Best movies like Barnum
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The amazing biography of legendary circus impresario and unparalleled showman, P.T. Barnum.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 230
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Barnum (1986):
Similar in 78%
Starfish (2016)
Plot Summary:
Based on the real story of Tom and Nicola Ray from Rutland. Their perfect life is totally ruined in a single moment after Tom had developed sepsis. While her husband was in coma, Nicola gave birth to their second child on the other side of the same hospital. Within a matter of days, sepsis would rob Tom of both his arms and legs, and left his face severely disfigured. As an ordinary man, Tom never put himself at risk — he just woke up two months later in a nightmare, a face-off quadruple amputee... This incredible story of survival shows what can be overcome when love is unconditional.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 709
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, children's story
Similar in 79%
Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000)
Plot Summary:
The true life story of famed singer Natalie Cole, daughter of Nat 'King' Cole. Gripping drama of her struggle with addiction and living in her father's shadow while still maintaining her own celebrity status.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: captivating, christian film, inspirational
Similar in 90%
Antonieta (1982)
Plot Summary:
Anna is a psychologist undertaking research about famous suicidal women. She takes a specific interest in the case of Antonieta Rivas Mercado, who killed herself in 1931 in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 396
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France, Mexico, Spain
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Shirley (2011)
Plot Summary:
Shirley is the youngest of eight children from a mixed race marriage. By the time she is a toddler the family have moved to the all white area of Splott and by the time she is 12 Shirley has discovered she has an extraordinary voice and can earn money singing in pubs around the docks after her father if jailed for sexual crimes. As a young teenager she begins singing and dancing in 'coloured review shows'. But it is a chance meeting with struggling agent Mike Sullivan that changes her life forever. He promises to make her a star, but has no idea of the personal sacrifice that will mean for the teenaged Shirley.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 201
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Babs (2017)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of Dame Barbara Windsor, the Cockney kid with a dazzling smile and talent to match. Preparing to perform in the theatre one cold evening in 1993, the cheeky, chirpy blonde Babs recounts the people and events that have shaped her life and career over fifty years from 1943 to 1993. She contemplates her lonely childhood and WWII evacuation, her decision to go from Barbara Ann Deeks to Barbara Windsor - inspired by the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, her complicated relationship with her father, her doomed marriage to Ronnie Knight, capturing the attention of Joan Littlewood and becoming the blonde bombshell in the Carry On films. Babs, ever the consummate professional, never lets her fans down whatever her personal anguish and steps on the stage to rapturous applause.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 649
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, tense, touching, captivating
Similar in 88%
Enslavement: The True Story Of Fanny Kemble (2000)
Plot Summary:
Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble fictionalized made-for-TV movie adapted from her Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839, starring Jane Seymour and Keith Carradine.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 287
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, disturbing, period drama
Similar in 77%
Eadweard (2015)
Plot Summary:
In the second half of the 19th century, Eadweard Muybridge, the father of motion pictures, embarks on an obsessive project to record on film "the motion of life" in all of its abundance. His epic quest is eclipsed only by the depth of his jealousy over his beautiful, young wife Flora. As the project progresses, his paranoia over her fidelity consumes him, until questions arise about his son’s paternity, causing him to erupt.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 641
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, educational, period piece
Similar in 80%
The Story of Piera (1983)
Plot Summary:
This sometimes confusing erotic drama about the incestuous relationship of a mother and daughter is based on the autobiography of Italian theater actress Piera Degli Esposti though it focuses more on her mother Eugenia.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 821
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Italy, France, West Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: erotic, neorealism, independent film, psycho sexual, grotesque
Similar in 78%
Alex: The Life of a Child (1986)
Plot Summary:
Based on true events, 'Alex: The Life of a Child' follows former 'Sports Illustrated' writer Frank Deford and his wife Carole when their happy, all-American family is rocked to the core when their baby daughter Alex is diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. While CF sufferers were almost certainly doomed to an early death in the Seventies, Alex grew into a child who showed remarkable courage and strength in face of her illness. Her loving family were quick to rally around her, determined to show the same bravery as the little girl as they supported and cherished her through life and struggled to move on after her death at the tragically young age of eight.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 239
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
My Dinner with Hervé (2018)
Plot Summary:
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-tothing dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: ironic, sad, tragic ending, factual, cynical, cult film
Similar in 81%
Chocolat (2016)
Plot Summary:
The history of the clown Chocolate, the first black circus artist in France, which has a great success in the late 19th century.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sentimental, thought provoking, touching, feel good, humorous, factual, motivational, inspirational, mesmerizing
Similar in 84%
The Greatest Showman (2017)
Plot Summary:
The story of American showman P.T. Barnum, founder of the circus that became the famous traveling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 303000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: inspirational, uplifting, captivating, motivational, sincere, romantic, suspense, suspenseful, costume drama, feel good
Similar in 86%
Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995)
Plot Summary:
The story of the life of the actress Elizabeth Taylor.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 526
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 210 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Burton and Taylor (2013)
Plot Summary:
TV drama based on Richard Burton's diaries, about his last performance in 1983 with ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor. They meet after several years and he agrees to her suggestion that they star in a stage revival on Broadway of Noel Coward's comedy 'Private Lives', although Elizabeth Taylor has never before performed on stage. Burton soon regrets his agreement, however, when her pill-popping and lack of discipline causes problems already during the rehearsals. The play opens to a critical trashing, but is popular with audiences because they just want to see Taylor. After a two month troubled run, the curtain comes down and Taylor tells Burton she has always loved him and still does. A year later he is dead.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, cult classic, historical drama, crying
Similar in 76%
The Elephant Man (1982)
Plot Summary:
A taped version of the stage play about a hideously deformed 19th-century London man and how he managed to triumph over his disease.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 302
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, realistic, talky, psychotronic
Similar in 77%
Cezanne and I (2016)
Plot Summary:
They loved each other with the ardor of thirteen-year-old boys. Rebellion and curiosity, hopes and doubts, girls and dreams of glory – they shared it all. Paul was rich, Emile poor. They went skinny-dipping, drank absinthe, starved, only to overeat. Sketched models by day, caressed them by night... Now, Paul is a painter and Emile a writer. Glory has passed Paul by. But Emile has it all: fame, money, the perfect wife, whom Paul once loved. They judge each other, admire each other, confront each other. They lose touch, meet up again, like a couple who cannot stop loving each other.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Belgium, France
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: exciting, atmospheric, captivating, realistic, contemplative, factual, artsy
Similar in 84%
To Olivia (2021)
Plot Summary:
In 1962, Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl retreat to the English countryside to bring up their young family. The seemingly unlikely pair find their relationship put to the test by a tragic loss.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, disturbing, depressing
Similar in 76%
Being the Ricardos (2021)
Plot Summary:
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: satirical, historical drama, independent film
Similar in 90%
Joseph Smith: Plates of Gold (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1827, Joseph Smith, Jr. was only 21 years old when he received a prophetic calling to translate ancient scriptures that would soon be published as The Book of Mormon. Less than three years later, he founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that today has 14 million followers and is the 4th largest religious denomination in the United States. Plates of Gold follows Joseph's early adult years and portrays the events that lead up to the publishing of The Book of Mormon and the founding of a new worldwide church. The film also details Joseph's personal life and his desire to find forgiveness, acceptance and salvation from God. Directed by Christian Vuissa (The Errand of Angels, One Good Man).
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 82
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Mark Twain and Me (1991)
Plot Summary:
Dorothy Quick, A young girl befriends the famous writer, Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemans during the final years of his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 191
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
A Quiet Passion (2016)
Plot Summary:
The story of American poet Emily Dickinson from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive, unrecognized artist.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Belgium, Canada, USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: historical drama, costume drama, romantic drama, period drama, queer cinema
Similar in 83%
P.T. Barnum (1999)
Plot Summary:
This series illustrates the life and career of P.T. Barnum, America's greatest showman and promoter. Starting as a young man who managed an old woman who was supposedly George Washington's nursemaid, we see his career as he finds success promoting curiosities and attractions with panache and a judicious mix of truth and creativity, whether it be promoting his museum or characters like the midget General Tom Thumb. Yet because the demands of his businesses, his family life is troubled and marred by tragedy. All the while, events lead to his greatest creation, the Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 189
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: humorous, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 75%
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
Plot Summary:
An award-winning cynical journalist, Lloyd Vogel, begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write an Esquire profile piece on the beloved television icon Fred Rogers. After his encounter with Rogers, Vogel's perspective on life is transformed.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 87000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, China
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: motivational, inspirational, thought provoking, sad, psychological, sincere, enigmatic, captivating, disturbing, uplifting
Similar in 81%
Tesla (2020)
Plot Summary:
The story of the Promethean struggles of Nikola Tesla, as he attempts to transcend entrenched technology—including his own previous work—by pioneering a system of wireless energy that would change the world.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: intellectual, serious, stylized, factual, inspirational, freeze frame, clever
Similar in 85%
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Plot Summary:
Sir Laurence Olivier is making a movie in London. Young Colin Clark, an eager film student, wants to be involved and he navigates himself a job on the set. When film star Marilyn Monroe arrives for the start of shooting, all of London is excited to see the blonde bombshell, while Olivier is struggling to meet her many demands and acting ineptness, and Colin is intrigued by her. Colin's intrigue is met when Marilyn invites him into her inner world where she struggles with her fame, her beauty and her desire to be a great actress.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, period piece, romantic, melancholic, factual, touching, historical drama, smart, cute, informative
Similar in 88%
Noble (2014)
Plot Summary:
Christina Noble overcomes the harsh difficulties of her childhood in Ireland to discover her destiny on the streets of Saigon. A true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, Vietnam
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, emotional, realistic, serious, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Angela's Ashes (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK, Ireland
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, depressing, sad, compassionate, serious, melancholic, sincere, gothic, epic
Similar in 89%
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Evelyn Ryan, a midwestern housewife who managed to rescue her family from debt by entering contests for ad slogans sponsored by consumer product companies.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sentimental, touching, sincere, uplifting, semi serious, stylized, emotional, intense, motivational
Similar in 86%
Bombshell (2019)
Plot Summary:
Based on the real scandal, BOMBSHELL is a revealing look inside the most powerful and controversial media empire of all time; and the explosive story of the women who brought down the infamous man who created it.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 124000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: political, uplifting, sad, motivational, social, deep, cult classic, historical drama, philosophical
Similar in 84%
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021)
Plot Summary:
The extraordinary true story of eccentric British artist Louis Wain, whose playful, sometimes even psychedelic pictures helped to transform the public's perception of cats forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: sad, surreal, tragicomedy, dramatic, stylized, semi serious, thought provoking, psychedelic, cult classic, crying