Best movies like On Guard
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The Comte de Gonzague schemes against his cousin, the Duc de Nevers, even though he is the Duke's heir and will inherit his estates. The Count has kept secret the existence of the Duke's bastard, recently born. When the Duke learns of his child, he journeys to wed the mother, a baron's daughter, in her father's isolated chateau. The occupants of the castle are surprised and murdered by the Count and his men. The only ones to escape are the Duke's friend, the skilled swordsman Lagardère, and the infant, a girl, now the rightful heiress to the Duke's vast fortune. The Count believes the pair to have drowned, when in fact they have been concealed by a travelling troupe of Italian players. Twenty years pass. The Count has discovered that the two survive and seeks to have them slain. But Lagardère gains the confidence of the Count, and employment as his bookkeeper, through his clever disguise as a hunch-back.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: France, Italy, Germany
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: funny, mesmerizing, exciting, epic, serious, realistic, stylized, baroque, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like On Guard (1997):
Similar in 84%
Wild Flower (1993)
Plot Summary:
The Benedetti family's wealth comes from gold stolen from the French army during the 18th century. When Jean (Michael Vartan), the lieutenant guarding the coins -- and lover of Elisabette Benedetti (Galatea Ranzi) -- is executed for a crime he did not commit, Elisabette curses the family. Bad luck travels from generation to generation. As the latest Benedettis tell their children about their eccentric grandfather, the children worry that the family curse will be passed on.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, France, Germany
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, saga
Similar in 89%
Fanfan (2003)
Plot Summary:
In this 2003 remake of the classic 1952 French film, Fanfan la Tulipe is a swashbuckling lover who is tricked into joining the army of King Louis XV by Adeline La Franchise, who tells Fanfan that by doing so, he will eventually marry one of the king's daughters.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: captivating, humorous, semi serious, tense, exciting, weird
Similar in 88%
Tomorrow at Dawn (2009)
Plot Summary:
Mathieu, a piano virtuoso, goes home to help his brother Paul to take care of their sick mother. Paul is into reenacting old battles, dressing up and getting into character, even dueling if necessary. Mathieu gets involved in this world and play becomes real.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 548
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, psychological, captivating
Similar in 86%
Bandit vs. Samurai Squad (1978)
Plot Summary:
Kumokiri Nizaemon, a former samurai warrior, has abandoned his class to become the leader of a gang of thieves. He leads his outlaws in an attempt to rob the castle of his former clan.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 421
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 163 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, jidai geki
Similar in 86%
By the Sword (1991)
Plot Summary:
A mysterious man, Suba, gets himself a job at a fencing academy, and as he learns the way of the students, the school, and its maestro, they learn that there's more to him than meets the eye. He gains (or regains?) his fencing skills and his philosophy of teaching clashes with the maestro's. As they are thrown into conflict, Suba and the maestro's past appear to be linked. And the resolution of their mysterious relationship may be a duel to the death.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: suspense, cult classic, sincere, rough, serious, realistic, independent film, cult film
Similar in 75%
Blood from a Stone (2011)
Plot Summary:
The day his bank refuses to finance him, Georges will do everything he can to save his shipyard and his employees.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, serious, cynical, captivating, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Swords of Blood (1962)
Plot Summary:
In the 18th century, Louis de Bourguignon is working with the Malichot's gang, but their ways are too 'unethical' for him. He creates his own band, acting under the name of Cartouche, making audacious robberies of the rich people, and even distributing the takings with the poor. Thus, cartouche attracts the people's sympathies, Venus's love, and hate from the Police and Malichot... Cartouche can escape all the traps they set at him - except the entrapments of love. Eventually, he will be saved by a woman, at her own cost.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, exciting, feel good, captivating, dramatic
Similar in 89%
Master of Dragonard Hill (1987)
Plot Summary:
In the 18th-century British Caribbean colony of St. Joseph's, decadent and hedonistic aristocrats rule with an iron fist and terrorize slaves and suspected criminals with a painful whip called the "dragonard.".
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, exciting, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, period drama
Similar in 77%
The Lady and the Highwayman (1988)
Plot Summary:
Set in old England, Hugh Grant ("Four Weddings & a Funeral", "Notting Hill") plays a highwayman who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. But during one of his robberies, he falls in love with an aristocratic lady, Emma Samms ("Star Quest", "Delirious"). Now, he is forced to choose between his true love or his true cause. This swash-buckling romantic adventure will have you on the edge of your seat with every swing of Hugh's savage sword.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: stylized, exciting, tense, captivating, light, entertaining, gothic, sex comedy, serious, period drama
Similar in 87%
The King Maker (2005)
Plot Summary:
1547 Fernando De Gama, a young "Soldier of Fortune" from Portugal, set sail for the ient in an effort to find a man who murdered his father and, with luck, like many of their compatriots, to make his fortune. A vicious storm in the Indian Ocean almost ended his plans when he was on the ship sank. The sole survivor, he was washed up on a tropical beach only to be captured by Arab slavers and taken to Ayutthaya in the kingdom of Siam, where he was offered for sale as a slave.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 739
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Thailand
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, rough, serious, surprise ending
Similar in 90%
Hunter in the Dark (1979)
Plot Summary:
Yataro Tanigawa, a one-eyed hired assassin, impresses yakuza boss Gomyo Kiyoemon with his skill. Gomyo hires Tanigawa as his bodyguard, or yojimbo, to protect him during an inter-clan conflict. Tanigawa quickly rises in stature in the clan, but finds his boss's enemies almost overwhelming.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 559
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, jidai geki
Similar in 85%
Saul and David (1964)
Plot Summary:
David of Bethlehem slays the giant and becomes a rival to King Saul.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 110
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Italy, Spain
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: epic, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, gloomy, christian film
Similar in 89%
Jacquou the Rebel (2007)
Plot Summary:
In 1815, young Jacquou lives an idyllic peasant life with his parents in the Périgord region of France. But one day, his childhood happiness is cruelly ended when his father is arrested, after a dispute with the arrogant Count de Nansac. With both his parents dead, Jacquou is adopted by Bonal, a kind priest, under whose influence he grows into an assured, morally upright young man. Now an adult, Jacquou has one desire. To repay the Count de Nansac for the evil he once inflicted on his parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, atmospheric, serious, captivating, stylized, period drama
Similar in 80%
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999)
Plot Summary:
A series of television drama programmes loosely based on Baroness Emmuska Orczy's series of novels, set in 1793 during the French Revolution. It stars Richard E. Grant as the hero, Sir Percy Blakeney, and his eponymous alter ego. The first series also starred Elizabeth McGovern as his wife Marguerite and Martin Shaw as the Pimpernel's archrival, Paul Chauvelin. Robespierre was played by Ronan Vibert. It was filmed in the Czech Republic and scored by a Czech composer, Michal Pavlíček.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 540 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, realistic, suspenseful, heroic, period piece, period drama, weird
Similar in 75%
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)
Plot Summary:
During the French Revolution, a mysterious English nobleman known only as The Scarlet Pimpernel (a humble wayside flower), snatches French aristos from the jaws of the guillotine, while posing as the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney in society. Percy falls for and marries the beautiful actress Marguerite St. Just, but she is involved with Chauvelin and Robespierre, and Percy's marriage to her may endanger the Pimpernel's plans to save the little Dauphin.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, entertaining, period piece, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, period drama, baroque, eighties
Similar in 88%
Marco Polo (2007)
Plot Summary:
Assigned to accompany two priests on a mission to convert the court of Kublai Khan to Christianity, Marco Polo is abandoned in the mountains when the priests, doubting the very existence of China, turn back. Polo eventually pushes bravely forth alone toward the fabled country where he is accepted as an envoy into Khan's court. Marooned on the far side of the world, Polo, accompanied by his servant, Pedro, advances as a Mongol grandee for twenty extraordinary years. What he eventually brings back with him to the West is a chronicle that changed history forever.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: exciting, atmospheric, epic, captivating, serious, realistic, stylized
Similar in 79%
Valmont (1989)
Plot Summary:
Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love. Based on the same novel as "Dangerous Liaisons.".
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, UK
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: stylized, period piece, sensual, costume drama, sexy, realistic, erotic, historical drama, independent film, captivating
Similar in 75%
Lorna Doone (2000)
Plot Summary:
The year is 1675. England is threatened by religious and political rivalries. King Charles II's Catholic brother, James, is next in line for the throne, but many Protestants put their faith in Charles' illegitimate son, The Duke of Monmouth. On the king's death, conflict is inevitable... Over seven days journey from London, Exmoor is a primitive and lawless area. Here, farmer Jack Ridd lives with his wife Sarah, son John, and two daughters. The only shadow over their simple life is cast by the notorious outlaw family the Doones. The aristocratic Doones were banished from their ancestral lands and now live through looting, theft, and murder. Their brutality is legendary.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, period piece, costume drama, historical drama, historical romance, epic
Similar in 87%
Royal Deceit (1994)
Plot Summary:
A Danish prince seeks revenge upon the villain who killed the king and his son to usurp the throne.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Netherlands, UK, Denmark, France, Germany
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: costume drama, tense, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 90%
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 76%
The Musketeers (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set in 17th century Paris, musketeers Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan are members of an elite band of soldiers who fight for what is just. They are heroes in the truest and most abiding sense – men that can be trusted and believed in to do the right thing, regardless of personal risk.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: exciting, historical drama, costume drama, realistic, serious, tension, suspense, period piece, epic, stylized
Similar in 82%
The Count of Monte-Cristo (1975)
Plot Summary:
A TV adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel. Edmond Dantes is falsely accused by those jealous of his good fortune, and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the notorious island prison, Chateau d'If. While imprisoned, he meets the Abbe Faria, a fellow prisoner whom everyone believes to be mad. The Abbe tells Edmond of a fantastic treasure hidden away on a tiny island, that only he knows the location of. After many years in prison, the old Abbe dies, and Edmond escapes disguised as the dead body. Now free, Edmond must find the treasure the Abbe told him of, so he can use the new-found wealth to exact revenge on those who have wronged him.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, feel good, period piece, action adventure, tense, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Lionheart (1987)
Plot Summary:
A young knight sets out to join King Richards crusaders. Along the way, he encounters The Black Prince who captures children and sells them as slaves to the Muslims. It is Robert Narra's sworn duty to protect the children and lead them to safety.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 969
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Hungary, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: captivating, exciting, serious, disturbing
Similar in 88%
Crusaders (2001)
Plot Summary:
Towards the end of the eleventh century, Pope Urban II announces a crusade against the Saracens, who have occupied the holy city of Jerusalem. Three young friends Richard, Peter and Andrew set off to join the crusading army.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 585
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Italy, Germany
Duration: 194 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, epic
Similar in 85%
The masked avenger: Lagardère (2003)
Plot Summary:
A new interpretation of classical Paul Feval's "Le Bossu" novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime
Country: France
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, serious, captivating
Similar in 78%
Robinson Crusoe (1997)
Plot Summary:
Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesman to their gods. During time their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic, independent film, freeze frame, baroque
Similar in 89%
Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War (1999)
Plot Summary:
The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history.Lt. Hornblower and his mates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: feel good, period piece, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, period drama
Similar in 75%
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Plot Summary:
Years have passed since the Three Musketeers, Aramis, Athos and Porthos, have fought together with their friend, D'Artagnan. But with the tyrannical King Louis using his power to wreak havoc in the kingdom while his twin brother, Philippe, remains imprisoned, the Musketeers reunite to abduct Louis and replace him with Philippe.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 176000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: exciting, period piece, costume drama, suspense, atmospheric, serious, epic, gothic, political, historical drama
Similar in 77%
Rob Roy (1995)
Plot Summary:
In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future, by borrowing money from the local nobility to buy cattle to herd to market. When the money is stolen, Rob is forced into a Robin Hood lifestyle to defend his family and honour.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: exciting, emotional, captivating, costume drama, dramatic, serious, historical drama, erotic, inspirational, mythical
Similar in 75%
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Plot Summary:
Edmond Dantés's life and plans to marry the beautiful Mercedes are shattered when his best friend, Fernand, deceives him. After spending 13 miserable years in prison, Dantés escapes with the help of a fellow inmate and plots his revenge, cleverly insinuating himself into the French nobility.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 146000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: Ireland, Switzerland, UK, USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspense, dramatic, costume drama, period piece, intense, realistic, epic, suspenseful, entertaining