All time best World War 1 (WW1) movies and mini-series
by Erik_Surewaard | created - 20 Feb 2023 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicPlease consider visiting my other lists:
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All time best World War 2 (WW2) movies and mini-series
Movies and mini-series about Germany during the Cold War
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1. All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
R | 148 min | Action, Drama, War
A young German soldier's terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I.
Director: Edward Berger | Stars: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, Moritz Klaus
Votes: 245,477
Rating: 9/10
2. 1917 (2019)
R | 119 min | Action, Drama, History
April 6th, 1917. As an infantry battalion assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth
Votes: 675,307 | Gross: $159.23M
Rating: 9/10
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 150 min | Drama, War
A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Ian Holm
Votes: 10,532
Rating: 8/10 -------------- Older version of the movie released with the same name in 2022. The 1979 version is based on the same book, but is still a different experience to watch. I therefore recommend both movies, but please leave some time - e.g. several months - between watching the two versions.
4. Joyeux Noel (2005)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, History, Music
In December 1914, an unofficial Christmas truce on the Western Front allows soldiers from opposing sides of the First World War to gain insight into each other's way of life.
Director: Christian Carion | Stars: Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Natalie Dessay
Votes: 31,984 | Gross: $1.05M
Rating: 8/10 -------------- Inspired by true events that happened around Christmas 1914 during the WW1 trench war, this movie is a stunning show of how peaceful the soldiers themselves could be. A truly eyeopening movie.
5. Journey's End (I) (2017)
R | 107 min | Drama, War
Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, it is the story of a group of British officers, led by mentally-disintegrating young Officer Stanhope, as they await their fate.
Director: Saul Dibb | Stars: Paul Bettany, Sam Claflin, Stephen Graham, Tom Sturridge
Votes: 11,331 | Gross: $0.16M
Rating: 9/10
6. The War Below (2021)
96 min | Drama, History, War
During World War I, a group of British miners are recruited to tunnel underneath no man's land and set bombs from below the German front in hopes of breaking the deadly stalemate of the Battle of Messines.
Director: J.P. Watts | Stars: Sam Hazeldine, Tom Goodman-Hill, Kris Hitchen, Andrew Scarborough
Votes: 3,611
Rating: 8/10 -------------- This movie is the true story about how the tunneling activities if WW1 started. It also shows the story behind the famous battle of Messines.
7. War Horse (2011)
PG-13 | 146 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young farm boy enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. His hopeful journey takes him out of England and onto the front lines as the war rages on.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch
Votes: 165,587 | Gross: $79.88M
8. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Approved | 218 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 314,285 | Gross: $44.82M
9. The Trench (1999)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, History, War
June 1916. The British Army is planning a big offensive in the Somme region in France. We follow a platoon of British soldiers as they sit in a forward trench, anxiously awaiting the order to go over the top.
Director: William Boyd | Stars: Paul Nicholls, Daniel Craig, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Danny Dyer
Votes: 4,157
Rating: 6/10
10. Beneath Hill 60 (2010)
R | 122 min | Drama, History, War
In 1916, the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company is tunneling beneath German fortifications and bunkers to detonate massive explosive charges.
Director: Jeremy Sims | Stars: Brendan Cowell, Harrison Gilbertson, Steve Le Marquand, Gyton Grantley
Votes: 8,808
Rating: 9/10 -------------- The true story about how the Australians helped in the tunneling activities during WW1. This movie also shows in detail the famous battle for Messines, in which tunneling played a deciding role. This movie is clearly Australia's movie-making at its best!
11. The Lost Battalion (2001 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 92 min | Action, Drama, War
Fact-based war drama about an American battalion of over 500 men which gets trapped behind enemy lines in the Argonne Forest in October 1918 France during the closing weeks of World War I.
Director: Russell Mulcahy | Stars: Ricky Schroder, Phil McKee, Jamie Harris, Jay Rodan
Votes: 8,225
Rating: 8/10 -------------- Based on true events, this movie depicts the "Lost Battalion", which is not only the name of this movie but also the historical name that is given to the around 500 soldiers that were left isolated in enemy territory after an unsuccessful attack in the Argonne Forest.
12. Passchendaele (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, History, Romance
The lives of a troubled veteran, his nurse girlfriend and a naive boy intersect first in Alberta and then in Belgium during the bloody World War I battle of Passchendaele.
Director: Paul Gross | Stars: Paul Gross, Michael Greyeyes, James Kot, Jesse Frechette
Votes: 8,799
Rating: 6/10 -------------- The first 15 minutes and last 1 hour show WW1 battle scenes. Filled with lots of - regularly exaggerated - symbolism, this movie may still be considered a worthwile watch. Especially since it makes clear how (young) people were pressured in joining the army without them having any idea to what risks they are signing up to. It also shows that the rich and connected were in safe places that would mostly prevent them from getting harmed.
13. Laugh or Die (2018)
TV-14 | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In a detention camp in 1918, a group of Finnish actors are sentenced to death. When an important German general arrives, the camp's vicious commandant forges out a cruel plan: the ... See full summary »
Director: Heikki Kujanpää | Stars: Martti Suosalo, Jani Volanen, Leena Pöysti, Paavo Kinnunen
Votes: 1,081
Rating: 6/10
14. Birdsong (2012)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Romance, War
As an English soldier fights in the horrific trenches of northern France, he is haunted by the memories of his forbidden love affair with a French woman.
Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Clémence Poésy, Matthew Goode, Thomas Turgoose
Votes: 6,005
Rating: 7/10 -------------- A combination of a love and WW1 story: both infantry and underground mining in the frontline. Especially the second episode shows quite some WW1 action.
15. 37 Days (2014)
60 min | History
A TV mini-series that unveils the behind-closed-doors story of the final weeks before the outbreak of World War I.
Stars: Ian McDiarmid, Nicholas Farrell, Tim Pigott-Smith, Sinéad Cusack
Votes: 1,562
16. The Passing Bells (2014)
TV-14 | Drama, War
An epic historical drama spanning the five years of the First World War, as seen through the eyes of two ordinary young soldiers.
Stars: Patrick Gibson, Jack Lowden, Hubert Burton, Adam Long
Votes: 1,238
17. Our World War (2014)
Not Rated | Action, Drama, War
Three true stories of British soldiers fighting in World War 1. Each one takes place at a different time and place in the war, focuses on a different unit and shows a different aspect to the war.
Stars: Nicki Vickery, Rob Townsend, Gerard Kearns, Shaun Dooley
Votes: 1,892
Rating: 6/10
18. Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)
TV-PG | 175 min | Comedy, War
Stuck in the middle of World War I, Captain Edmund Blackadder does his best to escape the banality of the war.
Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie
Votes: 56,846
19. In Flanders Field (2014)
50 min | Drama, War
A 10-part series telling the story of the Boesman family during World War I.
Stars: Lize Feryn, Wietse Tanghe, Matthieu Sys, Barbara Sarafian
Votes: 1,110
20. Gallipoli (1981)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, Harold Hopkins
Votes: 41,952 | Gross: $5.73M
Rating: 8/10
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Mainly centers around one of the important battles of the Gallipoli campaign: i.e. the "Battle of the Neck" in which many soldiers unecessarily lost their lives.
I score this movie with 7.5/10, just making it an IMDb rating of 8 stars.
21. Gallipoli (2015)
44 min | Drama, History, War
Four young Australian boys join the military and are sent to Gallipoli.
Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Harry Greenwood, Sam Parsonson, Tom Budge
Votes: 2,384
Rating: 8/10
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Covering the complete WW1 Gallipoli campaign from the perspective of the ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) deployment, it is by far one of the best australian productions that I have ever seen. It starts from the preparations, landing and runs until the last soldiers left.
Interestingly, this series also shows the way that journalists (newspapers) were 'abused' during WW1 to provide an incorrect picture of the war - i.e. a more successful effort than it was in reality - in order to get more support for soldiers and materials.
This series is a clear recommendation if you liked - although it covers WW1 instead of WW2 - "The Pacific" or "Band of Brothers".
Score per episode: 8 - 9 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 7 - 7.
22. Davos 1917 (2023– )
Drama, Thriller, War
Set in the World War I, a young nurse at Davos is recruited by a female master in a high-stakes power play deciding war or peace.
Stars: Dominique Devenport, Jeanette Hain, David Kross, Sunnyi Melles
Votes: 457
23. The Lighthorsemen (1987)
PG | 131 min | Drama, History, War
In 1917 when the British forces are bogged down in front of the Turkish and German lines in Palestine they rely on the Australian light horse regiment to break the deadlock.
Director: Simon Wincer | Stars: Peter Phelps, Nick Waters, John Larking, Jack Heywood
Votes: 2,021
24. Sarajevo (2014 TV Movie)
98 min | Drama, History, War
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is in Sarajevo with his wife, Sophie. While through the city by car, they are victims of an attack and die. This is the trigger of the First World War.
Directors: Andreas Prochaska, Kurt Mündl | Stars: Florian Teichtmeister, Heino Ferch, Melika Foroutan, Juergen Maurer
Votes: 2,935
25. Haber (2008)
34 min | Short, Biography, Drama
In 1914, Fritz Haber is Germany's greatest chemist. His Nobel prize-winning synthetic fertilizers have saved the world from mass starvation. But as World War I breaks out across Europe, ... See full summary »
Director: Daniel Ragussis | Stars: Christian Berkel, Juliane Köhler, Wolf Kahler, Mark Margolis
Votes: 116
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