Highest-Rated Movies about 'World War One'

The Great Dictator (1940), Paths of Glory (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), They Shall Not Grow Old (2018), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), La Grande Illusion (1937), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Doctor Zhivago (1965) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best World War One movies.

#1. The Great Dictator (1940)

Storyline: 20 years after the end of WWI, in which the nation of Tomainia was on the losing side, Adenoid Hynkel has risen to power as the ruthless dictator of the country. He believes in a pure Aryan state and the decimation of the Jews. This situation is unknown to a simple Jewish Tomainian barber who has been hospitalized since a WWI battle. Upon his release the barber, who had been suffering from memory loss about the war, is shown the new persecuted life of the Jews by many living in the Jewish ghetto, including a washerwoman named Hannah with whom he begins a relationship. The barber is ultimately spared such persecution by Commander Schultz, whom he saved in that WWI battle. The lives of all Jews in Tomainia are eventually spared with a policy shift by Hynkel himself, who is doing so for ulterior motives. But those motives include a desire for world domination, starting with the invasion of neighboring Osterlich, which may be threatened by Benzino Napaloni, the dictator of neighboring ...

Plot Keywords: dictator, 1910s, 1930s, invented language, battlefield, bolt action rifle, soldier ...

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#2. Paths of Glory (1957)

Storyline: The futility and irony of the war in the trenches in WWI is shown as a unit commander in the French army must deal with the mutiny of his men and a glory-seeking general after part of his force falls back under fire in an impossible attack.

Plot Keywords: trench warfare, world war one, court martial, death penalty, fear of death, french soldier, french army ...

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#3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Storyline: Due to his knowledge of the native Bedouin tribes, British Lieutenant T.E. Lawrence is sent to Arabia to find Prince Faisal and serve as a liaison between the Arabs and the British in their fight against the Turks. With the aid of native Sherif Ali, Lawrence rebels against the orders of his superior officer and strikes out on a daring camel journey across the harsh desert to attack a well-guarded Turkish port.

Plot Keywords: arab, desert, ottoman empire, british military, homosexual subtext, violence, guerilla warfare ...

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#4. They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)

Storyline: Through ground breaking computer restoration technology, filmmaker Peter Jackson's team creates a moving real-to-life depiction of the WWI, as never seen before in restored, vivid colorizing & retiming of the film frames, in order to honor those who fought and more accurately depict this historical moment in world history.—Curtis Medina

Plot Keywords: male rear nudity, world war one, archive footage, uniform, nco, dirt, firearm ...

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#5. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

Storyline: Portrays in warm-hearted detail the life and loves of one extraordinary man. We meet the imposingly rotund General Clive Wynne-Candy, a blustering old duffer who seems the epitome of stuffy, outmoded values. Traveling backwards 40 years we see a different man altogether: the young and dashing officer "Sugar" Candy. Through a series of relationships with three women and his lifelong friendship with a German officer, we see Candy's life unfold and come to understand how difficult it is for him to adapt his sense of military honor to modern notions of "total war."

Plot Keywords: friendship, love triangle, duel, flashback, training exercise, satire, turkish bath ...

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#6. La Grande Illusion (1937)

Storyline: During 1st WW, two French officers are captured. Captain De Boeldieu is an aristocrat while Lieutenant Marechal was a mechanic in civilian life. They meet other prisoners from various backgrounds, as Rosenthal, son of wealthy Jewish bankers. They are separated from Rosenthal before managing to escape. A few months later, they meet again in a fortress commanded by the aristocrat Van Rauffenstein. De Boeldieu strikes up a friendship with him but Marechal and Rosenthal still want to escape...

Plot Keywords: military, prison, class differences, cross dressing, world war one, anti war, prisoner of war ...

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#7. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Storyline: This is an English language film (made in America) adapted from a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War 1 by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals. As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceptions about "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and bewildered. This is highlighted in the scene where Paul mortally wounds a French soldier and then weeps bitterly as he fights to save his life while trapped in a shell crater with the body. The film is not about heroism but about drudgery and futility and the gulf between the concept of war and the actuality.

Plot Keywords: world war one, death of protagonist, dying young, teenage boy, friend, claim in title, steel helmet ...

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#8. Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Storyline: During the Russian Revolution, Dr. Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) is a young doctor who has been raised by his aunt and uncle following his father's suicide. Yuri falls in love with beautiful Lara Guishar (Julie Christie), who has been having an affair with her mother's lover, Victor Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), an unscrupulous businessman. Yuri, however, ends up marrying his cousin, Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin). But when he and Lara meet again years later, the spark of love reignites.

Plot Keywords: freight train, cigar smoking, starvation, sleigh, ironing, medical student, christmas tree ...

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#9. The Roaring Twenties (1939)

Storyline: After the WWI Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

Plot Keywords: prohibition, organized crime, bootlegger, great depression, stock market crash, new york city, war veteran ...

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#10. Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Storyline: An intense film about time travel, this Sci-Fi entry was directed by Terry Gilliam, a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python. The film stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a prisoner of the state in the year 2035 who can earn parole if he agrees to travel back in time and thwart a devastating plague. The virus has wiped out most of the Earth's population and the remainder live underground because the air is poisonous. Returning to the year 1990, six years before the start of the plague, Cole is soon imprisoned in a psychiatric facility because his warnings sound like mad ravings. There he meets a scientist named Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the mad son of an eminent virologist (Christopher Plummer). Cole is returned by the authorities to the year 2035, and finally ends up at his intended destination in 1996. He kidnaps Dr. Railly in order to enlist her help in his quest. Cole discovers graffiti by an apparent animal rights group called the Army ...

Plot Keywords: time travel, virus, mental institution, underground, psychiatrist, plague, madness ...

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#11. Random Harvest (1942)

Storyline: A veteran of World War I marries and settles happily into a tidy, humble life until an accident brings back memories of a former life of wealth and privilege while blocking all recollection of his existence since the war. Thus one man disappears, and another man long missing turns up and claims his vast inheritance. What does his devoted wife, whom he no longer recognizes, do?—Paul Emmons <pemmons@wcupa.edu>

Plot Keywords: sailor, loss of son, doctor, dressing room, drink, family relationships, father son relationship ...

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#12. East of Eden (1955)

Storyline: In the Salinas Valley, in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother Aron for the love of their father Adam. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, to how to get ahead in business and in life, to how to relate to estranged mother.

Plot Keywords: love triangle, military enlistment, sibling rivalry, borrowing money, jealousy, abandoned by mother, brother versus brother ...

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#13. Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

Storyline: Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed in a fate worse than death - a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. He remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories, unable to distinguish whether he is awake or dreaming. He remains frustrated by his situation, until one day when Joe discovers a unique way to communicate with his caregivers.

Plot Keywords: nonlinear timeline, voice over inner thoughts, adaptation directed by original author, independent film, based on novel, democracy, dead body ...

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#14. The Big Parade (1925)

Storyline: The idle son of a rich businessman joins the army when the U.S.A. enters World War One. He is sent to France, where he becomes friends with two working-class soldiers. He also falls in love with a Frenchwoman, but has to leave her to move to the frontline.—Philip Apps <apps@math.wisc.edu>

Plot Keywords: 1910s, wine cellar, tank, sniper, mother son relationship, military police, machine gun ...

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