Best tv shows like Fortunes of War
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Fortunes of War is a 1987 BBC television adaptation of Olivia Manning's cycle of novels Fortunes of War. It stars Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle, lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War, and Emma Thompson as his wife Harriet. Other cast members included Ronald Pickup, Robert Stephens, Alan Bennett, Philip Madoc and Rupert Graves. The series stays relatively faithful to the original novels, with no notable departures from their plot.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 863
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 407 min
Plot tags: tense, clever, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Fortunes of War (1987):
Similar in 85%
The Camomile Lawn (1992)
Plot Summary:
Presents the lives and loves of a family of cousins from 1939 to the present. Follows very closely the Mary Wesley novel. Begins with a funeral and uses the reminiscences of those gathered to fill in details in the lives of Richard and Helena and their nieces and nephews.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 919
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, Australia
Duration: 258 min
Plot tags: controversial, sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, family saga, hot, beautiful
Similar in 75%
The Winston Affair (1964)
Plot Summary:
In a remote jungle outpost in the Far Eastern theater of World War II, a hotheaded American soldier murders an allied British sergeant in cold blood. Stalwart American Lt. Colonel Barney Adams (Mitchum) is dispatched to defend him in the ensuing court martial. But when Lt. Adams starts encountering roadblocks in his search for evidence, and his key witnesses start disappearing one after another, he soon realizes he's merely a pawn in a mysterious conspiracy that could extend to the highest levels of military power.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 805
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, captivating, suspenseful, independent film, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Look Back in Anger (1989)
Plot Summary:
Look Back in Anger is a love triangle involving the brilliant-but-disaffected young Jimmy Porter (Branagh), his upper-middle-class, impassive wife Alison Porter (Thompson), and her aristocratic best friend Helena Charles (Redmond). Cliff (Horan), an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 370
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Spring 1941 (2007)
Plot Summary:
After Germany invades Poland and the Nazis order the confinement of all local Jews in the ghetto, medical doctor Artur Planck (Joseph Fiennes) manages to flee with his family, seeking refuge at the farm of Emilia (Kelly Harrison), their former grocer. With the Planck family hiding in her attic, Emilia finds her feelings for the physician growing stronger than she wants, or can control -- despite the dangers of the situation.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 789
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Poland, Israel
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, sexual, sexy
Similar in 84%
The Jewel in the Crown (1984)
Plot Summary:
The British Raj: though their position seems secure, thoughtful English men and women know that "their" time in India is coming to an end. The story begins with an unjust arrest for rape, and the consequences of this echo through the series. Questions of identity and personal responsibility are explored against a background of war and personal intrigue.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: UK
Duration: 778 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, emotional, serious, realistic, costume drama, historical drama, epic, atmospheric, stylized
Similar in 88%
Spies of Warsaw (2013)
Plot Summary:
A military attaché at the French embassy is drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, France, Poland, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, romantic, captivating, suspense, political, period drama
Similar in 81%
Sword of Honour (2001)
Plot Summary:
Guy Crouchback joins the war effort during World War 2, an idealistic quest to join the forces of good in the fight against evil. But his efforts is not rewarded, he never has any chance to join any real fighting, circumstances always prevent it. Instead he finds himself in the middle of an army full of cowards, incompetents and a few outright evil men. They of course reap the fortunes of war, promotions and fame, but never Crouchback. His war is just an endless list of transfers and an hopeless but noble quest for righteousness.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 918
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 208 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, touching, semi autobiographical, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Land Girls (2009)
Plot Summary:
The lives, loves and highs and lows of four members of the Women's Land Army working at the Hoxley Estate during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 225 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, costume drama, historical drama, psychological, atmospheric, serious, period drama
Similar in 80%
Till We Meet Again (1989)
Plot Summary:
Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again was a 1989 TV mini-series based on the Judith Krantz novel, Till We Meet Again. Its stars included Mia Sara, Bruce Boxleitner, Hugh Grant and Courteney Cox.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 685
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, emotional, realistic, talky, period drama
Similar in 86%
Colditz (2005)
Plot Summary:
Three prisoners, Jack Rose, Tom Willis and Nick McGrade, embark on an heroic plan to escape from a World War Two POW camp. As Rose And Willis are recaptured by the Germans, McGrade manages to traverse their clutches and travels to London to inform Rose's girlfriend of his capture. So begins a complex love story.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, touching, exciting, tense, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 85%
The Boat (1985)
Plot Summary:
Life aboard a German U-Boat during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: West Germany, France, UK, Italy
Duration: 293 min
Plot tags: bleak, gloomy, cult classic, tense, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, epic
Similar in 84%
Island at War (2004)
Plot Summary:
Island at War is a British television series that tells the story of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands. It primarily focuses on three local families: the upper class Dorrs, the middle class Mahys and the working class Jonases, and four German officers. The fictional island of St. Gregory serves as a stand-in for the real-life islands Jersey and Guernsey, and the story is compiled from the events on both islands. Produced by Granada Television in Manchester, Island at War had an estimated budget of £9,000,000 and was filmed on location in the Isle of Man from August 2003 to October 2003. When the series was shown in the UK, it appeared in six 70-minute episodes.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 540 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, captivating, suspenseful, historical drama, bleak, serious, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 76%
A Day in October (1991)
Plot Summary:
During the month of October 1943, the Danish resistance movement and just plain ordinary citizens joined together in staging a mass exodus by fishing boats to neutral Sweden of their Jewish countrymen, practically on the eve of the Nazi's planned round-up and delivery to concentration camps of all Jews. Story is told from the point of view of one Jewish family.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Denmark
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, touching, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, factual
Similar in 85%
The Winds of War (1983)
Plot Summary:
In the late 1930s, world politics begin to head in a dangerous direction. In Europe, Germany expands and rearms and proceeds to annex several border countries into the Reich. Meanwhile, Italy attempts to establish a Facist Colonial Empire under Mussolini while the Empire of Japan stands ready for a major war with China. Enter the Henry family, headed by career naval officer Victor "Pug" Henry. "Winds of War" thus follows the exploits of Pug and his children, all of which are set against the backdrop of world events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 883 min
Plot tags: epic, sentimental, sincere, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, family saga, vintage
Similar in 79%
Bomb Girls (2012)
Plot Summary:
Focusing on a group of women working in a munitions plant during World War II, this ensemble drama depicts the dangers and new experiences they face.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, serious, stylized, historical drama, tense, period piece, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 83%
X Company (2015)
Plot Summary:
An emotionally-driven character drama, set in the thrilling and dangerous world of WWII espionage and covert operations. It follows the stories of five highly skilled young recruits - Canadian, American and British - torn from their ordinary lives to train as agents in an ultra-secret facility on the shores of Lake Ontario. These agents parachute behind enemy lines, where they're fair game for torture and execution. From elegant hotels to hellholes in the field, it's one risky operation after another, masterminded by the brains of Camp X.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, captivating, tense, suspense, dark, educational, historical drama
Similar in 89%
Home Fires (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story of a group of inspirational women in a rural Cheshire community with the shadow of World War II casting a dark cloud over their lives. As the conflict takes hold and separates the women from their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers, the characters find themselves under increasing and extraordinary pressures in a rapidly fragmenting world. By banding together as the Great Paxford Women’s Institute, they help maintain the nation’s fabric in its darkest hour, and discover inner resources that will change their lives forever.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, serious, psychological, historical drama, touching, period piece, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 82%
Birdsong (2012)
Plot Summary:
As an English soldier fights in the horrific trenches of northern France, he is haunted by the memories of his forbidden love affair with a French woman.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, epic, serious, stylized, historical drama, romantic drama, period drama, masterpiece
Similar in 84%
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 81%
The Passing Bells (2014)
Plot Summary:
At the outbreak of war, two teenage boys defy their parents to sign up.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, Poland
Duration:
Plot tags: historical drama, epic, realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, costume drama, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 77%
The Last Lieutenant (1993)
Plot Summary:
Norwegian war drama. The old sea-captain retires, but the next day German WWII occupation of Norway begins. He then kisses his wife good-bye and is off to Army HQ. There he finds a lack of leadership and morale that offends him. They even laugh at him and his out-dated uniform and officer-rank. Secondloitnanten then finds and leads his private troop of volunteers against the German attack. The movie tells the story of a man that refuses to give up, even when everybody else leaves. He will fight for the country he loves and do his duty.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 365
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Norway
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 79%
War and Remembrance (1988)
Plot Summary:
War and Remembrance is an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk. It is the sequel to highly successful The Winds of War.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 1620 min
Plot tags: historical drama, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, saga, epic, vintage
Similar in 76%
Foyle's War (2002)
Plot Summary:
As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, War
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, captivating, detective, suspenseful, realistic, crime drama, atmospheric, dark, period piece
Similar in 75%
This Life (2012)
Plot Summary:
The true story of the Fiil's a family of innkeepers who during Nazi-Germany's occupation of Denmark took up arms against the German occupiers. But in the fight for freedom, some must die so that others may live.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Denmark
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, disturbing, captivating, tense, bleak, serious
Similar in 75%
Above and Beyond (2006)
Plot Summary:
True Story about the Atlantic Ferry Operation during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 227
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 83%
World on Fire (2019)
Plot Summary:
The story of World War II told through the intertwining fates of ordinary people from all sides of this global conflict as they grapple with the effect of the war on their everyday lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, suspense, disturbing, retro, period piece, costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 84%
Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973)
Plot Summary:
The series is based on a true story of a Russian spy Colonel Isaev (Stirlitz) in Fascist Germany during 17 days in very end of WWII. Stirlitz has worked his way to the very top of the Fascist hierarchy without being caught. However, his "colleagues", top Hitler's officers Borman, Mueller, Schellenberg are beginning to suspect him. Stirlits is constantly walking on the edge between his two identities, sending information to Russia, while skillfully maintaining the appearance of loyalty to fascist regime.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 830 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, realistic, semi documentary
Similar in 77%
Piece of Cake (1988)
Plot Summary:
The lives and loves of the men of RAF Hornet Squadron who are transferred to France at the outbreak of World Wat II in September 1939. For the most part the men are competent fliers but there is little action in the first several months. The men wile away their time with some engaging in dangerous stunts while others woo some of the local lasses. The phony war comes to an end in April 1940 and the Battle of Britain begins. By September that year, few of them are left and despite their success, few see themselves as heroes. (6 episodes).
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 774
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 312 min
Plot tags: costume drama, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, period drama
Similar in 81%
World War II: When Lions Roared (1994)
Plot Summary:
Based upon the actual cables between Washington, London and Moscow during the Second World War, this TV-movie examines the relationship between the leaders of these countries throughout the conflict. Franklin D. Roosevelt (John Lithgow), Winston Churchill (Bob Hoskins) and Joseph Stalin (Michael Caine), spring to life as real but imperfect people who nevertheless are great leaders fighting a great war.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 622
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 194 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, clever, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, talky
Similar in 79%
The Saboteurs (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story about the heavy water war unfolds during the prolouge, eruption and the end of the second world war. We follow the story of the the key personnel in the race of who develops the atomic bomb first.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Norway, Denmark, UK, Czech Republic, Sweden
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, tense, period piece