Best movies like Mr. Forbush and the Penguins
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies like Mr. Forbush and the Penguins? Leverage your insights to guide others toward tv shows and movies you've seen before that might similarly transfix them. Aid in increasing the cohort of people bringing up videos between each other. We encourage your contribution!
Plot Summary:
Life for Richard Forbush, brilliant biology student and conceited philanderer, is one long round of eat, drink and be merry. But his decision to accept a six-month research post in the Antarctic, making the first detailed study of a penguin colony, changes all that... Living in Shackleton’s derelict hut, Forbush is alone at the frozen edge of the world, his only links to civilisation a two-way radio and letters to his elusive, would-be girlfriend, Tara, in London. Through an often ferocious winter in the company of the penguins, he grows increasingly attached to his hardy, endearing subjects – learning profound lessons in endurance and humility.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 349
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Mr. Forbush and the Penguins (1971):
Similar in 82%
The Children of Captain Grant (1996)
Plot Summary:
.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Family
Country: Germany, Russia, USA, Canada, UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
Surfacing (1981)
Plot Summary:
Based on Margaret Atwood's best seller, Surfacing plunges you into the mysterious depths of the hostile Northern wilderness. Following her father's puzzling disappearance, Kate (Kathleen Beller), and her city-bred companions brave the untamed backwoods in a desperate search for him. However, the harsh environment becomes a dangerous catalyst for their explosive mix of personalities, propelling them into a world of raw emotion and unbridled passion. Directed by Claude Jutra, screenplay by Bernard Gordon.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film, art house, weird
Similar in 89%
All the Little Animals (1998)
Plot Summary:
An emotionally challenged young man named Bobby (Christian Bale) runs away from home in order to escape his abusive stepfather who has killed his pets. He meets an old man, Mr. Summers (John Hurt), who spends his time traveling and giving burials to animals that have been killed by cars. Bobby, also having an affinity for animals, becomes friends with the old man and aids him in his task.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: cult classic, independent film, psychological, touching, bleak, serious, realistic, psychological thriller, crying, allegory
Similar in 87%
Coast of Skeletons (1965)
Plot Summary:
A former district officer is assigned to work on a team of diamond prospectors, who are busy double crossing each other until they are blown up having found bullion.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 268
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, South Africa
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 75%
The Lion (1962)
Plot Summary:
Young Tina lives with her mother and stepfather on a wildlife reserve in Kenya. While her stepfather believes this is a wonderful environment for her to grow up in, her mother becomes increasingly concerned by her behaviour. These concerns are reinforced when it is revealed that her daughter's best friend in the whole world is a fully grown lion. Worried that her daughter may be turning into a savage, she sends for her former husband, Tina's biological father, in the hope that he can take her back to civilization (in this case rural Connecticut). But it seems as though Tina's mother wants something more than a civilized upbringing for her daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 746
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: romantic drama
Similar in 78%
Take a Girl Like You (1970)
Plot Summary:
Young Jenny heads to the South of England to start a new career as a school teacher. Even before she has had a chance to settle in she meets Patrick, one of the local "lads". Within a short time she has her hands full when a number of the local boys take a liking to her. But who will be the lucky one who wins her affections?.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 779
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sex comedy, romantic comedy, sexy, independent film, touching, offbeat, humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexual
Similar in 86%
Mawson - Life and Death in Antarctica (2007)
Plot Summary:
The Douglas Mawson Antarctic Expedition of 1912 is considered one of the most amazing feats of endurance of all time. Although his two companions perished, Douglas Mawson survived, but how? In a bold historical experiment, scientist and adventurer Tim Jarvis is retracing the gruelling experience, with the same meagre rations, primitive clothing and equipment to uncover what happened to Mawson physically-and mentally-as a man hanging on the precipice of life and death.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 12
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, captivating
Similar in 78%
The Sea Wolf (1993)
Plot Summary:
Jack London's brutal Wolf Larson brings a shipwrecked aristocrat and a con woman aboard his doomed ship, the Ghost.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 935
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
In the Forests of Siberia (2016)
Plot Summary:
Fed up with the hectic, senseless world he lives in, Teddy decides to settle down alone in Siberia, in the midst of winter, in a hut by the shore of Lake Baikal. After an initial period of elation in front of the splendor and magic of unspoiled nature, Teddy soon finds himself confronted with the less glossy side of things : solitude, extreme cold, the necessity to find food, danger... One night Teddy gets lost in a blizzard and would be doomed to a certain death, were it not for Aleksei, a Russian convict living hidden away in the forest nearby, who rescues him in extremis. Friendship soon blossoms between the two men.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Anything to Survive (1990)
Plot Summary:
A father and his children are caught by a storm whilst sailing in Alaska. When they get shipwrecked, things go from bad to worse.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 399
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious
Similar in 79%
Call of the Wild (1992)
Plot Summary:
A young boy heads off to the Yukon after hearing tales about the Gold Rush, and he forms an unwavering friendship with a heroic Alsatian dog called Buck.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Seven In Darkness (1969)
Plot Summary:
Seven blind people are on a plane on their way to a convention for the blind in Seattle. Due to bad weather, the plane crashes and only the seven blind people survive.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 195
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: disaster movie
Similar in 87%
Iron Ridge (2008)
Plot Summary:
When two friends from the city take a vacation to the wilds of Montana, they find themselves lost in the depths of the big sky country.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
The Aviator (1985)
Plot Summary:
A 1920s mail pilot and a rich man's daughter crash-land on a mountain full of hungry wolves.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: melancholic, inspirational, serious, realistic, clever, feel good, unusual plot structure, humorous, visually appealing, weird
Similar in 87%
Antarctica (1983)
Plot Summary:
Two Japanese scientists, Ushioda and Ochi, develop a bond with their sled dogs while on an expedition in Antarctica.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: depressing, ironic, suspenseful, serious, realistic, epic, tear jerker, tearjerker
Similar in 89%
White Hunter Black Heart (1990)
Plot Summary:
A thinly fictionalized account of a legendary movie director, whose desire to hunt down an animal turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, melancholic, talky, exciting, serious, touching, realistic, meta, thought provoking, bleak
Similar in 90%
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
Plot Summary:
A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant, and gives birth to a son in their tree house. Soon after, a family of apes stumble across the house and in the ensuing panic, both parents are killed. A female ape takes the tiny boy as a replacement for her own dead infant, and raises him as her son. Twenty years later, Captain Phillippe D'Arnot discovers the man who thinks he is an ape. Evidence in the tree house leads him to believe that he is the direct descendant of the Earl of Greystoke, and thus takes it upon himself to return the man to civilization.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: touching, harsh, serious, stylized, costume drama, visual, fairy tale, gothic horror, period piece, anthropological
Similar in 86%
Deadliest Sea (2009)
Plot Summary:
Based on the book Working on the Edge by Spike Walker, Deadliest Sea tells the story of a young man who joins the crew of a King Crab trawler in Alaska seeking to make some real money. The captain of the vessel plays a hunch about where to set traps in the Bering Sea, but the boat and crew are soon victims of a powerful and relentless storm.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 259
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, realistic, suspenseful, serious
Similar in 88%
The Long Ships (1964)
Plot Summary:
In this elaborately mounted seafaring adventure, Rolfe (Richard Widmark) is a Viking leader with the cunning and devious mind of a pirate. Rolfe tells others sailors of "The Mother of Voices," a mammoth bell made of gold and as tall as three men, but he adds enough incorrect details to throw them off the proper trail. However, Aly Mansuh (Sidney Poitier), the leader of a group of ambitious Moors, sees through Rolfe's story, and soon the two are in a breakneck race to be the first to capture the precious bell. The Long Ships also features Russ Tamblyn and Oscar Homolka.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, Yugoslavia
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: retro, semi serious, epic, saga, independent film
Similar in 75%
Kidnapped (1971)
Plot Summary:
Scottish orphan David Balfour (Lawrence Douglas) is betrayed by his wicked uncle Ebeneezer (Donald Pleasance), who arranges for David to be kidnapped and sold into slavery so that Unk can claim his inheritance. The boy is rescued and befriended by Alan Breck (Michael Caine), a Scottish rebel fighting on behalf of his country's independence from the British (did we tell you that the film takes place during late 18th century?) Both David and Alan undergo several exhilarating adventures before Alan comes to realize that the rebellion is doomed from the start, and David foils his uncle's greedy machinations. (AllMovie).
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, independent film, period drama
Similar in 79%
A High Wind in Jamaica (1965)
Plot Summary:
In 1870, a Jamaican colonial family sends its children to Britain for proper schooling, but their ship is taken over by pirates, who become fond of the kids.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, vintage
Similar in 83%
Land (2021)
Plot Summary:
Edee, in the aftermath of an unfathomable event, finds herself unable to stay connected to the world she once knew and in the face of that uncertainty, retreats to the magnificent, but unforgiving, wilds of the Rockies. After a local hunter brings her back from the brink of death, she must find a way to live again.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, captivating, serious
Similar in 89%
Walkabout (1971)
Plot Summary:
Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aborigine boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, Australia
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: road movie, atmospheric, visual, surreal, scenic, visually stunning, meditative, thought provoking, touching, philosophical
Similar in 77%
White Water Summer (1987)
Plot Summary:
When the experienced guide Vic accompanies the city boy Alan and his three friends on their first wilderness experience, he not only hope to teach the four boys lessons about the wilderness, but about themselves. Vic pushes them to the limit. Soon after alienating the boys, Vic finds himself in desperate need of help and must rely on his students in order to survive.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: intense, sincere, exciting, suspenseful, feel good, serious, realistic, contemplative, semi serious, scary
Similar in 76%
I Am David (2003)
Plot Summary:
Based on Anne Holm's acclaimed young adult novel North to Freedom, I Am David chronicles the struggles of a 12-year-old boy (Ben Tibber) who manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own -- through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark and a compass to help get him there.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, uplifting, tense, sad, serious, epic, realistic, inspirational
Similar in 84%
White Squall (1996)
Plot Summary:
Teenage boys discover discipline and camaraderie on an ill-fated sailing voyage.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: emotional, suspense, touching, serious, rough, inspirational, feel good, nautical, anamorphic, profound
Similar in 76%
Never Cry Wolf (1983)
Plot Summary:
This film dramatizes the true story of Farley Mowat, when he was sent to the Canadian tundra area to collect evidence of the grievous harm the wolf population was allegedly doing to the caribou herds. In his struggle to survive in that difficult environment he studies the wolves, and realizes that the old beliefs about wolves and their supposed threat are almost totally false. Furthermore, he learns that humans represent a far greater threat to the land, and also to the wolves, a species which plays an important role in the ecosystem of the north.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: scenic, semi autobiographical, philosophical, offbeat, sensitive, anthropological, uplifting, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 79%
Arctic (2018)
Plot Summary:
A man stranded in the Arctic is finally about to receive his long awaited rescue. However, after a tragic accident, his opportunity is lost and he must then decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his camp or embark on a deadly trek through the unknown for potential salvation.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 57000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA, Iceland
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: minimal cast, suspense, touching, uplifting, disturbing, inspirational, captivating, action adventure, clever, intellectual
Similar in 86%
Eight Below (2006)
Plot Summary:
In the Antarctic, after an expedition with Dr. Davis McClaren, the sled dog trainer Jerry Shepherd has to leave the polar base with his colleagues due to the proximity of a heavy snow storm. He ties his dogs to be rescued after, but the mission is called-off and the dogs are left alone at their own fortune. For six months, Jerry tries to find a sponsor for a rescue mission.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 67000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, inspirational, breathtaking, captivating, emotional, melancholic, intense, sad, tear jerker
Similar in 86%
Lost in the Barrens (1990)
Plot Summary:
The story of two very different boys in the Canadian wilderness. They must learn to depend on each other in order to survive.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 427
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: