WWII Film Timeline
by jasonforno | created - 30 Apr 2012 | updated - 2 days ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)
TV-14 | 93 min | Biography, Drama, History
A profile of the life of Adolf Hitler with a unique slant, as a child and his rise through the ranks of the National Socialist German Workers Party prior to World War II.
Stars: Peter Stormare, Friedrich von Thun, Peter O'Toole, Zoe Telford
Votes: 23,627
1890's-1933 Germany
2. Stalin (1992 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 172 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The life and career of the brutal Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin.
Director: Ivan Passer | Stars: Robert Duvall, Julia Ormond, Maximilian Schell, Jeroen Krabbé
Votes: 2,781
1914 - 1950's Soviet Union
3. The Gathering Storm (2002 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 96 min | Biography, Drama, History
Winston Churchill's wilderness years prior to World War II, when only he could see the threat that Adolf Hitler and a rearmed Germany posed to Europe.
Director: Richard Loncraine | Stars: Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Broadbent, Linus Roache
Votes: 7,047
1919 -May 10th 1940 Winston Churchill
4. Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985)
Unrated | 410 min | Biography, Drama, History
The rise and fall of the Italian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini.
Stars: George C. Scott, Virginia Madsen, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Lee Grant
Votes: 647
series begins in 1922 as Mussolini gathers his power through the use of his Black Shirt militia
5. Mr. Jones (2019)
119 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle
Votes: 16,248
1933
6. Holocaust (1978)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, History, Romance
The saga of a Jewish family's struggle to survive the horror of Nazi Germany's systematic marginalization and extermination of their community.
Stars: Joseph Bottoms, Tovah Feldshuh, Rosemary Harris, Tony Haygarth
Votes: 5,501
1935 Berlin, Germany
7. Time to Kill (1989)
R | 110 min | Drama, War
In 1936, when Ethiopia is being invaded by the Italian army, Lieutenant Silvestri sets off for the nearest camp hospital to take care of a toothache. En route he meets a young Ethiopian ... See full summary »
Director: Giuliano Montaldo | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Ricky Tognazzi, Patrice-Flora Praxo, Gianluca Favilla
Votes: 985
1936 Second Italo-Ethiopian War
8. Race (I) (2016)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Jesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy.
Director: Stephen Hopkins | Stars: Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Eli Goree, Shanice Banton
Votes: 40,942 | Gross: $19.10M
1933, 1936 Berlin Olympics
9. Berlin '36 (2009)
100 min | Drama, History, Sport
In the days leading up to the 1936 Olympics, the fate of high jumper Gretel Bergmann hangs in the balance as it is decided whether or not a Jewish athlete can be a part of the German Olympic team.
Director: Kaspar Heidelbach | Stars: Karoline Herfurth, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Axel Prahl, Robert Gallinowski
Votes: 972
1936 Berlin Olympics
10. The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
Approved | 115 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Biography of bandleader Glenn Miller from his beginnings to his death over the English Channel in December 1944.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, June Allyson, Harry Morgan, Charles Drake
Votes: 9,708
1929 - December 15th, 1944
11. The Counterfeiters (2007)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, History
The story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky | Stars: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach
Votes: 47,177 | Gross: $5.48M
"Operation Bernhard" 1936 Berlin, Germany - Post-War
12. Good (2008)
R | 92 min | Drama, Romance, War
John Halder, a German literature professor in the 1930s, is initially reluctant to accept the ideas of the Nazi Party. He is pulled in different emotional directions by his wife, his mother, his mistress, and a Jewish friend.
Director: Vicente Amorim | Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs, Jodie Whittaker, Steven Mackintosh
Votes: 7,838 | Gross: $0.02M
1930's Germany
13. Twin Sisters (2002)
R | 137 min | Drama, Romance, War
Twin sisters Lotte and Anne grow up very differently after their parents death. Now adults, they want to reunite but World War II and their growing socioeconomic differences complicate things.
Director: Ben Sombogaart | Stars: Ellen Vogel, Gudrun Okras, Thekla Reuten, Nadja Uhl
Votes: 7,277 | Gross: $0.00M
1930's through Post-War era
14. The White Countess (2005)
PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, History, Romance
In 1930s Shanghai, a blind American diplomat develops a curious relationship with a young Russian refugee who works odd--and sometimes illicit--jobs to support members of her dead husband's aristocratic family.
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave
Votes: 6,972 | Gross: $1.67M
15. City of Life and Death (2009)
R | 133 min | Drama, History, War
In 1937, Japan occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital. There was a battle and subsequent atrocities against the inhabitants, especially those who took refuge in the International Security Zone.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Ye Liu, Wei Fan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Yuanyuan Gao
Votes: 11,717 | Gross: $0.12M
"Battle of Nanjing" 1937 Nanjing, China
16. Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Laura Henderson (Dame Judi Dench) buys an old London theater and opens it up as the Windmill, a performance hall which goes down in history for, amongst other things, its all-nude revues.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Christopher Guest, Will Young
Votes: 16,452 | Gross: $11.03M
1937-1944 London, England during "The Blitz"
17. On Wings of Eagles (2016)
PG-13 | 108 min | Biography, Drama, History
Eric Liddell - China's first gold medalist and one of Scotland's greatest athletes - returns to war-torn China.
Directors: Stephen Shin, Michael Parker | Stars: Joseph Fiennes, Jesse Kove, Bruce Locke, Shawn Dou
Votes: 1,145
1937 Japanese invasion of China
18. John Rabe (2009)
134 min | Biography, Drama, History
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
Director: Florian Gallenberger | Stars: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi, Anne Consigny
Votes: 6,743 | Gross: $0.07M
"Nanjing Massacre" Late 1937-Early 1938
19. The Flowers of War (2011)
R | 146 min | Drama, History, Romance
An American finds refuge during the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanking in a church with a group of women. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Xinyi Zhang, Tianyuan Huang
Votes: 55,723 | Gross: $0.01M
"The Rape of Nanjing" Nanjing, China 1937
20. The Eight Hundred (2020)
Not Rated | 149 min | Action, Drama, History
In 1937, 800 Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in the middle of the Shanghai battlefield, completely surrounded by the Japanese army.
Director: Hu Guan | Stars: Zhizhong Huang, Junyi Zhang, Hao Ou, Xiaoguang Hu
Votes: 7,195 | Gross: $0.37M
1937 Japanese invasion of China
21. Woman in Gold (2015)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama, History
Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
Director: Simon Curtis | Stars: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl, Katie Holmes
Votes: 63,225 | Gross: $33.31M
March 12th 1938
22. The Sound of Music (1965)
G | 172 min | Biography, Drama, Family
A young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn
Votes: 261,107 | Gross: $163.21M
Spring 1938 - Austria
23. The Children of Huang Shi (2008)
R | 125 min | Drama, War
About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh
Votes: 9,985 | Gross: $1.03M
Second Sino-Japanese War 1938 Nanjing, China
24. The Book Thief (2013)
PG-13 | 131 min | Drama, War
While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
Director: Brian Percival | Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Ben Schnetzer
Votes: 142,312 | Gross: $21.49M
Nazi Germany 1938
25. Europa Europa (1990)
R | 112 min | Drama, History, War
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Solomon Perel, Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider, André Wilms
Votes: 17,479 | Gross: $5.58M
Nov 9th-10th, 1938 - Germany to April 1944
26. Swing Kids (1993)
PG-13 | 112 min | Drama, Music
A group of teens adores forbidden music in Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of World War II.
Director: Thomas Carter | Stars: Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Frank Whaley, Barbara Hershey
Votes: 17,351 | Gross: $5.63M
1939 Hamburg, Germany
27. The Winds of War (1983)
126 min | Drama, Romance, War
The trials of the Henry and Jastrow families in the early years of World War II.
Stars: Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw, Jan-Michael Vincent, John Houseman
Votes: 4,662
March 1939 - December 7th 1941
28. Mother Night (1996)
R | 114 min | Drama, Romance, War
An American spy behind the lines during WWII serves as a Nazi propagandist, a role he cannot escape in his future life as he can never reveal his real role in the war.
Director: Keith Gordon | Stars: Nick Nolte, Sheryl Lee, Tony Robinow, Michael McGill
Votes: 5,591 | Gross: $0.39M
Pre-War
29. To Be or Not to Be (1983)
PG | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, War
At the onset of WW2, a Polish actor's family and the Polish Resistance help the troupe of a theatre escape Poland and the invading Nazis.
Director: Alan Johnson | Stars: Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Ronny Graham, Estelle Reiner
Votes: 12,035 | Gross: $13.03M
Warsaw, Poland August 1939
30. Dark Blue World (2001)
R | 112 min | War, Drama, Action
The friendship of two men becomes tested when they both fall for the same woman.
Director: Jan Sverák | Stars: Ondrej Vetchý, Krystof Hádek, Tara Fitzgerald, Charles Dance
Votes: 6,098 | Gross: $0.26M
March 16th, 1939 - Post War 1950 - German Occupation of Czechoslovakia"
31. The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
PG-13 | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
Keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Antonina and Jan Zabinski, must save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion in WWII Poland.
Director: Niki Caro | Stars: Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Brühl, Timothy Radford
Votes: 46,584 | Gross: $17.45M
September 1st, 1939
32. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Passed | 120 min | Action, Romance, Thriller
On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders
Votes: 23,721 | Gross: $3.48M
Pre-September 1939
33. To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Romance, War
During the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart
Votes: 43,029
34. Soldier of Orange (1977)
R | 165 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
During World War II, Dutch students join the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Rutger Hauer, Jeroen Krabbé, Susan Penhaligon, Edward Fox
Votes: 13,875
September 1939 - Liesen, The Netherlands - Rotterdam Blitz
35. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 912,444 | Gross: $32.57M
September 1st, 1939 Warsaw, Poland - Spring 1945
36. The Cruel Sea (1953)
Approved | 126 min | Drama, War
The World War II adventures of a British convoy escort ship and its officers.
Director: Charles Frend | Stars: Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, John Stratton, Denholm Elliott
Votes: 5,410
September 3rd, 1939 – May 8th, 1945 "Battle Of The Atlantic"
37. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,451,037 | Gross: $96.90M
Jewish Relocation September 1939 - VE-Day 1945
38. The Imitation Game (2014)
PG-13 | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
During World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.
Director: Morten Tyldum | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech
Votes: 825,192 | Gross: $91.13M
Sept 4th, 1939 (The day after Great Britain declares war on Germany) - 1952
39. 13 Minutes (2015)
R | 114 min | Biography, Drama, War
In November 1939, Georg Elser's attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler fails, and he is arrested. During his confinement, he recalls the events leading up to his plot and his reasons for deciding to take such drastic action.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Christian Friedel, Katharina Schüttler, Burghart Klaußner, Johann von Bülow
Votes: 10,067 | Gross: $0.16M
November 8th, 1939
40. Max Manus: Man of War (2008)
Not Rated | 118 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The true story about one of the most brilliant saboteurs during World War II and his battle to overcome his inner demons.
Directors: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg | Stars: Aksel Hennie, Agnes Kittelsen, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Ken Duken
Votes: 29,776
from the Winter War - November 30th, 1939 - against the Soviet Union, through the outbreak of World War II and the German occupation of Norway until peacetime in 1945.
41. The Winter War (1989)
199 min | Drama, History, War
In 1939, two Finnish brothers are conscripted in the army to fight in the war between Finland and the Soviet Union.
Director: Pekka Parikka | Stars: Taneli Mäkelä, Vesa Vierikko, Timo Torikka, Heikki Paavilainen
Votes: 8,730
November 30th, 1939 – March 13th, 1940 - Eastern Finland
42. The House on 92nd Street (1945)
Approved | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Bill Dietrich becomes a double agent for the F.B.I. in a German spy ring.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 3,295
1939 through December 7th 1941
43. Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956)
Not Rated | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the first major naval battle of World War II, the British Navy must find and destroy a powerful German warship.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: John Gregson, Anthony Quayle, Peter Finch, Ian Hunter
Votes: 4,866
"Battle of the River Plate" December 13th 1939
44. The Young Lions (1958)
Approved | 167 min | Action, Drama, War
The lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange
Votes: 8,848 | Gross: $9.96M
Beginning of War 1939 - End of War 1945 Paris/North Africa/London/New York
45. To Hell and Back (1955)
Approved | 106 min | Action, Biography, Drama
The true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film.
Director: Jesse Hibbs | Stars: Audie Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Charles Drake, Jack Kelly
Votes: 5,965
1939/1940 USA - 1945 France
46. Divided We Fall (2000)
PG-13 | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, War
In German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia), a childless couple agree to hide a Jewish friend at great personal risk of discovery and execution.
Director: Jan Hrebejk | Stars: Bolek Polívka, Csongor Kassai, Jaroslav Dusek, Anna Sisková
Votes: 5,392 | Gross: $1.32M
1939 Czechoslovakia
47. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 743,319 | Gross: $57.60M
1939 Italy
48. The Way Back (I) (2010)
PG-13 | 133 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Siberian gulag escapees travel four thousand miles by foot to freedom in India.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Dragos Bucur
Votes: 122,023 | Gross: $2.70M
1939 - Winter 1942 Gulag labour camp deep in Siberia, Mongolia, China, Tibet, India
49. Colditz (2005)
R | 120 min | Drama, War
While WWII Allied officer Jack Rose is held prisoner in Germany's notorious Colditz Castle, he recruits a band of fellow escape artists in the ultimate break-out only to discover that the greatest betrayal awaits him on safe ground.
Stars: Damian Lewis, Sophia Myles, Tom Hardy, Laurence Fox
Votes: 2,858
Begins in London in 1939, then later in Colditz Castle in Colditz, Germany.
50. Katyn (2007)
Not Rated | 121 min | Drama, History, War
An examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Andrzej Chyra, Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski, Danuta Stenka
Votes: 17,414 | Gross: $0.12M
March 5th, 1940 - "Katyn Massacre"
51. Into the White (I) (2012)
R | 104 min | Action, Biography, Drama
World War II: After an aerial battle over Norway, British and German airmen find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Finding shelter in the same cabin, they realize the only way to survive the winter is to set aside the rules of war.
Director: Petter Næss | Stars: Florian Lukas, David Kross, Lachlan Nieboer, Stig Henrik Hoff
Votes: 22,363
April 27th, 1940 Norway - Luftwaffe pilot Horst Schopis' bomber, a Heinkel He 111 (1H+CT) is shot down near Grotli by a Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua (L2940) fighter, which also crash-lands near the same location. The surviving German and British crew members have to share the same cabin to survive the harsh, Norwegian winter
52. Malena (2000)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, War
Amidst the war climate, a teenage boy discovering himself becomes love-stricken by Malèna, a sensual woman living in a small, narrow-minded Italian town.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
Votes: 112,022 | Gross: $3.45M
1940 Sicily as Italy joins the War and conclues in 1945.
53. Narvik: Hitler's First Defeat (2022)
TV-14 | 108 min | Drama, History, War
April 1940. The eyes of the world are on Narvik, a small town in northern Norway, source of the iron ore needed for Hitler's war machinery. Through two months of fierce winter warfare, Hitler is dealt his first defeat.
Director: Erik Skjoldbjærg | Stars: Kristine Hartgen, Carl Martin Eggesbø, Christoph Gelfert Mathiesen, Henrik Mestad
Votes: 17,405
April 8, 1940 Narvik, Norway
54. Army of Crime (2009)
Not Rated | 139 min | Drama, History, War
The poet Missak Manouchian leads a mixed bag of youngsters and immigrants in a clandestine battle against the Nazi occupation. Twenty-two men and one woman fighting for an ideal and for ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Guédiguian | Stars: Simon Abkarian, Virginie Ledoyen, Robinson Stévenin, Lola Naymark
Votes: 3,561 | Gross: $0.04M
Paris during the German occupation. June 14th 1940???
55. The Exception (2016)
R | 107 min | Drama, Romance, War
A German soldier tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the home of Kaiser Wilhelm in Holland during the onset of World War II, but falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman during his investigation.
Director: David Leveaux | Stars: Lily James, Jai Courtney, Christopher Plummer, Ella Holland
Votes: 15,411 | Gross: $0.61M
May 14th, 1940 Netherlands
56. One Against the Wind (1991 TV Movie)
PG | 96 min | Biography, Drama
Mary Lindell works for the French Red Cross in occupied France during World War II and helps Allied airmen who have been shot down to escape to the unoccupied side. Her activities are ... See full summary »
Director: Larry Elikann | Stars: Judy Davis, Sam Neill, Anthony Higgins, Christien Anholt
Votes: 569
May 1940 France
57. Shining Through (1992)
R | 132 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
An American woman of Irish and Jewish-German parentage goes undercover in Nazi Germany.
Director: David Seltzer | Stars: Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith, Liam Neeson, Joely Richardson
Votes: 10,745 | Gross: $21.73M
1940-1942 United States/Switzerland/Germany
58. Winter in Wartime (2008)
R | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In German-occupied Netherlands, a teenage boy gets involved in the Dutch resistance after coming to the aid of a wounded RAF pilot.
Director: Martin Koolhoven | Stars: Martijn Lakemeier, Jamie Campbell Bower, Yorick van Wageningen, Raymond Thiry
Votes: 13,530 | Gross: $0.54M
May 1940 - May 1945
59. Da hong zha (2018)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During World War II, five different Chinese people fight their way through Japanese Air Force attacks to protect an important military machine in Chongqing, 1940.
Director: Xiao Feng | Stars: Ye Liu, Bruce Willis, Song Seung-heon, William Chan
Votes: 4,788
1940 China Chongqing
60. Alone in Berlin (2016)
R | 103 min | Drama, History, War
After a Nazi German working class couple loses their son in World War II, they decide to retaliate by secretly leafletting handwritten cards in Berlin denouncing their government.
Director: Vincent Perez | Stars: Louis Hofmann, Emil von Schönfels, Katrin Pollitt, Sammy Scheuritzel
Votes: 9,972
1940 Berlin, Germany
61. Fateless (2005)
R | 140 min | Drama, Romance, War
14-year-old György's life is torn apart in WWII Hungary, as he is deported first to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald, where he is forced to become a man in the midst of hatred, and what it really means to be Jewish.
Director: Lajos Koltai | Stars: Marcell Nagy, Béla Dóra, Bálint Péntek, Áron Dimény
Votes: 7,156 | Gross: $0.20M
concentration camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Zeitz
62. Dunkirk (2017)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Drama, History
Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Commonwealth and Empire, and France are surrounded by the German Army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy
Votes: 740,263 | Gross: $188.37M
May 27th - June 4th, 1940 - "Operation Dynamo"
63. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War
Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien
Votes: 246,511 | Gross: $9.03M
Berlin in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, then Poland May 1940.
64. Atonement (2007)
R | 123 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Thirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn, Saoirse Ronan
Votes: 299,880 | Gross: $50.93M
"Battle of Dunkirk" / "Operation Dynamo" 1940 France
65. Darkest Hour (2017)
PG-13 | 125 min | Drama, War
In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler, or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn
Votes: 220,810 | Gross: $56.47M
66. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Approved | 134 min | Drama, Romance, War
A British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, May Whitty
Votes: 19,470 | Gross: $13.50M
Pre-War, Dunkirk, The Blitz 1939-1940
67. Dunkirk (1958)
Approved | 135 min | Action, Drama, History
A dramatization of the British Expeditionary Force's 1940 retreat to the beaches of France and the extraordinary seaborne evacuation that saved it from utter destruction by Nazi Germany.
Director: Leslie Norman | Stars: John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee, Robert Urquhart
Votes: 3,524
May 27th - June 4th, 1940 - "Operation Dynamo"
68. Suite Française (2014)
107 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
During the early years of German occupation of France in World War II, romance blooms between Lucile Angellier (Michelle Williams), a French villager, and Lieutenant Bruno von Falk (Matthias Schoenaerts), a German soldier.
Director: Saul Dibb | Stars: Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott Thomas, Margot Robbie, Eric Godon
Votes: 28,531
June 22nd, 1940 French Surrender
69. Hanover Street (1979)
PG | 109 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Margaret is a nurse in England during WW2, and married to a secret agent. Things get complicated when she falls for David, an American pilot.
Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Harrison Ford, Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Plummer, Alec McCowen
Votes: 5,932 | Gross: $3.00M
London, England 1940
70. Battle of Britain (1969)
G | 132 min | Action, Drama, History
In 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Harry Andrews, Curd Jürgens
Votes: 24,517 | Gross: $4.36M
"Battle of Britain" Summer/Fall 1940
71. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
PG | 143 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
While playing, Lucy and her siblings find a wardrobe that lands them in a mystical place called Narnia. Here they realize that it was fated and they must now unite with Aslan to defeat an evil queen.
Director: Andrew Adamson | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes
Votes: 428,118 | Gross: $291.71M
1940 "The Blitz" - London, England
72. Hope and Glory (1987)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Bill, a young boy living on the outskirts of London experiences the exhilaration of World War II. During this period, Bill learns about sex, death, love, hypocrisy, and the faults of adults as he prowls the ruins of bombed houses.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sebastian Rice-Edwards, Geraldine Muir
Votes: 14,601 | Gross: $10.02M
September 7th, 1940 - May 10th, 1941 "The Blitz" - London, England
73. Their Finest (2016)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A former secretary, newly appointed as a scriptwriter for propaganda films, joins the cast and crew of a major production while the Blitz rages around them.
Director: Lone Scherfig | Stars: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Richard E. Grant
Votes: 21,298 | Gross: $3.60M
1940 Post-Dunkirk England
74. Play Dirty (1969)
R | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, War
During World War II a group of British commandos in North Africa disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital German oil depot.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews
Votes: 3,778
June 1940 North Africa
75. Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Thriller
A German-born engineer, his American wife and their children travel from Mexico to the United States to visit her family, but a Romanian count complicates their plans.
Directors: Herman Shumlin, Hal Mohr | Stars: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lucile Watson
Votes: 4,977
1940, Washington D.C.
76. The Edge of Love (2008)
R | 110 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both.
Director: John Maybury | Stars: Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys, Simon Armstrong
Votes: 18,946 | Gross: $0.03M
1940's London, England - "The Blitz"
77. The End of the Affair (1999)
R | 102 min | Drama, Romance
A desperate man tries to find out why his beloved left him years ago.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea, Heather-Jay Jones
Votes: 23,945 | Gross: $10.66M
During and just after 'the war" in London, England
78. All Through the Night (1942)
Approved | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Runyonesque Broadway gamblers turn patriotic when they stumble onto a cell of Nazi saboteurs.
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt, Karen Verne, Jane Darwell
Votes: 4,932
September 1940, New York City - Nazi 5th columnists
79. The Desert Rats (1953)
Approved | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Richard Burton plays a Scottish Army officer put in charge of a disparate band of ANZAC troops on the perimeter of Tobruk with the German Army doing their best to dislodge them.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Richard Burton, James Mason, Robert Newton, Robert Douglas
Votes: 5,299
Mid-April 1941 North Africa
80. Sahara (I) (1943)
Approved | 97 min | Action, Drama, War
After the fall of Tobruk in 1942, during the Allied retreat in the Libyan desert, an American tank picks-up a motley group of survivors but they face advancing Germans and a lack of water.
Director: Zoltan Korda | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 9,752
Western Desert Campaign June 11, 1940 - Feb 4th, 1943
81. Rogue Heroes (2022–2024)
TV-MA | 52 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
SAS: Rogue Heroes charts the creation of the famed Special Forces unit. Based on the book by Ben Macintyre.
Stars: Connor Swindells, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Allen, Jacob Ifan
Votes: 21,350
Egypt 1941 Tobruk
82. The Tuskegee Airmen (1995 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, History, War
The true story of how a group of African-American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest United States fighter groups in World War II.
Director: Robert Markowitz | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance
Votes: 7,087
March 19th, 1941
83. Zoo (I) (2017)
PG | 97 min | Adventure, Family, History
Young Tom Hall (Art Parkinson) and his misfit friends fight to save "Buster" the baby elephant during the German air raid bombings of Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1941.
Director: Colin McIvor | Stars: Toby Jones, Seamus O'Hara, Penelope Wilton, Ian McElhinney
Votes: 1,427
Ireland 1941 Belfast Blitz
84. Run Silent Run Deep (1958)
Approved | 93 min | Action, Drama, War
A U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden, Brad Dexter
Votes: 13,114
Spring of 1941 - Pacific
85. Ghetto (2005)
110 min | History, War
In 1942, in Vilnius, the Nazi annihilate 55,000 Jews and squeeze the 15,000 survivors in a seven blocks ghetto. The twenty-two year old sadistic commander Kittel is assigned to administrate... See full summary »
Director: Audrius Juzenas | Stars: Heino Ferch, Sebastian Hülk, Erika Marozsán, Andrius Zebrauskas
Votes: 1,321
Summer of 1941, in Vilnius, the Nazi annihilate 55,000 Jews and squeeze the 15,000 survivors in a seven blocks ghetto.
86. Sink the Bismarck! (1960)
Approved | 97 min | Action, Drama, History
The World War II story of the Royal Navy's effort to defeat Nazi Germany's most powerful warship.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Kenneth More, Dana Wynter, Carl Möhner, Laurence Naismith
Votes: 8,317 | Gross: $6.54M
May 1941 North Atlantic
87. Mediterraneo (1991)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, War
In WW2, an Italian Army unit of misfits occupies an isolated non-strategic Greek island for the duration of the war.
Director: Gabriele Salvatores | Stars: Diego Abatantuono, Claudio Bigagli, Giuseppe Cederna, Claudio Bisio
Votes: 16,423 | Gross: $4.53M
In June of 1941, one year after Italy joined Germany against the Allies in World War II, a small group of misfit Italian soldiers is sent to a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea for four months of lookout duty.
88. Fortress of War (2010)
Not Rated | 138 min | Action, Drama, History
A war drama set during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, in which Soviet troops held on to a border stronghold for nine days.
Director: Aleksandr Kott | Stars: Aleksey Kopashov, Andrey Merzlikin, Pavel Derevyanko, Aleksandr Korshunov
Votes: 10,518
June 1941 - Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union
89. Leningrad (2009)
R | 110 min | Drama, War
Winter, 1941. World War II rages on as Nazi troops invade the Soviet Union and besiege the devastated city of Leningrad. Foreign journalists are quickly evacuated, but in the chaos that ensues, Kate Davies is left behind.
Director: Aleksandr Buravskiy | Stars: Mira Sorvino, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Olga Sutulova, Gabriel Byrne
Votes: 4,795
September 8th, 1941 – January 27th, 1944 "Siege of Leningrad"
90. In Darkness (2011)
R | 145 min | Drama, War
A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the German-occupied Polish city of Lvov.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader
Votes: 11,161 | Gross: $1.04M
July 1941 - July 1944 Lviv, Poland
91. Defiance (I) (2008)
R | 137 min | Action, Drama, History
Jewish brothers in German-occupied Eastern Europe escape into a Belorussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters, and endeavor to build a village, in order to protect themselves and about one thousand Jewish non-combatants.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos
Votes: 155,691 | Gross: $28.64M
June 22nd, 1941 - about the Bielski Partisans - Occupation of Belarus (Operation Barbarossa) and ended in August 1944 with the Soviet Operation Bagration.
92. The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)
Approved | 88 min | Biography, Drama, War
The story of the final years of the respected World War II German general, Erwin Rommel.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: James Mason, Cedric Hardwicke, Jessica Tandy, Luther Adler
Votes: 6,709
November 10th-18th, 1941 (Operation Flipper) - 1942 Libya, North Africa
93. Shanghai (2010)
R | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A '40s period piece which revolves around an American expat who returns to Shanghai in the months before Pearl Harbor due to the death of his friend.
Director: Mikael Håfström | Stars: John Cusack, Gong Li, Chow Yun-Fat, David Morse
Votes: 10,340 | Gross: $0.04M
94. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
G | 144 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness.
Directors: Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Masuda, Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Martin Balsam, Sô Yamamura, Jason Robards, Joseph Cotten
Votes: 37,217 | Gross: $29.55M
December 7th 1941 Hawaii
95. Age of Heroes (2011)
Not Rated | 90 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The true story of the formation of Ian Fleming's 30 Commando unit, a precursor for the elite forces in the U.K.
Director: Adrian Vitoria | Stars: Sean Bean, Danny Dyer, Aksel Hennie, Izabella Miko
Votes: 10,216
1941
96. Das Boot (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
A German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 264,381 | Gross: $11.49M
October 1941
97. From Here to Eternity (1953)
Passed | 118 min | Drama, Romance, War
At a U.S. Army base in 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his commanding officer's wife and top aide begin a tentative affair.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed
Votes: 50,824 | Gross: $30.50M
December 7th 1941 Hawaii
98. Casablanca (1942)
PG | 102 min | Drama, Romance, War
A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains
Votes: 606,083 | Gross: $1.02M
December 1941 Casablanca, Morocco - Africa
99. Pearl Harbor (2001)
PG-13 | 183 min | Action, Drama, Romance
A tale of war and romance mixed in with history. The story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, William Lee Scott
Votes: 351,835 | Gross: $198.54M
December 7th 1941 Hawaii
100. Come See the Paradise (1990)
R | 138 min | Drama, Romance, War
The passionate romance between an Irish-American man and a Japanese-American woman is threatened when the Pearl Harbor attacks happen and the woman is forced into a prison camp because of her ethnicity.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Tamlyn Tomita, Sab Shimono, Shizuko Hoshi
Votes: 3,055 | Gross: $0.85M
1936 Los Angeles - Pearl Harbor - Manzanar, California
Tell Your Friends