One of the joys of gaming the Pulp Era is the inspiration we can get from period films and movie serials. This list is by no means complete but it is a good place to start getting familiar with the feel of the era.
Gunga Din
The Drum
Passage to Marseilles
Manilla Calling
King Kong
The Most Dangerous Game
Tarzan series w/Johnny Weismuller
The Mummy w/ Boris Karloff
The Mr. Moto series w/Peter Lorre
Lost Horizon w/Ronald Colman
The Lost Patrol
Five Came Back
Ghosts On The Loose w/The East Side Kids
The Fallen Sparrow w/Walter Slezak
All Through The Night w/Bogart
Beat the Devil w/Bogart
The 39 Steps w/Robert Donat
The Man Who Knew Too Much ('30's version)
The Lady Vanishes w/Michael Redgrave
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Cobra Woman w/Lon Chaney
King Solomon's Mines w/Stewart Granger
Hammer Films' The Terror of the Tongs
The 60’s Fu-Manchu series w/Christopher Lee
Hammer Films’ Mummy series
Hammer Films’ The Abominable Snowman
The Land that Time Forgot
The People that Time Forgot
Hope & Crosby’s Road Pictures
Little Caesar w/Edgar G Robinson
The Roaring Twenties w/Bogart & Cagney
White Heat w/Cagney
Angels With Dirty Faces
The Public Enemy
The Maltese Falcon
The Big Sleep
The Thin Man series
The Charlie Chan series
Sherlock Holmes series /Basil Rathbone
The Mr. Wong series /Boris Karloff
Spy Smasher
Adventures of Captain Marvel
Secret Service in Darkest Africa
The Crimson Ghost
The Masked Marvel
Drums of Fu Manchu
Daredevils of the Red Circle
Perils of Nyoka
Tiger Woman aka "Perils of the African Jungle"
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Incorporated
Mysterious Doctor Satan
Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island
Radar Men From The Moon
Flash Gordon
Adventures of the Flying Cadets
Adventures of Smilin' Jack
The Green Hornet
The Phantom Empire
The pulps were entertainment magazines of the early 20th century and reached their peak of popularity in the period between the first and second world wars. These magazines introduced tough guy detective stories with famed characters like Sam Spade and Philip Marlow, occult action/adventure stories from authors such as Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan or Sax Rohmer of Dr. Fu Manchu fame. They also introduced the jungle fantasy adventures of Tarzan of the Apes. Within the pages of the pulps you might join an expedition into distant lands in search of a lost city. You might sail an airship through a polar gateway to a pre-historic world at the center of the earth. It was an action packed world of brave heroes standing alone against sinister villains plotting world conquest, tough dames, spies and even the occasional brilliant scientist with a newly invented rocket ship. It was a brightly colored world of action packed, spine tingling adventure.
Pulp Figures' ‘Pulp Era’ is a fuzzy, fictional period from the Great War up to the early 40’s. It’s an approach I call ‘Hollywood Historical’. If you saw the ‘Indiana Jones’ films then you should get the idea. Historical accuracy is not a priority. We are shooting for mood and flavor here; far-flung, two-gun adventure in seedy seaports, sinister spies and occult villains steeped in arcane lore, the smoke of desperate battle and grinning in the face of death.
In this world you might encounter time lost tribes of ancient Egyptians or primitive Neanderthals, rocket packs and death rays. You will most certainly encounter military forces from around the world engaged in the timeless struggle for power among the fragmenting remnants of the Colonial empires. There are archaeologists searching desperately for arcane antiquities. There are tough guy, ex-patriot adventurers out for gold and trouble. There are warlords, aviators, dragon-ladies and thieves. There are intrepid officers commanding far-flung outposts and gentlemen explorers crossing trackless wastes in the name of honor. For the unlucky there are unspeakable horrors dredged up from the moldering tombs of the forgotten past.
Bob Murch
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I highly recommend this book by Pulp scholar Don Hutchison, published by Mosiac Press and available on Amazon. For a synopsis of all the important heroes and villains of the Pulp magazines you can't do better than this handy publication.