The 40 most popular 1920s war movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


The General
1926 · 1h 19m
country: United States
During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnny Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.


Battleship Potemkin
1925 · 1h 15m
country: Soviet Union
A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre.


Wings
1927 · 2h 24m
country: United States
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.


Napoleon
1927 · 5h 30m
country: France
A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797.


Daredevils
1928 · 2h 15m
country: Poland
No overview available


The Big Parade
1925 · 2h 31m
country: United States
The story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.
Ruta gloriosa
Ruta gloriosa
1925
country: Spain
No overview available


Cardigan
1922 · 1h 10m
country: Unknown
Michael Cardigan is an American patriot in the months before the American Revolution. He fights to broker a peace deal between settlers and the Cayuga tribe and almost loses his life in the process. Despite the fact that he loves Silver Heels, the ward of the British governor, Michael joins with the famed Minute Men to plot revolution and, he hopes, a free American nation.


The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
1921 · 2h 36m
country: United States
Set in the years before and during World War I, this epic tale tells the story of a rich Argentine family, one of its two descending branches being half of French heritage, the other being half German. Following the death of the family patriarch, the man's two daughters and their families resettle to France and Germany, respectively. In time the Great War breaks out, putting members of the family on opposing sides.


Carry On!
1927 · 1h 26m
country: United Kingdom
'Admiral's son loves girl who becomes spy, and dies foiling her schemes.' (British Film Catalogue)


True Heaven
1929 · 1h 1m
country: United States
Phillip Gresson is in the employ of the British secret service, while heroine Judith is a spy for the Enemy. Hoping to gain possession of the usual Secret Plans, Judith pretends to be in love with Phillip. Only after nursing the seriously wounded Phillip back to health does Judith come to the realization that she genuinely loves him.


Jimmy Higgings
1928
country: Soviet Union
Jimmy Higgings is a worker of the plant making weapons for the Tsarist Russia and the German Empire. During World War I, Jimmy speaks at a spontaneous rally against the war. He is arrested. When released, he becomes unemployed. He is happy to hear the news about the revolution; he volunteers into the American expeditionary force thinking that having the weapons he can fight against Germans – the enemies of the Russian revolution. However, finding himself in Russia, Jimmy soon realises that the expeditionary force of American volunteers fights not against the Germans, but against the young Socialist Russia. Without any hesitations, he takes the path of revolutionary struggle, he spreads propaganda among the American soldiers and distributes Bolshevik leaflets. Captured by the American military police, Jimmy Higgings does not betray his friends. He is sentenced to twenty years in a military prison. Jimmy cannot stand it and loses his mind. Lost movie.


Noah's Ark
1928 · 2h 15m
country: United States
The Biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood, with a parallel story of soldiers in the First World War.


The Hero
1923 · 1h 10m
country: United States
Oswald Lane is welcomed by his hometown as a war hero and enjoys recounting his adventures to anyone who will listen. He accepts an invitation to stay in the home of his rather colorless brother, Andrew, and is soon not only making love to Martha, the Belgian maid, but is also finding Andrew's wife, Hester, receptive to his flirting. After stealing money entrusted to Andrew by his church, Oswald is on his way out of town when he passes a school fire, rescues several children, and is himself seriously burned. Andrew offers his own skin for grafting, and Oswald directs Hester to return the money.


Irish Destiny
1926 · 1h 13m
country: Ireland
An IRA man races to Dublin to warn his colleagues of a forthcoming raid, but he is captured by British forces.


The Last Command
1928 · 1h 28m
country: United States
A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.


The West
1928
country: France
"L'Occident" presents a story of the reaction of East and West in contact. It is based on a novel of Henry Kistemaeckers, produced for the screen by M. Henri Fescourt. The story is of the love of Hassina, daughter of a Moroccan chief, and Lieutenant Cadière, who lands from his ship to get information for the fleet about the position of an army of rebel tribesmen.


Buck Privates
1928 · 1h 10m
country: United States
Pvt. Smith, an American soldier stationed in a German town during the occupation of Germany after World War I, falls in love with the daughter of the town's leading citizen. The problem is that his sworn enemy, Sgt. Butts, also has designs on the girl. Butts comes up with a plan to get rid of his competition and get the girl for himself, but things don't go quite the way he planned.


French Heels
1922 · 1h 11m
country: United States
Returning from France after the war, John Tabor informs Palma May of her brother's death and offers the penniless girl his help, but she refuses it, preferring to work as a cabaret dancer. Later, John and Palma meet again, marry, and go west to manage a lumber camp, as instructed by John's wealthy father, Jarvis Tabor. Displeased by John's choice of wife, the elder Tabor tests the couple with difficult living conditions, which eventually discourage Palma, and she accepts the party invitation of Keith Merwyn, manager of the cabaret where she starred. Meanwhile, Merwyn effects a disturbance among the lumbermen, endangering John.


The Captain's Daughter
1928 · 1h 26m
country: Soviet Union
An adaptation of Pushkin's historical novel about the Pugachev's Rebellion in 1773–1774.


Shirt of Fire
1923
country: Turkey
Ayse who lost her husband and child during the occupation of Izmir by Greek Army in 1919 goes to Istanbul to attend demonstrations which are arranged against the occupation of Anatolia. And then she passes to Anatolia to be a nurse and meets with Ihsan there. At that time Turkish War of Independence starts and they participate to this battle together.


The Heart of Maryland
1927 · 1h
country: United States
At the outbreak of the War Between the States, Maryland Calvert is loved by Maj. Alan Kendrick, son of a Virginia general, and Capt. Fulton Thorpe. Nancy, whom Thorpe has loved unwisely, follows him to Washington and commits suicide when she learns he will not marry her; as a result, Alan is forced to request his resignation. When Fort Sumter is fired upon, Alan, who admires Lincoln's principles, joins the Union Army though his father is among the Secessionist leaders; as a result, he is estranged from Maryland. Thorpe, who has joined the Confederacy as a spy, is responsible for Alan's arrest, but Maryland victoriously comes to his aid by ringing the alarm bell.


Gilan's Daughter
1928 · 1h 12m
country: Soviet Union
This drama is about Gilan's downfall in 1920th under onslaught of Iran's shah & English army.
L'Aiglonne
L'Aiglonne
1922
country: Unknown
No overview available
Schweik in Russian Captivity
Schweik in Russian Captivity
1927
country: Czechoslovakia
Directed by Svatopluk Innemann.


The Forty-First
1927 · 1h 6m
country: Soviet Union
A young woman sharpshooter fighting with the Reds in Turkestan misses her forty-first victim, a handsome White lieutenant, and ends up escorting him, by boat, into captivity across the Aral Sea. A storm strands the two on an island.
Flying Fool
Flying Fool
1926 · 39m
country: United States
Donald is running so late for his own wedding that his bride-to-be, Wanda (Wanda Hawley), loses patience and returns home. Seizing the opportunity, the devious best man, Jack Bryan (Gaston Glass), attempts to charm the frustrated bride into marrying him instead. Jack isn't just a romantic rival; he steals a diamond necklace from Wanda’s family and whisks her away on his yacht, heading for the open sea. Donald takes to the sky in a desperate attempt to rescue her culminating in a series of spectacular action sequences on land, sea, and air.


The Raider Emden
1926 · 1h 5m
country: Germany
No overview available


Military Honor
1920
country: Mexico
No overview available


Hotel Imperial
1927 · 1h 25m
country: United States
During World War I, an Austrian officer is trapped behind the Russian lines. He tries to sneak through to his own lines, but is forced to take refuge in a small hotel, where he is hidden by the establishment's chambermaid. The two fall in love, but a Russian general makes the hotel his headquarters and sets his sights on the maid. In addition, the Austrian must find out the identity of a spy who is feeding the Russians military information that could lead to the destruction of the Austrian army.


The Legion of the Condemned
1928 · 1h 20m
country: United States
Finding his sweetheart, Christine, in the arms of a German officer, Price joins the French Air Legion. Christine is later revealed to be the spy whom Price has been ordered to drop behind enemy lines. They are reconciled, are captured by the Germans, and are rescued by his unit.


Captain Blood
1924 · 1h 50m
country: United States
Young Irish physician Peter Blood is exiled as a slave to Barbados, where he and his friend Jeremy are purchased by Colonel Bishop at the behest of his niece Arabella. With other slaves he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the terror of the Caribbean privateers until offered a commission in the English Navy. He defeats the French at Port Royal, and as a reward he is named governor of Jamaica and marries Arabella.


Arsenal
1929 · 1h 33m
country: Soviet Union
A soldier returns to Kyiv after surviving a train crash and encounters clashes between nationalists and collectivists. The story of the suppression of the Bolshevik uprising at the Arsenal factory in Kyiv by the Central Council troops.
Souls Aflame
Souls Aflame
1928
country: United States
Souls Aflame is a silent war drama released in 1928 directed by Raymond Wells


The Chess Player
1927 · 2h 20m
country: France
In 1776, an inventor conceals a Polish nobleman in his chess-playing automaton, a machine whose fame leads it to the court of the Russian empress.
Adventurous Youth
Adventurous Youth
1928
country: United Kingdom
In Mexico, an Englishman saves a banker's daughter from a revolutionary but surrenders to save a church from destruction


Maksim Maksimich
1927 · 58m
country: Soviet Union
War and love in Caucasus.


The Somme
1927 · 1h 49m
country: United Kingdom
Reconstruction of several battles which took place on the Somme.


The Shopworn Angel
1928 · 1h 22m
country: United States
Shortly after the United States enters World War I in 1917, a Broadway actress agrees to let a naive soldier court her in order to impress his friends, but a real romance soon begins.


The Mighty
1929 · 1h 12m
country: United States
In this melodrama set during WWI, a gangster joins the army and is promoted to major. He then returns from war torn Europe to tell a family that their beloved son had died in his arms during a battle. The major then falls in love with the late soldier's sister and decides to accept a position in town as the new police commissioner.
The 1920s were silent cinema's artistic peak, when directors had perfected a purely visual storytelling language just as sound arrived to displace it. German Expressionism and Soviet montage both date from here.
War films range from combat spectacle to anti-war argument, and often try to be both at once. The genre is a reliable index of how a country understands its own history.