Best movies like Countdown to War
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Based on a play, the story details the dramatic negotiations between UK, France, Poland, Nazi-Germany and USSR from the day Czechoslovakia fell, until Britain's declaration of war on Germany caused by Hitler's invasion of Poland.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 198
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Countdown to War (1989):
Similar in 84%
Stalingrad (1990)
Plot Summary:
The WWII pivotal battle of Stalingrad is shown through the eyes of the soldiers and officers on both sides of the war.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 476
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Soviet Union, USA, Czechoslovakia, East Germany
Duration: 196 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Narvik: Hitler's First Defeat (2022)
Plot Summary:
April, 1940. The eyes of the world are on Narvik, a small town in northern Norway, a source of the iron ore needed for Hitler's war machine. Through two months of fierce winter warfare, the German leader is dealt with his first defeat.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Norway
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Tank T-34 (1965)
Plot Summary:
Russian prisoners of war commandeer a tank and lead the Nazis on a cross-country chase in this World War II adventure drama. The Russians use their own tanks so the Nazis can use them as target practice to test a new anti-tank weapon. Knowing that death is near, the brave Russians run amok and tear down German monuments before heading out to a field where female slave laborers are working.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 249
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Boys from St. Petri (1991)
Plot Summary:
A group of school-mates form a resistance group in nazi-occupied Denmark.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Warsaw 44 (2014)
Plot Summary:
A beautiful story about youth, love, friendship and the pursuit of adventure during the bloody and brutal reality of the Warsaw Uprising.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: realistic, romantic, captivating, psychological, tense, suspense, social
Similar in 79%
The Butcher of Prague (2011)
Plot Summary:
With the Nazi takeover of Europe underway, the Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich arrives in Prague and his underlings begin enforcing his authority in the towns and villages across the occupied country. In Lidice, the film's main protagonist, František Šíma, is sent to prison following a family dispute that results in the accidental death of one of his sons.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, serious, emotional, bleak
Similar in 85%
The Shadow in My Eye (2021)
Plot Summary:
On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a mission to bomb Gestapo's headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid had fatal consequences as some of the bombers accidentally targeted a school and more than 120 people were killed, 86 of whom were children.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark, Belgium
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing
Similar in 79%
The King's Choice (2016)
Plot Summary:
On 9 April 1940, German soldiers arrive in the city of Oslo. The King of Norway faces a choice that will change his country forever. The King's Choice is a story about the three most dramatic days in Norway's history, the royal family's escape and King Haakon's difficult choice after Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, tense, captivating, suspense, melancholic
Similar in 85%
Squadron 303 (2018)
Plot Summary:
After the fall of the September Campaign of 1939, two Polish pilots are forced to fight for their nation in foreign battlefronts.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland, UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, sincere
Similar in 84%
1939 Battle of Westerplatte (2013)
Plot Summary:
This harrowing war film is an epic dramatization of the first battle of World War II. The Battle of Westerplatte that began on 1 September 1939 will forever be remembered as the one that announced the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. Over one week, fewer than 200 Polish soldiers fought against heavy German bombardment and in the process came to symbolize the power of resistance. As the violence rages, a complex battle of a more personal nature plays out between two Polish commanders over how to best lead their men. Amid the bloodshed, they must ask themselves – should they fight until the last man standing or surrender in the face of overwhelming odds? What unfolds is a stirring exploration of the fight against the forces of tyranny.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 956
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Poland, Lithuania
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, bleak, serious, gloomy
Similar in 89%
Death and Glory in Changde (2010)
Plot Summary:
Directed by Shen Dong and starring Ray Lui, An Yixuan and Yuan Wenkang, Death and Glory in Changde recalls one of the most cruel and controversial battles during China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), Changde Battle, in November 1943.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 283
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: China
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Churchill and the Generals (1979)
Plot Summary:
The complicated relationship between Winston Churchill and the leaders of the British army during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: historical drama
Similar in 90%
Stones for the Rampart (2014)
Plot Summary:
To be defeated and not be - a victory. This is the motto that life is guided by three young friends: Alek, Sophy and Rudy. Scouts, high school graduates high school in Warsaw drifting ambitious plans for the future broken through September 1939. Entering adulthood in a very dramatic times, which puts them a choice - to survive at any cost, or to join the fighting for a free homeland, risking everything. The boys brought up in patriotic homes, shaped by the ideals of scouting, they decide to fight. They become soldiers, and although every scrape with death, they can live a full life.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 89%
Overlord (1975)
Plot Summary:
During the war a young lad is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: black and white, mind bending, psychedelic, political, surreal, independent film, psychological, tense, sincere, bleak
Similar in 82%
Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)
Plot Summary:
Hitler: The Last Ten Days takes us into the depths of der Furher’s Berlin bunker during his final days. Based on the book by Gerhard Boldt, it provides a bleak look at the goings-on within, and without.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: independent film, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 90%
April 9th (2015)
Plot Summary:
In the early morning of April 9th 1940 the Danish army is alerted. The Germans have crossed the border; Denmark is at war against Europe's strongest army. In Southern Jutland Danish bicycle- and motorcycle companies are ordered out, to against all odds, hold back the forces until the Danish reinforcements can be mobilized. In the fatal hours, we follow second lieutenant Sand and his bicycle company - they will as the first Danish soldiers meet the enemy in combat on April 9th 1940.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, tense, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
They Fought for Their Country (1975)
Plot Summary:
In July 1942, in the Second World War, the rearguard of the Russian army protects the bridgehead of the Don River against the German army while the retreating Russian troops cross the bridge. While they move back to the Russian territory through the countryside, the soldiers show their companionship, sentiments, fears and heroism to defend their motherland.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: heroic, tense, sentimental, rough, suspenseful, philosophical, political, suspense
Similar in 76%
The Dawns Here Are Quiet (1972)
Plot Summary:
Based on the eponymous book by Boris Vasilyev, the film is set in Karelia (North-West of Russia, near Finland) in 1941 during WWII. In a beautiful and quiet wilderness far from the front-line there is an anti-aircraft artillery point, where corporal Vaskov is stationed with a group of many young women in training.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 188 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tragic ending, epic, sad, patriotic, serious, realistic, scenic
Similar in 85%
1944: Forced to Fight (2015)
Plot Summary:
The events of the war in 1944, from the Blue Hills to Sõrve Peninsula. Shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to pick sides and fight against fellow brothers. Choices have to be made, not only by the soldiers, but also by their loved ones.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Estonia, Finland
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, captivating, suspense
Similar in 83%
The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
Plot Summary:
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 diplomatic status in a Catholic country prevents Colonel Kappler from openly arresting him, but O'Flaherty's activities become so large that the Nazi's decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican. O'Flaherty continues his work in a variety of disguises. Based on a true story. Written by John Vogel.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: realistic, factual, tense, serious, suspenseful, christian film, psychological, captivating, period piece, spiritual
Similar in 87%
Sobibor (2018)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story, international historical project “Sobibor” is dedicated to the heroism of the Soviet o cer Alexander Pechersky. During the great Patriotic war, being in a Nazi concentration camp Sobibor he managed to do the impossible — for only three weeks to organize a revolt and mass escape of the prisoners. Part of the escapees were caught and shot, and the rest led by Pechersky managed to escape and joined the partisans.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: Russia, Germany, Lithuania
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: rough, factual, suspenseful, philosophical, political
Similar in 84%
Operation: Daybreak (1975)
Plot Summary:
Czechoslovakia, 1942. Three brave Czech patriots risk everything to rid their country of its brutal Nazi leader, SS-General Reinhard Heydrich.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Escape from Sobibor (1987)
Plot Summary:
During WWII, the death camp at Treblinka had an escape, causing the Commandant at a similar camp in Sobibor to vow (actually threaten) that his camp would never experience the same thing. But those who were its captives, the Jewish laborers that had been spared from the ovens, knew that they were on borrowed time and that their only hope was to escape... the only question was how to do it. On October 14, 1943, members of the camp's underground resistance succeeded in covertly killing eleven German officers and a number of Ukrainian guards. Of the 600 inmates in the camp, roughly 300 escaped, although most were later re-captured and killed. The escape forced the Nazis to close the death camp, dismantling it and planting a forest.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, psychological, exciting, thought provoking, suspense, philosophical
Similar in 88%
Beyond the Front Line (2004)
Plot Summary:
A movie based on real wartime diaries tells the story of the Swedish speaking Finns' infantry regiment 61. The story follows the regiment during the Continuation War from 1942 to 1944 and from Syväri to the Karelian Isthmus where they faced some of the most grueling battles against the Soviet Union.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Finland
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, tense
Similar in 77%
Emperor (2012)
Plot Summary:
As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, sincere, thought provoking, retro, epic, social, sex comedy, patriotic, historical drama
Similar in 87%
The Bunker (1981)
Plot Summary:
Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: France, USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: bleak, realistic, psychological, serious, captivating, disturbing, suspenseful, rough, suspense, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Varian's War: The Forgotten Hero (2001)
Plot Summary:
Varian Fry rescues more than 2,000 artists from Nazi persecution during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 896
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: tense, sincere, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 89%
The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988)
Plot Summary:
During the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, Otto Frank decides to hide his family, who are Jewish, after his daughter Margot is called to appear for transport to a Nazi labour camp. Miep Gies, Otto Frank's office assistant hides them in the attic above the office. The film tells the true story of Gies' struggle to keep the family hidden and safe, as the Nazis turn Amsterdam upside-down. Based upon Gies' memoirs and Anne Frank's famous diary.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 483
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Into the Storm (2009)
Plot Summary:
This powerful follow-up to “The Gathering Storm” follows Churchill from 1940 to 1945 as he guided his beleaguered nation through the crucible of the war years--even as his marriage was encountering its own struggles.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, political, historical drama, historically accurate, gloomy, period drama, political drama
Similar in 77%
Copenhagen (2002)
Plot Summary:
No one knows for sure what transpired when German physicist Werner Heisenberg met with his Jewish Danish counterpart, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen -- the event became the stuff of modern scientific mythology. Director Howard Davies puts his spin on the momentous meeting that occurred one night in September 1941, during which the longtime friends entered into a dangerous discussion about physics and politics.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: captivating, thought provoking, serious, disturbing, realistic, contemplative, talky