Sergeant Sepulveda, so Zorro's faithful servant Bernardo sends for Zorro's son who is living in Spain. The son turns out to be a swinger always chasing the women, gambling and using modern weapons (guns, gas bombs, etc.) in his war on Pico.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerGrace JonesOlivia d'AboConan leads a ragtag group of adventurers on a quest for a princess.
- DirectorJohn HoughStarsNeil DicksonAlex Hyde-WhiteFiona HutchisonDaring British WWI fighter pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth and 1980s low-level business executive Jim Ferguson discover that they can time travel to each other's eras. They try to stop the Germans from changing the outcome of WWI.
- StarsPatrice MartinezDuncan RegehrJames VictorIn nineteenth century Spanish California, heroic masked swordsman Zorro, who's actually a local nobleman, must protect his friends and small town (or pueblo) of Los Angeles from its corrupt magistrate (or alcalde) and other menaces.
- DirectorChristopher LewisStarsMarc SingerTracy ScogginsNicholas WorthSent to keep an eye on a studio head's girlfriend at a Northern California film shoot, hardboiled P.I. Dan Turner, is forced to go into hiding when someone shoots his best girl and a police buddy with his gun. Turner must figure out who shot his friends or take the rap.
- DirectorRussell MulcahyStarsAlec BaldwinJohn LonePenelope Ann MillerIn 1930s New York City, The Shadow (Alec Baldwin) battles his nemesis, Shiwan Khan (John Lone), who is building an atomic bomb.
- DirectorJohn NicolellaStarsKevin SorboTia CarrereThomas Ian GriffithA barbarian warrior becomes a king when he defeats a king in armed combat and the king's heir conspire to overthrow him and reclaim the throne by resurrecting an evil sorceress.
- StarsRalf MoellerDanny WoodburnRobert McRayTV series featuring the mythical barbarian.
- DirectorMartin CampbellStarsAntonio BanderasAnthony HopkinsCatherine Zeta-JonesA young thief seeking revenge for his brother's death is trained by the once-great, aging Zorro, who is pursuing his own vengeance.
- StarsTessie SantiagoAnthony LemkePaulina GálvezAfter her father's mysterious death, a young woman returns to her home in California, where she becomes a symbol, the Queen of Swords, fighting for justice and trying to right the wrongs the colonel has done.
- DirectorMartin CampbellStarsAntonio BanderasCatherine Zeta-JonesRufus SewellDespite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Don Alejandro de la Vega and his wife, Elena, to take action.
- DirectorM.J. BassettStarsJames PurefoyMax von SydowRachel Hurd-WoodA ruthless mercenary renounces violence after learning his soul is bound for hell. When a young girl is kidnapped and her family slain by a sorcerer's murderous cult, he is forced to fight and seek his redemption slaying evil.
- DirectorMarcus NispelStarsJason MomoaRon PerlmanRose McGowanA vengeful barbarian warrior sets off to get his revenge on the evil warlord who attacked his village and murdered his father when he was a boy.
- DirectorAndrew StantonStarsTaylor KitschLynn CollinsWillem DafoeTransported to Barsoom, a Civil War vet discovers a barren planet seemingly inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians. Finding himself prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Woola and a princess in desperate need of a savior.
- StarsArnold SchwarzeneggerThe plot is unknown at this time.
- DirectorShane BlackStarsDwayne JohnsonDoc Savage, the man of bronze, was raised from childhood by a team of scientists to become the original "super" hero of the 1930s. A man of great mental and physical strength, he went around the world battling larger-than-life villains.
- DirectorJonás CuarónStarsGael García BernalKiersey ClemonsThe western frontier has re-emerged and, as in the past, a hero will answer the people's cry for justice.
- DirectorBrett KellyStarsJody HauckeRichard GroenDixie CollinsAfter a crime boss has Tony Quinn blinded by acid, Tony is given the ability to see in the dark like a bat. Them he takes the guise of the Black Bat to see to it that crime does not pay and that the scales of justice are balanced once more.