Best movies like Ship of Fools
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Passengers on a ship traveling from Mexico to Europe in the 1930s represent society at large in that era. The crew is German, including the ship's Dr. Schumann, who falls in love with one of the passengers, La Condesa. A young American woman, Jenny, is traveling with the man she loves, David. Jenny is fascinated and puzzled by just who some of the other passengers are.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, emotional, tense, serious, realistic, black and white, talky, intellectual, retro, psychological
Best tv shows and movies like Ship of Fools (1965):
Similar in 88%
Marcel Proust's Time Regained (1999)
Plot Summary:
Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is on his deathbed. Looking at photographs brings memories of his childhood, his youth, his lovers, and the way the Great War put an end to a stratum of society. His memories are in no particular order, they move back and forth in time. Marcel at various ages interacts with Odette, with the beautiful Gilberte and her doomed husband, with the pleasure-seeking Baron de Charlus, with Marcel's lover Albertine, and with others; present also in memory are Marcel's beloved mother and grandmother. It seems as if to live is to remember and to capture memories is to create a work of great art. The memories parallel the final volume of Proust's novel.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: France, Italy, Portugal
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: philosophical, atmospheric, spiritual, psychological, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, crying, intellectual
Similar in 78%
Death in Love (2008)
Plot Summary:
Death in Love is a psychosexual-thriller about a love affair between a Jewish woman and a doctor overseeing human experimentation at a Nazi German concentration camp, and the impact this has on her sons' lives in the 1990s.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, bleak, erotic, sexy, realistic, independent film
Similar in 82%
Swing Shift (1984)
Plot Summary:
In 1941 America Kay and her husband are happy enough until he enlists after Pearl Harbor. Against his wishes, his wife takes a job at the local aircraft plant where she meets Hazel, the singer from across the way the two soon become firm friends and with the other girls become increasingly expert workers. As the war drags on Kay finally dates her trumpet playing foreman and life gets complicated.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, touching, humorous, semi serious, period piece, realistic, sincere, crying, weeping
Similar in 85%
Up at the Villa (2000)
Plot Summary:
Superficial people are revealed and drastically changed by circumstance or luck in this a tale of death, seduction, blackmail and theft among British and Americans in Florence in the turbulent days just before World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, atmospheric, suspenseful, stylized, romantic, realistic, crying, independent film, fairy tale, sentimental
Similar in 82%
Focus (2001)
Plot Summary:
In the waning months of World War II, a man and his wife are mistakenly identified as Jews by their anti-Semitic Brooklyn neighbors. Suddenly the victims of religious and racial persecution, they find themselves aligned with a local Jewish immigrant in a struggle for dignity and survival.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, sincere, thought provoking, suspense, talky, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
Voyage of the Damned (1976)
Plot Summary:
A luxury liner carries Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany in a desperate fight for survival.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: political, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, period piece, psychological, atmospheric
Similar in 85%
Twin Sisters (2002)
Plot Summary:
Twin Sisters is an epic love story based on the Dutch bestseller by Tessa de Loo that has been read by more than 3.5 million readers in Holland and Germany.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Netherlands, Luxembourg
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: captivating, sentimental, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, emotional, contemplative, non-linear, tear jerker
Similar in 80%
A Year of the Quiet Sun (1984)
Plot Summary:
Shortly after WWII an American soldier (Norman) and a Polish refugee (Emilia) fall in deep love. Eventually he will return to USA and both expect that she will soon follow him. Emilia's mother is sick but would recover by available medicine. Somehow the mother but not Emilia knows that there will only be one ticket. Realising that Emilia would never abandon her, the mother secretly throws away the daily doses given her by Emilia - and dies.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Poland, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: contemplative, intellectual, depressing, atmospheric, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Mother Night (1996)
Plot Summary:
An American spy behind the lines during WWII serves as a Nazi propagandist, a role he cannot escape in his future life as he can never reveal his real role in the war.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: political, political thriller, dieselpunk, independent film, uplifting, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
The Accompanist (1992)
Plot Summary:
In Nazi-occupied Paris, a young accompanist named Sophie Vasseur gets a job with famed singer Irene Brice. As Irene's husband Charles, a businessman collaborating with the Nazis, wrestles with his conscience, Sophie becomes obsessed with Irene, taking on the role of maid as well as accompanist, living life vicariously through Irene's triumphs and affairs.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 982
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance, War
Country: France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, realistic, crying
Similar in 86%
The Messenger (2009)
Plot Summary:
Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who has returned home from Iraq, is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Montgomery is partnered with Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), to give notice to the families of fallen soldiers. The Sergeant is drawn to Olivia Pitterson (Samantha Morton), to whom he has delivered news of her husband’s death.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: touching, depressing, sincere, bleak, sad, psychological, realistic, epic, cult classic, powerful
Similar in 78%
The White Countess (2005)
Plot Summary:
The last movie from the team of Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, and Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in 1930s Shanghai, "The White Countess" is both Sofia (Natasha Richardson), a fallen member of the Russian aristocracy, and a nightclub created by a blind American diplomat named Jackson (Ralph Fiennes), who asks Sofia to be the centerpiece of the world he wants to create.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: UK, Germany, China, USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, emotional, atmospheric, period piece, costume drama, touching, lyrical, romantic drama, sincere
Similar in 76%
Pavilion of Women (2001)
Plot Summary:
With World War 2 looming, a prominent family in China must confront the contrasting ideas of traditionalism, communism and Western thinking, while dealing with the most important ideal of all: love and its meaning in society.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: China, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, tense, crying, intercultural
Similar in 81%
Come See the Paradise (1990)
Plot Summary:
Come See The Paradise is a deeply touching love story set against the backdrop of a dramatic and controversial period in American history, It follows the romance and eventual marriage of Jack McGurn (Dennis Quad), a hot blooded Irish American, and a beautiful Japanese American Lily Dawanura (Tamlyn Tomita), at the outset of World War II. The clash of cultures, at once painful for the two lovers, becomes insurmountable after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Lily and the Kawamuras are relocated To a bleak, outdoor internment camp in California, Jack is drafted into the Army, powerless to help the woman he loves abandoning all hope of ever winning her family's approval.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative, crying, sentimental, romantic, clever
Similar in 88%
The Way We Were (1973)
Plot Summary:
Two desperate people have a wonderful romance, but their political views and convictions drive them apart.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: intellectual, sentimental, realistic, serious, captivating, talky, intense, romantic, touching, sweet
Similar in 76%
Head in the Clouds (2004)
Plot Summary:
A romantic drama set in 1930's England, Paris, and Spain. Gilda Bessé shares her Paris apartment with an Irish schoolteacher, Guy Malyon, and Mia, a refugee from Spain. As the world drifts toward war, Gilda defiantly pursues her hedonistic lifestyle and her burgeoning career as a photographer. But Guy and Mia feel impelled to join the fight against fascism, and the three friends are separated.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: sexy, romantic, sentimental, captivating, stylized, cult classic, romantic drama, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 79%
The Land Girls (1998)
Plot Summary:
During World War II, the organisation "The Women's Land Army" recruited women to work on British farms while the men were off to war. Three such "land girls" of different social backgrounds - quiet Stella, young hairdresser Prue, and Cambridge graduate Ag - become best friends in spite of their different backgrounds.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, France
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: period piece, sentimental, touching, realistic, retro, anamorphic, historical drama, sincere, serious, crying
Similar in 83%
Zelary (2003)
Plot Summary:
A nurse and her surgeon-lover are part of a resistance movement in 1940s Czechoslovakia. When they are discovered, her lover flees and she must find a place to hide. A patient whose life she saved, a man from a remote mountain village where time stopped 150 years ago, agrees to hide her as his wife.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, contemplative, epic, mysterious, serious, sentimental, romantic
Similar in 83%
Good (2008)
Plot Summary:
The rise of national socialism in Germany should not be regarded as a conspiracy of madmen. Millions of "good" people found themselves in a society spiralling into terrible chaos. A film about then, which illuminates the terrors of now.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, disturbing, captivating, christian film, retro, political, sad, period piece, romantic drama
Similar in 81%
A Soldier's Tale (1989)
Plot Summary:
In the days following the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France, a British platoon leader named Saul (Gabriel Byrne) and his corporal (Paul Wyett) reach an isolated farmhouse and encounter a beautiful French girl named Belle (Marianne Basler). Love blooms between Saul and Belle, but the grim realities of war catch up with them when a French Resistance trio claims that Belle is a Nazi collaborator. Judge Reinhold appears briefly as the token Yank.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 263
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, serious, emotional
Similar in 84%
Every Time We Say Goodbye (1986)
Plot Summary:
An American flyer who joined the RAF before his country was in the war is recovering from a leg injury in Jerusalem. Through an English friend he meets a quiet Jewish girl whose close-knit family originally came from Spain. The two are attracted to each other but she is convinced their diverse backgrounds mean it could never work.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Israel, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, romantic, entertaining, cult classic
Similar in 85%
The English Patient (1996)
Plot Summary:
In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almásy enters into a world of love, betrayal, and politics.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 198000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Duration: 162 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, emotional, touching, heartbreaking, sexy, erotic, scenic, epic, captivating
Similar in 87%
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Plot Summary:
In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: political, black and white, emotional, suspenseful, disturbing, sincere, tense, realistic, talky, philosophical
Similar in 87%
Chinese Box (1997)
Plot Summary:
The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Japan, USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, independent film, sentimental, serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, philosophical, sexy, thought provoking
Similar in 87%
Talk of Angels (1998)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of a young Irish woman who comes to Spain to escape from the pressures she feels about her impending marriage to a political activist in Ireland. But in Spain in the 1930's, taking a job of governess in a wealthy family, she finds the same kinds of political unrest. In fact, it isn't long before she finds herself attracted to a married man who is similarly involved in the struggle against fascism and Franco. This awakens her to her nature that brings her to such men and resolves for her what she must do about the life she left in Ireland.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 893
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sentimental, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 82%
Starting Out in the Evening (2007)
Plot Summary:
Leonard Schiller once counted among New York's Literary lions, but illness and ten years of writers block have lowered his profile, almost to the point of obscurity. When Heather Wolfe, an ambitious literature major, asks to interview him for her theses on his work, her interest forces hims to address the issues that have been he has avoided all these years, and stirs in him feelings he has long forgotten, much to his daughter's consternation.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, intellectual, talky, melancholic, emotional, sincere, serious, depressing, contemplative
Similar in 80%
In Harm's Way (1965)
Plot Summary:
A naval officer reprimanded after Pearl Harbor is later promoted to rear admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, factual, exciting, suspenseful, serious, retro, black and white, sincere, sentimental
Similar in 81%
Angry Harvest (1985)
Plot Summary:
In the winter of 1942-43, a Jewish family leaps from a train going through Silesia. They are separated in the woods, and Leon, a local peasant who's now a farmer of some wealth, discovers the woman, Rosa, and hides her in his cellar. Leon's a middle-aged Catholic bachelor, tormented by his sexual drive. He doesn't tell Rosa he's seen signs her husband is alive, and he begs her to love him. Rosa offers herself to Leon if he'll help a local Jew in hiding who needs money. Leon pays, and love between Rosa and him does develop, but then Leon's peasant subservience and his limited empathy lead to tragedy. At the war's end, a ray of sunshine comes from an unexpected place.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 852
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: West Germany
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: political, insightful, psychological, tense, sincere, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crying, eighties
Similar in 78%
Aimee & Jaguar (1999)
Plot Summary:
Berlin 1943/44 ("The Battle of Berlin"). Felice, an intelligent and courageous Jewish woman who lives under a false name, belongs to an underground organization. Lilly, a devoted mother of four, though an occasional unfaithful wife, is desperate for love. An unusual and passionate love between them blossoms despite the danger of persecution and nightly bombing raids. The Gestapo is on Felice's trail. Her friends flee, she decides to sit out the war with Lilly. One hot day in August 1944, the Gestapo is waiting in Lilly's flat.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Germany
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: erotic, romantic, sad, romantic drama, historical drama, sincere, thought provoking, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 89%
The Aftermath (2019)
Plot Summary:
In the aftermath of World War II, a British colonel and his wife are assigned to live in Hamburg during the post-war reconstruction, but tensions arise with the German widower who lives with them.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Germany, UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: melancholic, realistic, philosophical, serious, psychological, sentimental, sincere, romantic, disturbing, feel good