Best movies like The Roses of the Desert
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A sanitary battalion of Italian Army is sent to Sorman oasis in Lybia during the Africa campaign in 1940. Soon an Italian missionary, living nearby, succeed to transform the occupation by Italian Army in a kind of humanitarian mission. In fact all the battalion is involved to help the local population. The war anyway goes on with no regards to human feelings. The "glorious" Fascist campaign is going to became a fast retreat.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 445
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: Italy
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Best tv shows and movies like The Roses of the Desert (2006):
Similar in 85%
The Best of Enemies (1961)
Plot Summary:
During World War II, a plane full of RAF fighter crashes in the Ethiopian desert and they are met upon by an enemy Italian patrol that allows them to go free. But, when the Brits are given orders to attack the Italians, lots of problems ensue.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 759
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
The Heifer (1985)
Plot Summary:
A platoon of mismatched republican soldiers cross the front-line to steal the bull that the enemy is going to fight on the saint patron date of the village. In addition to ruining the nationals' celebration they want the animal in order to butcher it and feed their famished troops. They get caught in the procession and have to go through a series of funny and pathetic incidents before they can get back to their side. Written by Mary Solari.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: Spain
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 85%
Hotel Lux (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1938 Hans Zeisig, an apolitical comedian, impersonator and cabaret actor, flees with a Russian passport (instead of American, which he would have preferred) from Nazi-Berlin, and finds himself in the legendary Hotel Lux, the 'lost paradise' of the Comintern, in Moscow. Everyone believes that Zeisig is a man named Hansen, Hitler's personal astrologer. But Zeisig quickly realizes that he's gone from the frying pan into the fire. In the Hotel Lux he meets his friends Frida and later Meyer again, still passionate communists. For the three idealists an adventure between love and death begins to run his course.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: Germany, Liechtenstein, France
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, sexy, sexual
Similar in 75%
Sadsacks Go to War (1974)
Plot Summary:
A Grand Slapstick comedy about four buddies serving in the army. Their long-suffering sergeant attempts to whip them into shape but the conflict spirals out of control.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 711
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, realistic, not serious, slapstick, fast
Similar in 77%
A Man Called Sarge (1990)
Plot Summary:
In the midst of WWII, a group of half-witted soldiers lead by a slightly smarter sergeant, battle the Germans and especially Von Kraut in the desert.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 542
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: parody, independent film, offbeat, humorous, realistic, not serious, biting, spoof, suspense
Similar in 76%
How I Unleashed World War II (1970)
Plot Summary:
How I unleashed World War II is a Polish feature film made in 1969, based on Kazimierz Sławiński's novel "Przygody kanoniera Dolasa" (The adventures of Dolas the cannoneer). The film was divided into three parts: Ucieczka (The escape), Za bronią (Following the arms) and Wśród swoich (Among friends).
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 224 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 78%
Which Way to the Front? (1970)
Plot Summary:
Brendan Byers III (Jerry Lewis), one of the richest men in America, has been pronounced 4-F and can't serve his country in it's war against Hitler. Byers does not takes "No" for an answer and recruits other 4-F's to fight against Hitler.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: slapstick, exciting, humorous, realistic, not serious, slapstick comedy, cult film
Similar in 88%
The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961)
Plot Summary:
Two Air Force friends have fun during their enlistment.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 443
Genere: Comedy, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: independent film, humorous, realistic, semi serious, psychotronic
Similar in 83%
On the Double (1961)
Plot Summary:
American GI Ernie Williams, admittedly weak-kneed, has an uncanny resemblance to British Colonel MacKenzie. Williams, also a master of imitation and disguise, is asked to impersonate the Colonel, ostensibly to allow the Colonel to make a secret trip East. What Williams is not told is that the Colonel has recently been a target of assassins. After the Colonel's plane goes down, the plan changes and Williams maintains the disguise to confuse the Nazis about D-Day.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 848
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: retro, independent film, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious, spy comedy
Similar in 82%
The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
Plot Summary:
An American Infantry officer assigned to a cloak-and-dagger role in Rome uses homing pigeons for outside contact, with humorous results.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 464
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, realistic, semi serious, freeze frame
Similar in 86%
McHale's Navy (1964)
Plot Summary:
The crew of PT-73 get into trouble when they back the wrong horse in a race. Now they have to come up with a way to raise the money to pay off the winners.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Dr. Akagi (1998)
Plot Summary:
At the end of WWII, Japanese doctor Akagi searches for the cure for hepatitis in the prisoner-of-war camp.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, History, War
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: sexy, period piece, sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious
Similar in 84%
Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)
Plot Summary:
A group of American executives making a film about World War II decide that since their lead is rather unglamorous, they will draft in an American G.I. to play the part of Winston Churchill. Their take on the war depicts a handsome Churchill falling in love with Princess Elizabeth, who is herself involved in the war as an undercover agent.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: UK
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: parody, humorous, semi serious, feel good, absurd, offbeat, realistic, alternative comedy
Similar in 89%
Ensign Pulver (1964)
Plot Summary:
1945, on an old cargo ship somewhere deep in the Pacific ocean: Captain Morton strives to become commander, so he demands the maximum quality of work from his crew, without granting them any freedom or favors - ignoring that they're thousand of miles away from the front. In one word: he drives his crew crazy. They are near mutiny, but no-one dares to do the first step. Until Ensign Pulver plays a prank on the captain that triggers fatal consequences.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, homoerotic
Similar in 84%
Black and White in Color (1976)
Plot Summary:
French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors. Deciding that they must do their proper duty and fight the Germans, they promptly conscript the local native population. Issuing them boots and rifles, the French attempt to make "proper" soldiers out of the Africans. A young, idealistic French geographer seems to be the only rational person in the town, and he takes over control of the "war" after several bungles on the part of the others.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: Côte d'Ivoire, France, West Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, biting, intercultural, suspense, period drama, inter cultural
Similar in 79%
Dad's Army (2016)
Plot Summary:
A cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: not serious, humorous, funny, light, feel good, captivating, entertaining, realistic
Similar in 82%
The Elusive Corporal (1962)
Plot Summary:
The story serves as a companion piece to Renoir's 1937 film, Grand Illusion, once more bringing together men from across the broad social spectrum of French society to depict one man's Sisyphean efforts to escape captivity in a German POW camp.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious
Similar in 79%
How I Won the War (1967)
Plot Summary:
An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: clever, humorous, witty, black comedy, parody, realistic, semi serious, dark comedy, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 81%
Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
Plot Summary:
In 1944, Capt. Josiah J. Newman is the doctor in charge of Ward 7, the neuropsychiatric ward, at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona. The hospital is under-resourced and Newman scrounges what he needs with the help of his inventive staff, especially Cpl. Jake Leibowitz. The military in general is only just coming to accept psychiatric disorders as legitimate and Newman generally has 6 weeks to cure them or send them on to another facility. There are many patients in the ward and his latest include Colonel Norville Bliss who has dissociated from his past; Capt. Paul Winston who is nearly catatonic after spending 13 months hiding in a cellar behind enemy lines; and 20 year-old Cpl. Jim Tompkins who is severely traumatized after his aircraft was shot down. Others come and go, including Italian prisoners of war, but Newman and team all realize that their success means the men will return to their units.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, humorous, emotional, realistic, captivating, sentimental, touching, serious
Similar in 77%
Guy X (2005)
Plot Summary:
A black comedy set in 1979, about a soldier mistakenly posted to an Arctic military base.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: Canada, Iceland, UK, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, dark comedy, offbeat, biting, black comedy, suspense
Similar in 88%
The Vultures (1984)
Plot Summary:
April 5, 1943: a battalion of the Foreign Legion arrives in El Ksour, Tunisia, to escort a fortune in gold bars to the home front. A German ambush awaits, and all but four die. Thanks to the street smarts of Sergeant Augagneur, the Legionnaires successfully counter attack. The bank manager and his seductive wife arrive, and so does a German lieutenant, whom the French arrest. Augagneur wants to steal the gold; warrant officer Mahuzard wants to do his duty. A series of alliances form and break apart, the group dwindles in number, and the gold heads south toward Betahoua. But in whose possession?.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, feel good, light, suspense, surprise ending
Similar in 79%
A Farewell to Fools (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set during World War II, somewhere in Eastern Europe. A German soldier is found dead near the village. The local authorities must find the culprit, or they will be all shot by the Nazis the morning after. There's no way to find the guilty one, but there's Ipu, the madman of the village, whom they promise a hero's funeral if he will claims responsibility and agrees to die in their place. He must decide, and time is running out.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 514
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: Romania, Germany, Belgium
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, semi serious, offbeat, captivating, tragicomedy, realistic, independent film, art film
Similar in 80%
Mediterraneo (1991)
Plot Summary:
Greek Sea, World War II. An Italian ship leaves a handful of soldiers in a little island; their mission is to spot enemy ships and to hold the island in case of attack. The village of the island seems abandoned and there isn't a single enemy in sight, so the soldiers begin to relax a little. Things change when their ship is hit and destroyed by the enemy, and the soldiers find themselves abandoned there. Actually, the island isn't deserted and when the Greeks understand that those Italians are harmless, they came out of their hiding places in the mountains and continue their peaceful lives. Soon the soldiers discover that being left behind in a God-forgotten Greek island isn't such a bad thing, after all.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: Italy
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, sincere, sad, art house, humorous, captivating, realistic, semi serious, intercultural, sentimental
Similar in 83%
The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969)
Plot Summary:
During World War II, Italian villagers hide their wine from the German army.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: humorous, exciting, light, captivating, culinary, atmospheric, feel good, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 83%
Normandy (2011)
Plot Summary:
Klaus Muller, a battle-hardened veteran, finds himself fighting for his life on the Russian front. Surrounded by overwhelming numbers of Russian tanks and planes, he and his men are doomed until famed German tank ace, Michael Wittmann, shows up in his Tiger Tank and saves the day. Once wounded, Klaus is transferred to Normandy to serve under Field Marshal Rommel just days before the Allied invasion. Much to his surprise, he finds that his beloved Klaudia is also stationed nearby as a field nurse. Unfortunately, so is her father, who is working with the French resistance and now finds himself pursued by the ruthless Gestapo officer Brahms, whose search leads him to Klaus and Klaudia attempting a rescue. They are caught and imprisoned. As D-Day begins and the Allies attack from the beaches and the sky, they escape from the prison, fighting the Gestapo in the middle of the biggest invasion in world history... Written by tino struckmann.
IMDB Rating: 2.6
IMDB Votes: 460
Genere: War
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, sex comedy, independent film
Similar in 80%
Camp de Thiaroye (1988)
Plot Summary:
A historical drama based on the Thiaroye transit camp massacre, Camp de Thiaroye dismantles the myth of colonial assimilation to expose ingrained social and cultural mechanisms of racism, exploitation, and privilege. In 1944, the French army massacred several units of West African conscripts recently returned from the battlefields of Europe. What was essentially a demand by African veterans that they be paid the same wages as their French counterparts led to an attack on soldiers who had only recently been fighting the Nazis in Italy and Germany.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 626
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 81%
Two Men Went to War (2002)
Plot Summary:
Comedy drama based on the true story of two British Army dentists who in 1942, eager to see action, go AWOL and invade occupied France on their own.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 934
Genere: Comedy, War, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, entertaining, captivating, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 83%
The Pentagon Wars (1998)
Plot Summary:
From the director of “Made In America” and “The Money Pit” comes a hilarious look at one of the most expensive blunders in military history. Over 17 years and almost as many billion dollars have gone into devising the BFV (Bradley Fighting Vehicle). There's only one problem. . . it doesn't work.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, disturbing, semi serious, satirical, dark comedy, clever, biting, suspense
Similar in 82%
El Alamein - The Line of Fire (2002)
Plot Summary:
War seen through the eyes of Serra, a university student from Palermo who volunteers in 1942 to fight in Africa. He is assigned to the Pavia Division on the southern line in Egypt. Rommel and the Axis forces are bogged down; it's October, the British prepare an offensive. At first, boredom, heat, hunger, and thirst bedevil the Italians; then the Brits attack, and there's no luck or heroism in death. Finally, it's retreat in confusion. Serra, his sergeant Rizzo, and his lieutenant Fiori take a last walk toward home. It's said that each soldier gets three miracles; when Serra's are used up, what then?.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, sincere, captivating, realistic, historical drama
Similar in 80%
My Best Enemy (2011)
Plot Summary:
Poland 1943: An unlikely pair - a concentration camp prisoner and a captain in Hitler's notorious SS - free themselves from the wreckage of a crashed SS airplane. The two appear to be strangely familiar with each other and the extent of their extraordinary relationship is thrillingly revealed.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: Austria, Luxembourg
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, tense, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative