Victor McLaglen Movies

Want to know the best Victor McLaglen movies?  How about the worst Victor McLaglen movies?  Curious about Victor McLaglen box office grosses or which Victor McLaglen movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Victor McLaglen movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Victor McLaglen (1886-1959) was an Oscar®-winning British-American actor.   McLaglen was a well-known character actor, appearing in movies for almost 40 years.  He won the Academy Award® for Best Actor in 1935 for his role in The Informer.  His IMDb page shows 124 acting credits from 1920 to 1959.  This page will rank Victor McLaglen movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, movies that were not released in North American theaters were not included in the rankings.  Sadly many of his movies from the 1920s and early 1930s did not make the table (no box office). To do well in our overall rankings a movie has to do well at the box office, get good reviews by critics, be liked by audiences, and get some award recognition.

1935’s The Informer

Victor McLaglen Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

1939’s Gunga Din

Victor McLaglen Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.

  • Sort Victor McLaglen movies by his co-stars
  • Sort Victor McLaglen movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Victor McLaglen movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Victor McLaglen movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  A 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Victor McLaglen movie received.
  • Sort Victor McLaglen movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews, and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
1952’s The Quiet Man

Best IMDb Trivia On Victor McLaglen

1. Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England in 1886.  Four of his brothers became actors. His son Andrew became a successful director.

2. Before becoming an actor, Victor McLaglen worked as a carnival boxer. If anyone could stay in the ring with him for one round and not be knocked down, they won a box of cigars.  Boxed and wrestled under the nickname ‘Sharkey’ McLaglen, as well as under his real name, prior to his movie career. His lifetime boxing record (as far as is known) was 11-6-1, with 9 KOs. His 1909 bout with legendary champion Jack Johnson in Vancouver was a six-round exhibition bout. Two years later, he boxed Jess Willard, the “Great White Hope” who eventually beat Johnson in a heavyweight title bout in 1915.

3.  Victor McLaglen was visiting a sporting club when spotted by a film producer who was looking for a boxer to play the lead in a film, The Call of the Road (1920). Although McLaglen had never acted before he auditioned and got the part.

4. Some of his most famous roles co-starred John Wayne and were directed by John Ford.   Those movies were 1948’s Fort Apache, 1949’s She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, 1950’s Rio Grande, and 1952’s The Quiet Man.

5. Victor McLaglen died about a month after his final role in an episode of Rawhide (1959), directed by his son Andrew V. McLaglen.  Donald Crisp delivered the eulogy at his funeral.

Steve’s Victor McLaglen YouTube Video

Check out Victor McLaglen’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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36 thoughts on “Victor McLaglen Movies”

  1. “McLaglen was an actor who was rarely capable of giving a restrained performance. He needed someone of the caliber of John Ford in getting him to be more restrained.”

    NO: those words of wisdom didn’t come from Joel but from IMDB; and as I’ve mentioned before Bogie said when McLaglen got the Oscar for 1935’s The Informer that “They gave the Oscar to a man who couldn’t act his way out of a wet bag!”

    My own view is that Vic and an Oscar were a mismatch on a par with Stallone and his somnolent Rocky portrayal and its best actor nomination. I suppose though one must accord the 1977 Academy credit for not actually giving Sly the award.

    Certainly after I saw reruns of 1949’s The Setup and 1980’s Raging Bull and watched the dynamic tour-de-force performances of brutal boxers by respectively Robert Ryan and DeNiro in those movies I could no longer get enthusiastic about Sylvester’s Rocky antics which were like “a small boy playing at being a boxer”. Anyway I’ve seen Vic in 10 movies –

    The Quiet Man
    She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
    Fair Wind to Java
    Trouble in the Glen
    Lady Godiva of Coventry
    Rio Grande
    The Abductors
    The Foxes of Harrow
    Many Rivers to Cross
    Sea Fury-Vic’s final movie and co-starring Britain’s Stanley Baker.

    Parts 2 and 3 tomorrow.

    Reply

    1. STEVE’S McLaglen VIDEO – 98.5% rated overall – BEST POSTERS

      1/Whistle Stop
      2/Devil’s Party
      3/two for Lady Godiva-supporting feature here to Mature’s Chief Crazy Horse
      4/Tampico
      5/Foreign language one for China Girl
      6/Black Watch
      7/Hot Pepper
      8/Fair Wind to Java
      9/2nd one for Captain Fury
      10/two for Beau Geste
      11/the Unholy 3
      12/Wee Willie Winkie
      13/2nd one for Rio Grande
      14/two for Fort Apache – absolutely splendid
      15/first one for The Informer
      16/foreign language one for The Quiet Man
      17/great foreign language one for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon – memorable as well for that rousing Uncle Sam/Duke Wayne/Donald Trump theme song- we sang it all the way home from the cinema!

      “She wore, she wore, she wore a yellow ribbon
      And she wore it all the day.
      She wore, she wore, she wore a yellow ribbon
      And she wore it for her lover in the US Cavalray.
      Cavalray! Cavalray!
      She wore it for a lover in the US Cavalray.”

      Reply

      1. STEVE’s McLAGLEN VIDE0 – BEST STILLS/LOBBY CARDS

        1/Whistle Stop
        2/China Girl
        3/Hot Pepper
        4/Prince Valiant
        5/The Captain Hates the Sea
        6/two for Klondike Annie
        7/two for Under Two flags
        8/Lost Patrol
        9/two for The Unholy 3
        10/Princess and the Pirate
        11/two for Wee Stevie Winkie
        12/two for Dishonored
        13/Rio Grande
        14/She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
        15/Fort Apache-Laddie wanted Brando and himself to do a remake but it didn’t happen
        16/two iconic ones for The Informer
        17/The Quiet Man – good to see this Steve’s No 1: my own fave Wayne film.

        ADDITIONAL TRIVIA: About a year ago a friend of mine hired a small local cinema for an evening and celebrated his 65th birthday there with a showing of The Quiet Man which we all enjoyed. It is a lovely film but just as Americans seem to think that every Englishman is obsessed with drinking tea The Quiet Man subscribed to a degree to the Hollywood “fake news” that in Ireland we are a crowd of pub-crawlers and drunks who spend half of our lives in exile somewhere [presumably in America or Manchester]. That latter sentiment is summed up in the lovely theme music to The Quiet Man played throughout and sung by Maureen O’Hara in the movie

        I’ve met some folks who say that I’m a dreamer,
        And I’ve no doubt there’s truth in what they say,
        But sure a body’s bound to be a dreamer
        When all the things he loves are far away.

        And precious things are dreams unto an exile.
        They take him o’er the land across the sea —
        Especially when it happens he’s an exile
        From that dear lovely Isle of Innisfree.

        Reply

        1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and trivia, much appreciated. Glad you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.

          Have to confess I haven’t seen Vic’s Oscar winning turn as The Informer, but I have read about the film and it’s story. Surprised you haven’t seen it either considering it’s setting.

          I’ve never heard that Bogie quote on Vic’s Oscar win, do you have the source?

          Variety’s review of The Informer on May 15, 1935 liked McLaglen’s performance, here’s an excerpt –

          ‘What makes the picture powerful is the faithful characterization of McLaglen as guided and developed by the direction of John Ford. Gypo is a blundering, pathetic fool who is not basically vicious yet is guilty of a truly foul betrayal.

          McLaglen is completely convincing and to the extent audiences will
          wonder at his being squandered as a dumb detective, as in recent releases. This performance Is certainly the apex of McLaglen’s career to date, although the job he did in ‘What Price Glory’ shouldn’t be overlooked.”

          As for Stallone and Rocky, legendary film critic Pauline Kael dared to compare him to Brando [cue stunned silence] , an excerpt from her review for Rocky (1976) –

          “There’s bullnecked energy in him ,smoldering; he has a field of force , like Brando’s. And he knows how to use his overripe, cartoon sensuality – the eyelids at half-mast, the sad brown eyes and twisted, hurt mouth. Stallone is aware that we see him as a hulk, and he plays against this comically and tenderly. In his deep, caveman’s voice , he gives the most surprising, sharp, fresh shadings to his lines.”

          Six films scored 10 out of 10 from McLaglen’s filmography –

          The Quiet Man
          Gunga Din
          The Informer
          Fort Apache
          She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
          Rio Grande

          One scored 9 – Around the World in 80 Days, and several scored 8 out of 10.

          The Quiet Man tops IMDB and Fort Apache is no.1 at Rotten Tomatoes.

          IMDB trivia – ‘He was cast mostly as Irishmen, particularly by John Ford, but he was actually British, his ancestry being mainly Scot.’

          ‘Boxed and wrestled under the nickname ‘Sharkey’ McLaglen, as well as under his real name, prior to his movie career. His lifetime boxing record (as far as is known) was 11-6-1, with 9 KOs. His 1909 bout with legendary champion Jack Johnson in Vancouver was a six-round exhibition bout. “Jack Johnson never knocked me down . . . but he sure beat the livin’ be-Jesus out of me.”

          Reply

          1. HI STEVE: Good feedback – many thanks.

            Bogie’s comment about Victor was quoted in a Bogart biography that I read some years ago. Bogie was making the general point that the best performances didn’t always win the annual Oscars; and he quoted as an example Victor being given the Oscar for The Informer and he quipped that Vic “couldn’t act his way out of a wet paper bag”.

            Your opening quote from Victor himself in the video suggests that in his own estimation of his capacity as an actor Victor himself was leaning Bogie’s way!

            I can’t remember whether Humph made those comments before or after he won HIS Oscar for The African Queen; but if he were around today and saw the thespians who were being loaded up with awards and the kind of routine performances that they were getting the awards and noms for he might think that he had been a bit hard on Victor.

            “And Bogie you know
            If your looking below
            It’s worse now than then!”

          2. In my civil service days when promotion boards were held there were usually just one or two people who would be among the serious contenders for the limited promotion vacancies; but about two dozen candidates [most of whom were “no-hopers”] were invited to make up numbers that gave the impression of a wider and fiercer competition.

            Also the bosses used to say privately that it helped morale if even the duds were “given a run” ie “better a fool’s paradise than no paradise at all.” I’ve always thought that the fortune that Rocky made and the hype that it accordingly received convinced The Academy to give the no-hoper Sly a run to make up the numbers and to satisfy the hype and the money markets – and public sentiment.

            Heck that film had guys like The Work Horse running up and down steps and they had to be given SOMETHING that wouldn’t pour cold water on their enthusiasm; so Sly was like Moses who was allowed to see The Promised Land but never permitted to enter it.

            One university professor with whom I’m friendly told me once when I was downhearted following an unsuccessful appearance before a promotion board “Bobby open competitions in our society are the democratic way of discriminating.”

            By the way I don’t think Tennessee Williams would have agreed with Pauline Kael. As I’ve mentioned before Sly was proposing to do a big-screen remake of Streetcar with himself as Stanley and Williams went public in advising Sly not to even attempt it as Tennessee said there was no way in which Stallone would be able to emulate Brando.

            But let’s you and me get real here for ourselves: could you picture Stallone doing Shakespeare’s Antony or Zapata/Napoleon/Sakini in Teahouse/the Nazi in The Young Lions/the frustrated homosexual officer in Reflections in a Golden Eye/The Godfather etc? I think Pauline whom I greatly admire was describing a persona and an act rather than acting!
            “Brando performed a range of roles that no traditional Hollywood actor would ever attempt.” David Shipman – film historian.

        2. Hey Bob….good thoughts on Steve’s video and McLaglen’s career. I like the comparison to Stallone….as I agree with your thought process on that. Good stuff.

          Reply

  2. Have not seen any of these movies, heard of a few though.

    Seen: 0/61 or 0%
    Favorite Top 10:
    UMR Snub (Too High/Too Low):
    Guilty Pleasure:

    Reply

    1. Hey Bryan….0 for 61? Are you sure you are my oldest kid? The Quiet Man, his westerns with Ford and Wayne are most watch. Sorry I have failed you as a father…lol. Thanks for stopping by.

      Reply

  3. Hello Bruce,

    As Steve, i’ve seen 9 movies of this list, and I thought I’ve seen more…
    On this 9 movies, I”ve seen 5 directed by John Ford of course.

    Good choice and good job again.

    Reply

    1. Hey Laurent. Thanks for the kind words and the feedback on Victor McLaglen. Tally count. The Bob gets a win with 12, 10 for Flora, 9 for me, you and Steve and 7 for the other bob. After reading your interview….reading that you have seen 5 of his movies directed by John Ford is not surprising. Good feedback.

      Reply

  4. I’ve seen 9 of the 61 films on the chart, less than I thought. Favorites are – Gunga Din, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Princess and the Pirate, Rio Grande and The Quiet Man.

    As a kid I knew Victor McLaglen best as ‘The Hook’ in the Bob Hope comedy ‘The Princess and the Pirate’, an old family favorite. Later on I noticed him in other films, notably The Quiet Man.

    I don’t think I’ve seen his Oscar-winning turn in ‘The Informer’.

    Looking at the chart ‘Gunga Din’ was a monster hit back in 1939. A film I’ve enjoyed watching many times over the years.

    Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve. As always…thanks for the feedback on our Victor McLaglen page. Tally counts: Tally count. Bob gets a win with 12, 10 for Flora, 9 for me, you and Laurent and 7 for the other bob. I have seen all of your favorites. Gunga Din was one of my dad’s all-time favorites. My favorite Victor movie would easily be The Quiet Man. As for The Informer….a good movie…but not a movie I have an interest in re-watching. If you did not realize he won an Oscar for the movie…not sure you would leave thinking…what a great performance by Mr. McLaglen. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

  5. Victor McLaglen was never on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. These are the actors on the 2020 list he appeared with:

    18 JOHN GIELGUD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    25 TREVOR HOWARD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    36 ANTHONY QUINN Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944)
    55 JOHN MILLS Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    68 JOHN CARRADINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    68 JOHN CARRADINE Captain Fury (1939)
    68 JOHN CARRADINE Nancy Steele Is Missing! (1937)
    68 JOHN CARRADINE This Is My Affair (1937)
    68 JOHN CARRADINE Under Two Flags (1936)
    98 DAVID NIVEN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    102 ORSON WELLES Trouble in the Glen (1954)
    106 SHIRLEY MACLAINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    108 JAMES MASON Prince Valiant (1954)
    120 CLINT EASTWOOD Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955)
    124 ROBERT WAGNER Prince Valiant (1954)
    126 HENRY FONDA Fort Apache (1948)
    128 ROBERT MORLEY Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    154 MARC LAWRENCE Tampico (1944)
    154 MARC LAWRENCE The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
    154 MARC LAWRENCE Under Two Flags (1936)
    313 AVA GARDNER Whistle Stop (1946)
    344 JOHN WAYNE Fort Apache (1948)
    344 JOHN WAYNE Hangman’s House (1928)
    344 JOHN WAYNE Mother Machree (1928)
    344 JOHN WAYNE Rio Grande (1950)
    344 JOHN WAYNE She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
    344 JOHN WAYNE The Black Watch (1929)
    344 JOHN WAYNE The Quiet Man (1952)
    368 CESAR ROMERO Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    368 CESAR ROMERO Wee Willie Winkie (1937)
    509 AKIM TAMIROFF The Captain Hates the Sea (1934)
    512 RAY MILLAND Forever and a Day (1943)
    597 PAUL FIX Fair Wind to Java (1953)
    597 PAUL FIX She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
    626 BEN JOHNSON Rio Grande (1950)
    626 BEN JOHNSON She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
    759 CHARLES BOYER Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    768 EDWARD G. ROBINSON Tampico (1944)
    768 EDWARD G. ROBINSON The Slippery Pearls (1931)
    805 KEYE LUKE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    805 KEYE LUKE Fair Wind to Java (1953)
    807 PERCY HERBERT Sea Fury (1958)
    815 REX HARRISON The Foxes of Harrow (1947)
    860 MIKE MAZURKI Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    860 MIKE MAZURKI The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
    914 GLYNIS JOHNS Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    915 STERLING HAYDEN Prince Valiant (1954)
    948 FRANK SINATRA Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    974 EDMOND O’BRIEN Powder Town (1942)

    Vic appeared with 33 Oscar winners.

    ANTHONY QUINN Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944)
    BARRY FITZGERALD Full Confession (1939)
    BARRY FITZGERALD Pacific Liner (1939)
    BARRY FITZGERALD The Quiet Man (1952)
    BEN JOHNSON Rio Grande (1950)
    BEN JOHNSON She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
    BING CROSBY The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
    CHARLES COBURN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    CHARLES COBURN Forever and a Day (1943)
    CHARLES LAUGHTON Forever and a Day (1943)
    CLAUDETTE COLBERT Under Two Flags (1936)
    DAVID NIVEN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    DONALD CRISP FOREVER AND A DAY (1943)
    DONALD CRISP PRINCE VALIANT (1954)
    EDMOND O’BRIEN Powder Town (1942)
    EDMUND GWENN Forever and a Day (1943)
    FRANK SINATRA Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    GARY COOPER The Slippery Pearls (1931)
    HATTIE MCDANIEL BATTLE OF BROADWAY (1938)
    HENRY FONDA Fort Apache (1948)
    HUMPHREY BOGART A Devil with Women (1930)
    HUMPHREY BOGART Women of All Nations (1931)
    JANE DARWELL Battle of Broadway (1938)
    JANE DARWELL Nancy Steele Is Missing! (1937)
    JOAN CRAWFORD The Slippery Pearls (1931)
    JOAN FONTAINE Gunga Din (1939)
    JOHN GIELGUD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    JOHN MILLS Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    JOHN WAYNE Fort Apache (1948)
    JOHN WAYNE Mother Machree (1928)
    JOHN WAYNE Rio Grande (1950)
    JOHN WAYNE She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
    JOHN WAYNE The Black Watch (1929)
    JOHN WAYNE The Quiet Man (1952)
    LIONEL BARRYMORE Let Freedom Ring (1939)
    LORETTA YOUNG The Slippery Pearls (1931)
    NORMA SHEARER The Slippery Pearls (1931)
    PAUL LUKAS Captain Fury (1939)
    RAY MILLAND Forever and a Day (1943)
    REX HARRISON The Foxes of Harrow (1947)
    RONALD COLMAN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    RONALD COLMAN Beau Geste (1926)
    RONALD COLMAN Under Two Flags (1936)
    SHIRLEY MACLAINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    WALLACE BEERY The Slippery Pearls (1931)
    WALTER BRENNAN The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
    WARNER BAXTER Happy Days (1929/I)
    WARNER BAXTER The Slippery Pearls (1931)

    What no 1946 pic with Ronald Colman, they were together in 26, 36 & 56.

    Reply

    1. Hey Dan. Thanks for these lists on Victor McLaglen. I bet he would have been on the Oracle list in the mid 1950s. John Wayne is his most frequent Oracle co-star….with John Carradine his second most frequent co-star. I think his 33 Oscar winning co-stars is very impressive…especially since his career started before the Oscars existed. Sorry no pictures of Victor and Ronald. I had to include my favorite The Quiet Man and my dad’s favorite Gunga Din. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

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