The 40 most popular 1940s history movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Unconquered
1947 · 2h 27m · US
England, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to escape the gallows, to serve fourteen years as a slave in the colony of Virginia, whose inhabitants begin to hear and fear the sinister song of the threatening drums of war that resound in the wild Ohio valley.


Black Magic
1949 · 1h 45m · US
A hypnotist uses his powers for revenge against King Louis XV's court.


El abanderado
1943 · 1h 50m · ES
A young lieutenant is appointed flag bearer for his regiment, on the verge of the Spanish war against Napoleonic invasion. He doesn't share his friends'conspiring plans because he is engaged to a French lady. Then the revolution breaks out.


Day of Wrath
1943 · 1h 37m · DK
In a Danish village in the early 1600s, a young woman named Anne, whose mother was thought to be a witch, develops sympathy toward an old woman, Marte, who is accused of witchcraft. The intervention of Anne's older but kindly husband, Pastor Absalon saved her mother -- but now, urged on by his overbearing mother, he refuses to help Marte. When Absalon's son returns home and is attracted to Anne, it's a matter of time before her family destiny catches up with her.


Samson and Delilah
1949 · 2h 14m · US
When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret.


Henry V
1944 · 2h 17m · UK
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.


Annelie
1941 · 2h 50m · DE
On New Year′s Eve 1871 Annelie is born – 15 minutes too late, since her parents had calculated her birth to be exactly at midnight. These 15 minutes will again and again become the girl′s fate.


Kolberg
1945 · 1h 50m · DE
During Napoleon's victorious campaign in Germany, the city of Kolberg gets isolated from the retreating Prussian forces. The population of Kolberg refuses to capitulate and organizes the resistance against the French army, which immediately submits the city to massive bombardments.


Prince Gustaf
1944 · 1h 23m · SE
In the middle of the 1800s Swedish prince Gustaf meets the actress Anna Maria Wastenius and falls in love with her, but it is an impossible love story due to the rules of society.


The Great Glinka
1946 · 1h 56m · SU
About the life of the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka.


The Blum Affair
1948 · 1h 49m · DE
Dr. Blum, a Jewish manufacturer, is falsely accused of a murder. Even when the real killer’s identity becomes evident, the state prosecutor refuses to accept Blum’s innocence.


Huella
1940 · 1h 22m · AR
In 1840, a caravan of carts headed from Buenos Aires to Córdoba carrying merchandise, ammunition and prisoners, against the background of the struggles between the Unitarians and the Federalists.


Camões
1946 · 1h 58m · PT
The adventurous life of Portugal's epic poet, Luis de Camões.


Mermoz
1943 · 1h 40m · FR
Biography and apology of the famous pilot, nicknamed by some the Archangel, who organized the airmail network of South America, flew the first over the Andes Cordillera, maintained the mystique of the South Atlantic, militated in the Crosses of Fire and perished at the controls of "La Croix du Sud" during its twenty-fourth crossing.


Minas Conspiracy
1948 · BR
Reconstruction of the historical episode of the Inconfidência Mineira (Minas Conspiracy).


Sergeant York
1941 · 2h 14m · US
Alvin York a hillbilly sharpshooter transforms himself from ruffian to religious pacifist. He is then called to serve his country and despite deep religious and moral objections to fighting becomes one of the most celebrated American heroes of WWI.


Los Tres Mosqueteros
1946 · 1h 30m · AR
An attempt to bring the famous novel by Dumas to the cinema, where the promenades of Montevideo such as Parque Rivera and the Castillo del Parque Rodó are transformed into French settings.


That Hamilton Woman
1941 · 2h 5m · US
The story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.


Long Is the Road
1948 · 1h 17m · DE
The first feature film to represent the Holocaust from a Jewish perspective. Shot on location at Landsberg, the largest DP camp in U.S.-occupied Germany, and mixing neorealist and expressionist styles, the film follows a Polish Jew and his family from pre-war Warsaw through Auschwitz and the DP camps.


For Whom the Bell Tolls
1943 · 2h 50m · US
Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan—who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era—has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress.


La monja alférez
1944 · 1h 28m · MX
A 17th century woman, imprisoned for fighting in a bar, recounts her past to a priest. She tells of her father teaching her how to fence, of being sent to a convent by her aunt when her father died, of escaping by dressing as a man, and of her life as a man following the escape.


From Joan of Arc to Philippe Pétain
1944 · 58m · FR
Sitting at his desk, Guitry gives us a lecture on French history from Joan of Arc to the Occupation, with some focus on a number of its great writers and musicians.


Caesar and Cleopatra
1945 · 2h 18m · UK
At the height of the Roman Civil War, an aging Julius Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen Cleopatra, whom he teaches how to rule Egypt.


Man to Men
1948 · 1h 36m · FR
The story of the Swiss soldier, Henri Dunant, who was responsible for the founding of the Red Cross, and who was offered the first Nobel Peace Prize.


Brigham Young
1940 · 1h 54m · US
Based on the story of the famous Mormon leader, it follows Brigham Young and his challenge to transport his people across the Rocky mountains to settle in Salt Lake City. The plot focuses on two fictitious characters, Jonathan Kent and Zina Webb and the hardships they have to face along the way.


Embrujo
1941 · 1h 40m · AR
The love story between Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, after the independence of the country, and Domitila de Castro, Marchioness of Santos.


Tonight We Raid Calais
1943 · 1h 20m · US
A British commando is on a one-man raid to destroy a bomb factory in Nazi-occupied France. He must enlist the aid of French farmers to complete his mission.


The Heiress
1949 · 1h 55m · US
In 1840s New York, the uneventful and boring days of the daughter of a wealthy doctor come to an end when she meets a dashing poorer man — who may or may not be after her inheritance.


Bhakta Potana
1943 · 3h 6m · IN
It is a biographical film based on the life of Potana, who translated Bhagavatam into the Telugu language.


Queen Elizabeth
1940 · 1h 29m · HU
Emperor Franz Joseph's young wife, Queen Elizabeth, was a popular favourite. After the defeat of the War of Independence, the daughter of the revolutionary General Latkóczy came to her to ask for the Queen's intercession on behalf of her father. Little does she know that her journey is aided by the envoys of the Hungarian Legion, which is organizing abroad.


This England
1941 · 1h 24m · UK
Set in Claverly Village, it follows the fortunes of the Rookebys (Clements) and the ne'r-do-well Appleyards (Williams) from the time of the Normans, 1588, 1804, 1914, and 1940. Made to support morale during the war, its message is basically that you can't suppress the British; they've been there since the beginning; they'll be there to the end.


Ördöglovas
1944
No overview available


Hello, Moscow!
1945 · 1h 26m · SU
At the amateur talent show the boy, accompanying himself on the accordion, sings a song about Moscow... The plot of the movie is based on the story of the director of the school about how this accordion, once belonging to a cadre worker who died during a demonstration in 1905, has been in many hands before it got to the guys.


Ivan the Terrible, Part I
1944 · 1h 35m · SU
Set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.


Forever Amber
1947 · 2h 18m · US
Amber St Clair, orphaned during the English Civil War and raised by a family of farmers, aspires to be a lady of high society; when a group of cavaliers ride into town, she sneaks away with them to London to achieve her dreams.


Joan of Arc
1948 · 2h 25m · US
In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against England. The fourteen-year-old farm girl Joan of Arc claims to hear voices from Heaven asking her to lead God's Army against Orleans and crowning the weak Dauphin Charles VII as King of France. Joan gathers the people with her faith, forms an army, and conquers Orleans.


Anna and the King of Siam
1946 · 2h 8m · US
In 1862, a young Englishwoman becomes royal tutor in Siam and befriends the King.


Träumerei
1944 · 1h 40m · DE
A musical film based on biographical facts about Clara Wieck's love for composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856), her marriage against her will, Schumann's triumph, and his tragic end due to mental illness. The film is beautiful and entertaining, full of noble spirit and beautiful words about art and love, which only conflict in a theoretical context; not least thanks to its solid cast, this film is quite serious and far from kitsch. Completed in 1944, during World War II, the film was rejected by the Nazi leadership, but was eventually released and enjoyed success with an audience already weary of war.


Locura de amor
1948 · 1h 47m · ES
The passion that Joan of Castile, daughter of the Catholic Kings and heir to the throne, feels for her husband, Philip the Handsome, sovereign of the Netherlands and son of Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, is not reciprocated. Her temperament, her jealousy and an unexpected tragedy will throw Joan into the dark realm of madness and obsession with death, the only realm where she will be a true queen…


Sabuhi
1941 · 1h 41m · SU
The film is dedicated to the life and creative work of the great Azerbaijani educator, playwright, and philosopher, Mirza Fatali Akhundov, affectionately known as Sabuhi, meaning “man of the morning.”
1940s cinema is split by the war: propaganda and home-front melodrama, then the darker, more cynical film noir that followed. Italian neorealism emerged from the rubble at the decade's end.
Historical films reconstruct the past, whether faithfully or as deliberate myth-making. The genre attracts big budgets and big performances, and it reveals as much about the era that produced the film as the one on screen.