History Movies
Colonel Redl

Colonel Redl

Colonel Redl
IMDb: 7.4
132

Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl, an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to…

Genre: Drama, History
Harem

Harem

Harem
IMDb: 4.7
113

Diane is a sophisticated trainee on the New York Stock Exchange who is suddenly kidnapped and held captive in a North African desert hideaway by Selim, an Arab mogul.

Burke & Wills

Burke & Wills

Burke & Wills
IMDb: 6.3
140

A story based on true events about two explorers on a doomed journey trying to cross Australia on foot in the 19 century.

Solomon Northup’s Odyssey

Solomon Northup’s Odyssey

Solomon Northup’s Odyssey
IMDb: 7.3
117

This is based on a true story. Solomon Northrop is a black man in the mid 19th century before slavery was abolished. He’s a born free man who works as…

The Life and Death of King John

The Life and Death of King John

The Life and Death of King John
IMDb: 7.1
157

The reign of England’s King John is threatened by Philip of France who demands that John’s nephew Arthur be placed on the throne. Pragmatic and decisive, King John moves to…

Genre: Drama, History
Hibiscus Town

Hibiscus Town

Hibiscus Town
IMDb: 8.2
164

Based on a novel by the same name written by Gu Hua, a melodrama about the life and travails of a young woman who lives through the turmoil of the…

Battle Anthem

Battle Anthem

Battle Anthem
IMDb: 6.5
131

The story of Japan’s victory in the battle of Tsushima Strait.

Genre: History, War
Utu

Utu

Utu
IMDb: 6.9
118

In New Zealand in the 1860s the native Maori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the…

The Scarlet and the Black

The Scarlet and the Black

The Scarlet and the Black
IMDb: 7.5
143

Fr. Hugh O’Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the…

Phar Lap

Phar Lap

Phar Lap
IMDb: 7.2
107

Phar Lap, the big bold chestnut reigned as the king of the turf in the depression that gripped Australia of the 1930s. From his humble beginnings the New Zealand bred…

Genre: Drama, Family, History
The Mother of the Kings

The Mother of the Kings

The Mother of the Kings
IMDb: 7.3
127

Made in 1982, shelved for five years. Story opens with Lucja Krol’s husband under the tram. She gives birth to her fourth son on the floor of their new apartment….

Genre: Drama, History, War
The Lion of Flanders

The Lion of Flanders

The Lion of Flanders
IMDb: 5.5
104

A tale centered on the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 where the Flemish rank and file won a major victory over the glorious French knights.

Genre: Drama, History, War
High Road to China

High Road to China

High Road to China
IMDb: 6
105

A biplane pilot is saddled with a spoiled industrialist’s daughter on a search for her missing father through Asia that eventually involves them in a struggle against a Chinese warlord.

Henry VI Part 2

Henry VI Part 2

Henry VI Part 2
IMDb: 7.6
203

The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.

Genre: Drama, History
Henry VI Part 3

Henry VI Part 3

Henry VI Part 3
IMDb: 7.9
211

The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.

Genre: Drama, History
Barefoot Gen

Barefoot Gen

Barefoot Gen
IMDb: 8
83

A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy’s life and the lives of the Japanese people.

Adi Shankaracharya

Adi Shankaracharya

Adi Shankaracharya
IMDb: 7.7
130

The first and only Indian movie to be made in Sanskrit. The movie follows the life and times of Sankara – the founder of the non-duality (Advaita) school of Indian…

Genre: Drama, History
A Woman Called Golda

A Woman Called Golda

A Woman Called Golda
IMDb: 7.5
192

The story of the Russian-born, Wisconsin-raised woman who rose to become Israel’s prime minister in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The White Rose

The White Rose

The White Rose
IMDb: 7.1
123

During the Second World War, a small group of students at Munich University begin to question the decisions and sanity of Germany’s Nazi government. The students form a resistance cell…

Genre: Drama, History
The Return of Martin Guerre

The Return of Martin Guerre

The Return of Martin Guerre
IMDb: 7.4
107

Village of Artigat, southern France, summer 1542, during the reign of Francis I. Martin Guerre and Bertrande de Rols marry. A few years later, accused of having committed a robbery,…

Genre: Drama, History
The Night of Varennes

The Night of Varennes

The Night of Varennes
IMDb: 7.2
151

During the French Revolution, a surprising company shares a coach, trying to catch up something – the time itself, perhaps.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, History
Inside the Third Reich

Inside the Third Reich

Inside the Third Reich
IMDb: 7.2
323

A dramatization of the life of Albert Speer, Hitler’s young architect and onetime confidant, and his meteoric rise into the Nazi hierarchy. Based upon Speer’s own monograph of the same…

The Brazilwood Man

The Brazilwood Man

The Brazilwood Man
IMDb: 6.1
106

Fantasy comedy about Brazilian writer Oswald de Andrade, one of the most important icons of Modernism in Brazil. In the film, Oswald is played by two actors: Ítala Nandi, as…

The Draughtsman’s Contract

The Draughtsman’s Contract

The Draughtsman’s Contract
IMDb: 7.2
108

A young artist is commissioned by the wife of a wealthy landowner to make a series of drawings of the estate while her husband is away.

Danton

Danton

Danton
IMDb: 7.4
136

Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought together in the French Revolution, but by 1793 Robespierre was France’s ruler, determined to wipe out opposition with a series of mass…

Genre: Drama, History
Caligula and Messalina

Caligula and Messalina

Caligula and Messalina
IMDb: 3.6
101

When the deranged emperor Caligula falls for an insatiable gladiatrix, their reign launches a mind-bending bacchanal of torture, sodomy, incest, castration, and aroused livestock.

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
IMDb: 7
106

Forced to run from Texas Rangers after a heated misunderstanding leads to the death of a lawman, Mexican American farmer Gregorio Cortez sets off in desperate flight, evading a massive…

Genre: History, Western
The Atomic Cafe

The Atomic Cafe

The Atomic Cafe
IMDb: 7.6
86

A disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

Skokie

Skokie

Skokie
IMDb: 7.2
125

A dramatization of the controversial trial concerning the right for Neo-Nazis to march in the predominantly Jewish community of Skokie, Illinois.

Shogun

Shogun

Shogun
IMDb: 7.8
159

In the seventeenth century, a Dutch ship sails the Pacific from the Americas in order to escape the Spanish. Pilot-Major John Blackthorne (Richard Chamberlain) is the pilot of the ship…

Reds

Reds

Reds
IMDb: 7.3
195

An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed, who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his…

Kent State

Kent State

Kent State
IMDb: 7.3
180

Dramatization of the four days of events leading up to the historic tragedy at Kent State University in May 1970, during the confrontation between National Guardsmen and students staging antiwar…

Genocide

Genocide

Genocide
IMDb: 7.3
84

The mass murder of Jewish people by the Nazi regime is chronicled, with a warning that anti-Semitism is on the rise and the events of the Holocaust could happen again….

Gallipoli

Gallipoli

Gallipoli
IMDb: 7.4
112

As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank—both agile runners—become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps together. They later find themselves…

Genre: Drama, History, War
D.O.A.

D.O.A.

D.O.A.
IMDb: 7.3
95

Documentary chronicling the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Also concert and news footage.

Man of Iron

Man of Iron

Man of Iron
IMDb: 7.3
147

In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends disgruntled radio reporter Winkel to Gdańsk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers – particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an independent labour…

Genre: Drama, History
Caligula: The Untold Story

Caligula: The Untold Story

Caligula: The Untold Story
IMDb: 4.5
109

An insane young emperor finds his love of brutality and degradation surpassed only by his hunger for enslaved virgins, cruel vengeance, extreme acts of ‘horseplay’ and beyond.

Genre: Drama, History, Horror
The Boat Is Full

The Boat Is Full

The Boat Is Full
IMDb: 7.1
101

During World War II, Switzerland severely limited refugees: “Our boat is full.” A train from Germany halts briefly in an isolated corner of Switzerland. Six people jump off seeking asylum:…

Genre: Drama, History, War
Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge
IMDb: 7.5
58

Today it’s a symbol of strength and vitality. 135 years ago, it was a source of controversy. This documentary examines the great problems and ingenious solutions that marked the construction…

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities
IMDb: 6.6
162

Dissolute barrister Sydney Carton becomes enchanted and then hopelessly in love with the beautiful Lucie Manette. But Lucie loves and marries Charles Darnay, and remains oblivious to Carton’s undimmed devotion…