Highest-Rated Movies about '1800s', Sort by Popularity

Marat/Sade (1967), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Greatest Showman (2017), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), The Nightingale (2018), Son of Fury (1942) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best 1800s movies.

#2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Storyline: In 1805, aboard the H.M.S. Surprise, the brash Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and his trusted friend, the ship's scholarly surgeon, Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), are ordered to hunt down and capture a powerful French vessel off the South American coast. Though Napoleon is winning the war and the men and their crew face an onslaught of obstacles, including their own internal battles, "Lucky Jack" is determined that nothing will stop the Surprise from completing its mission.

Plot Keywords: captain, surgeon, sailor, confident, spirited, tense, ship ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. The Greatest Showman (2017)

Storyline: Orphaned, penniless but ambitious and with a mind crammed with imagination and fresh ideas, the American Phineas Taylor Barnum will always be remembered as the man with the gift to effortlessly blur the line between reality and fiction. Thirsty for innovation and hungry for success, the son of a tailor will manage to open a wax museum but will soon shift focus to the unique and peculiar, introducing extraordinary, never-seen-before live acts on the circus stage. Some will call Barnum's wide collection of oddities, a freak show; however, when the obsessed showman gambles everything on the opera singer Jenny Lind to appeal to a high-brow audience, he will somehow lose sight of the most important aspect of his life: his family. Will Barnum risk it all to be accepted?

Plot Keywords: showman, circus owner, circus performer, acrobat, performer, trapeze artist, dreamy ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Storyline: In April 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, H.M.S. Surprise, a British frigate, is under the command of Captain Jack Aubrey. Aubrey and the Surprise's current orders are to track and capture or destroy a French privateer named Acheron. The Acheron is currently in the Atlantic off South America headed toward the Pacific in order to extend Napoleon's reach of the wars. This task will be a difficult one as Aubrey quickly learns in an initial battle with the Acheron that it is a bigger and faster ship than the Surprise, which puts the Surprise at a disadvantage. Aubrey's single-mindedness in this seemingly impossible pursuit puts him at odds with the Surprise's doctor and naturalist, Stephen Maturin, who is also Aubrey's most trusted advisor on board and closest friend. Facing other internal obstacles which have resulted in what they consider a string of bad luck, Aubrey ultimately uses Maturin's scientific exploits to figure out a way to achieve his and the ship's seemingly impossible goal.

Plot Keywords: captain, surgeon, sailor, confident, spirited, tense, ship ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Storyline: The curse of The Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken) is the legacy of the small town of Sleepy Hollow. Spearheaded by the eager Constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) and his new world ways into the quagmire of secrets and murder, secrets once laid to rest, best forgotten and now reawakened, and he too, holding a dark secret of a past once gone.

Plot Keywords: lady, lawyer, headless horseman, townsperson, judge, eerie, offbeat ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)

Storyline: In 1807, Captain Horatio Hornblower leads his ship the HMS Lydia on a perilous voyage around Cape Horn and into the Pacific. The men, even his officers, don't know exactly where he is leading them. England is at war with Napoleon and everyone wonders why they have been sent so far from the action. They eventually arrive on the Pacific coast of Central America where the HMS Lydia has been sent to arm Don Julian Alvarado, who is planning an attack against France's Spanish allies on the North American continent. The hope is that Alvarado's forces will require the French to divert some of their military resources to North American defense in the aid of their Spanish allies. He arrives to learn that a Spanish Galleon is en route and he no sooner captures it and hands it over to Alvarado that he learns the Spanish are now England's allies and he must take it from Alvarado. He also gets a very comely passenger in the form of Lady Barbara Wellesley, sister of the Duke of Wellington. The voyage is uneventful but Horatio and Barbara develop a deep affection for one another, despite that he is married and she is engaged. There are more battles ahead however for Hornblower and he finds himself under the command of Admiral Leighton, Barbara's new husband.—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: captain, rear admiral, lady, rebel, enemy, sailor, spectacular ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. The Nightingale (2018)

Storyline: THE NIGHTINGALE is a meditation on the horrors of Australian colonization, set at the turn of the 19th century. The film follows Clare, a 21-year-old native Irish wife and mother held captive beyond her 7-year sentence, desperate to be free of her obsessed master, British lieutenant Hawkins. Clare's husband Aidan intervenes with devastating consequences for all. When British authorities fail to deliver justice, Clare pursues Hawkins, who leaves his post suddenly to secure a captaincy up north. Unfamiliar with the Tasmanian wilderness she enlists the help of an orphaned Aboriginal tracker Billy. Marked by their traumas, the two fight to overcome their distrust and prejudices against the backdrop of Australia's infamous 'Black War'.—Mae Moreno

Plot Keywords: convict, young woman, tracker, officer, family member, gritty, unrestrained ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. Son of Fury (1942)

Storyline: Sir Arthur Blake has inherited title and lands from his brother. He also has his orphaned nephew Benjamin working for him as a bonded servant. While he believes the lad was born out of wedlock and so cannot claim the inheritance, he is taking no chances. Benjamin eventually rebels against his uncle and sets sail to try and make his fortune. This may enable him to return to prove his claim to being the rightful heir to the estate.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Plot Keywords: knight, uncle, nephew, love interest, ex-girlfriend, rousing, spirited ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. Damn the Defiant! (1962)

Storyline: H.M.S. Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer Lieutenant Scott-Padget (Sir Dirk Bogarde) makes this difficult, and when Captain Crawford (Sir Alec Guinness) is disabled, the chance for violence increases.—Cleo <frede005@maroon.tc.umn.edu>

Plot Keywords: captain, lieutenant, cabin boy, sailor, tense, thrilling, ship ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#10. Monsieur N. (2003)

Storyline: Fresh from seeing his army defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte (Philippe Torreton) is in a jail cell on the British-controlled island of St. Helena. Sir Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant), the region's governor, is given the task of ensuring the French leader does not escape. However, because Napoleon still has a collection of devoted officers, and it is rumored that he's plotting his getaway, keeping him in captivity proves a complicated task for Lowe.

Plot Keywords: governor, officer, love interest, general, doctor, prisoner, tense ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. The Sisters Brothers (2018)

Storyline: Based on Patrick DeWitt's novel, The Sisters Brothers revolves around the colorfully named gold prospector Hermann Kermit Warm, who's being pursued across 1000 miles of 1850s Oregon desert to San Francisco by the notorious assassins Eli and Charlie Sisters. Except Eli is having a personal crisis and beginning to doubt the longevity of his chosen career. And Hermann might have a better offer.

Plot Keywords: criminal, gunslinger, brother, chemist, detective, assassin, amusing ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955)

Storyline: Legends (and myths) from the life of famed American frontiersman Davy Crockett are depicted in this feature film edited from television episodes. Crockett and his friend George Russell fight in the Creek Indian War. Then Crockett is elected to Congress and brings his rough-hewn ways to the House of Representatives. Finally, Crockett and Russell journey to Texas and partake in the last stand at the Alamo.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Plot Keywords: davy crockett, general, native american chief, native american warrior, settler, frontiersman, engaging ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. Angel and the Badman (1947)

Storyline: Notorious gunman Quirt Evans is wounded and on the run. He arrives at a Quaker farm owned by Thomas Worth and his family where he collapses from exhaustion. Evans asks Thomas and his daughter Penelope to drive him into town in their wagon in order to send an urgent telegram. The telegram contains a land claim and is sent to the land recorder's office. The Quaker family is ignoring the town doctor's advice to rid themselves of the gunfighter and they compassionately tend to the delirious Evans. Penny Worth becomes intrigued by his ravings of past loves.When Evans regains consciousness, Penny explains to him about the Quaker credo of non-violence and way of life. Three weeks later, two desperadoes, Laredo Stevens and Hondo Jeffries, ride into town looking for Evans.Penny's younger brother, Johnny, rushes home to inform Evans of his visitors and Evans prepares to flee. Penny, now smitten with Evans, offers to run off with him. Upon hearing the sound of approaching horses, Evans grabs his revolver and, to his horror, discovers that it has been emptied. His life is in serious danger.—nufs68

Plot Keywords: cowboy, woman, outlaw, lawman, family, doctor, passionate ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#14. My Little Chickadee (1940)

Storyline: Rightly suspected of illicit relations with the Masked Bandit, Flower Belle Lee is run out of Little Bend. On the train she meets con man Cuthbert J. Twillie and pretends to marry him for "respectability." Arrived in Greasewood City with his unkissed bride, Twillie is named sheriff by town boss Jeff Badger...with an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, both stars inimitably display their specialties, as Twillie tends bar and plays cards, and Flower Belle tames the town's rowdy schoolboys...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: con artist, singer, bandit, news reporter, cheeky, campy, amusing ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#15. The Inspector General (1949)

Storyline: An illiterate stooge in a traveling medicine show wanders into a strange town and is picked up on a vagrancy charge. The town's corrupt officials mistake him for the inspector general whom they think is traveling in disguise. Fearing he will discover they've been pocketing tax money, they make several bungled attempts to kill him.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>

Plot Keywords: government official, gypsy, police officer, mayor, idiot, con artist, charming ...

Movie Details Click Here!