ADVENTURE FILM

The 'adventure film' is a film genre which has been a popular one in the history of cinema.
Although the genre is not clearly defined, adventure films are usually set in the past or sometimes in a fantasy world, and often involve swordfighting or swashbuckling. Unlike the modern action film, which often takes place in a city, with the hero battling drug cartels or terrorists, there is an element of romanticism attached to the adventure genre. Popular subjects have included: Robin Hood, Zorro, pirates or the novels of Alexandre Dumas.
The genre probably reached the peak of its popularity in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, when films like ''Captain Blood'', ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' and ''The Mark of Zorro'' were regularly being made and a number of the biggest stars, notably Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power, become closely associated with it. At the same time, lower down the scale, Saturday morning serials were often using many of the same thematic elements as adventure films.
The genre has undergone periodic revivals since the 1950s, with figures like Robin Hood often being re-cast for a new generation. Some of these revivals have been successful, as with '' (1991), and some less so, as with ''Swashbuckler'' (1976). In the 1980s the success of Steven Spielberg's Saturday Morning serial-style adventure ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' spawned a host of imitators, most of which were unsuccessful.
There is often a degree of overlap between the adventure film and other genres. For example, '' (1977) contains many adventure film as well as science fiction elements, while ''The Mummy'' (1999) combines the adventure and horror genres.
Popular adventure film concepts include:

★ An outlaw figure fighting for justice or battling a tyrant (as in ''Robin Hood'' or ''Zorro'')

★ Pirates (as in ''Captain Blood'' or ''Pirates of the Caribbean'')

★ A search for a lost city or for hidden treasure (as in ''King Solomon's Mines'' or ''Indiana Jones'')

Contents

Notable adventure films

Notable adventure films

For a more precise list: List of adventure films

★ ''Captain Blood'' (1935)

★ ''King Solomon's Mines'' (1937), (1950), (1985)

★ ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937) and (1952)

★ ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938)

★ ''The Sea Hawk'' (1940)

★ ''The Black Swan'' (1942)

★ ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'' (1948)

★ ''The African Queen'' (1951)

★ ''The Crimson Pirate'' (1952)

★ ''Scaramouche'' (1952)

★ The ''Star Wars'' films (1977-2006)

★ ''Piraty XX veka'' (1979)

★ The ''Indiana Jones'' films (1981-2008)

★ ''Romancing the Stone'' (1984)

★ ''The Goonies'' (1985)

★ ''The Princess Bride'' (1987)

★ '' (1991)

★ ''The Rocketeer'' (1991)

★ ''The Mummy'' films (1999-2008)

★ The ''Lord of the Rings'' films (2001-2003)

★ ''Hero'' (2002)

★ The ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films (2003-2007)

★ ''The Incredibles'' (2004)

★ ''Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'' (2004)

★ '' films (2004-2006)

★ ''National Treasure'' (2004-2007)

★ ''Sahara'' (2005)

★ The ''Zorro'' films

★ various versions of the novels of Alexandre Dumas, père, including ''The Count of Monte Cristo'', ''The Three Musketeers'' and ''The Man in the Iron Mask''
==Popular adventure film filmmakers==

★ Michael Curtiz

★ John Huston

★ George Lucas

★ Steven Spielberg

★ Raoul Walsh