50 Best World War I films
WW II is much more known in cinema, but the films of WW I are equally interesting, in my opinion, and usually lesser known. There are already many lists about this subject, but I never seem to agree upon the first three. It is also interesting that the first major film productions were made in this period. Birth of a Nation, for example, is from 1915. Here's my take at a best 50, old and new ones mixed together.
List activity
5K views
• 12 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
50 titles
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsRoger LiveseyDeborah KerrAnton WalbrookFrom the Boer War through World War II, a soldier rises through the ranks in the British military.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouAfter a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsRomuald JoubéMaxime DesjardinsSéverin-MarsThe story of two men, one married, the other the lover of the other's wife, who meet in the trenches of the First World War, and how their tale becomes a microcosm for the horrors of war.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsMel GibsonMark LeeBill KerrTwo Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsWendy AllnuttColin FarrellMalcolm McFeeThe working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the three boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.
- DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouGaspard UllielJodie FosterTells the story of a young woman's relentless search for her fiancé, who has disappeared from the trenches of the Somme during World War One.
- DirectorFrancesco RosiStarsMark FrechetteAlain CunyGian Maria VolontèOn the Italian/Austrian front during World War I, a disastrous Italian attack upon the Austrian positions leads to a mutiny among the Italian troops.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsJean CarmetJacques DufilhoCatherine RouvelDuring World War I, French colonists lost in African desert decide to attack their German neighbors.
- DirectorMario MonicelliStarsAlberto SordiVittorio GassmanBernard BlierThe Italian Army fought against the Austrians during World War I.
- DirectorRaymond BernardStarsPierre BlancharGabriel GabrioCharles VanelWorld War 1 begins and a young man enlists to fight for his country.
- DirectorKing VidorGeorge W. HillStarsJohn GilbertRenée AdoréeHobart BosworthA young American soldier witnesses the horrors of the Great War.
- DirectorGeorges FranjuStarsEmmanuelle RivaJean ServaisFabrice RouleauIn the First World War, when Paris is expected to fall to the Germans, the attractive widow, Princesse de Bormes, organises a convoy of cars to evacuate the wounded from the front, and bring them back to her villa in Paris to recuperate. The authorities will not give them passes until an innocent 16-year-old boy, Guillaume Thomas de Fontenoy, joins them and is mistaken as the nephew of the popular General de Fontenoy. The Princess is enraptured by Thomas and her daughter, Henriette, falls in love with him. However Thomas feels impelled to see more of the action of the war.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsConrad VeidtValerie HobsonSebastian ShawA German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.
- DirectorHoward HughesEdmund GouldingJames WhaleStarsBen LyonJames HallJean HarlowBrothers Monte and Ray leave Oxford to join the Royal Flying Corps. Ray loves Helen; Helen enjoys an affair with Monte; before they leave on their mission over Germany they find her in still another man's arms.
- DirectorPeter R. HuntStarsLee MarvinRoger MooreBarbara ParkinsDuring World War I, a British aristocrat, an American entrepreneur, and the latter's attractive young daughter, set out to destroy a German battlecruiser, which is awaiting repairs in an inlet just off Zanzibar.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsDirk BogardeTom CourtenayLeo McKernDuring World War I, Army Private Arthur James Hamp is accused of desertion during battle. The officer assigned to defend him at his court-martial, Captain Hargreaves, finds out there is more to the case than meets the eye.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
- DirectorBoris BarnetStarsYelena KuzminaMikhail ZharovNikolay BogolyubovOutskirts is an internationally renowned masterpiece of early sound cinema. In a remote Russian village during World War I, colorful and nuanced characters experience divided loyalties: family loyalty vs. personal desire, nationalism vs. transcendent humanism.
- DirectorPhilippe de BrocaStarsAlan BatesGeneviève BujoldPierre BrasseurDuring World War I, a British private, sent ahead to a French town to scout for enemy presence, is mistaken for a King by the colorful patients of an insane asylum.
- DirectorChristian CarionStarsDiane KrugerBenno FürmannGuillaume CanetIn December 1914, an unofficial Christmas truce on the Western Front allows soldiers from opposing sides of the First World War to gain insight into each other's way of life.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanHarry d'Abbadie d'ArrastStarsClara BowCharles 'Buddy' RogersRichard ArlenTwo young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsPhilippe NoiretSabine AzémaPascale VignalIntense character study of men and women driven by an overpowering obsession with the past.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinEdna PurvianceSyd ChaplinCharlie is a boot camp private who has a dream of being a hero who goes on a daring mission behind enemy lines.
- DirectorRex IngramStarsRudolph ValentinoAlice TerryPomeroy CannonAn extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I.
- DirectorSimon WincerStarsPeter PhelpsNick WatersJohn LarkingIn 1917 when the British forces are bogged down in front of the Turkish and German lines in Palestine they rely on the Australian light horse regiment to break the deadlock.
- DirectorJeremy SimsStarsBrendan CowellHarrison GilbertsonSteve Le MarquandIn 1916, the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company is tunneling beneath German fortifications and bunkers to detonate massive explosive charges.
- DirectorDalton TrumboStarsTimothy BottomsKathy FieldsMarsha HuntDuring World War I, a patriotic young American is rendered blind, deaf, limbless, and mute by a horrific artillery shell attack. Trapped in what's left of his body, he desperately looks for a way to end his life.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsFredric MarchWarner BaxterLionel BarrymoreThe story of trench life during World War I through the lives of a French regiment. As men are killed and replaced jaunty Lt. Denet becomes more and more somber. His rival for the affection of nurse Monique is Capt. La Roche.
- DirectorMauritz StillerStarsPola NegriJames HallGeorge SiegmannDuring World War I, a hotel maid and Austrian officer in hiding attempt to survive in a Russian-occupied town.
- DirectorZivorad 'Zika' MitrovicStarsAleksandar GavricLjuba TadicNikola JovanovicOne Serbian army battery in the First World War, in forced march with no stopping and rest, arrives to Cer Mountain, and, in decisive moment, enters the fight and throws off Austrian troops which penetrated into the country. This is not only the chronicle of the Battle of Cer, but Serbian drama and drama of one nation who made impossible possible during the fight against the empire which wanted to take away their country. This drama is based on credible events and authentic documents.
- DirectorKarel SteklýStarsRudolf HrusínskýSvatopluk BenesFrantisek FilipovskýMrs Müllerova (E. Svobodova) informs her tenant Svejk (R. Hrusinsky) about the recent assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Svejk heads out to the local pub unaware that a secret police agent is also in there spying on people who talk about political subjects. After foolishly talking to the agent Svejk gets arrested for treason but soon after gets released on the account of being deemed officially stupid. Despite suffering from rheumatism Svejk decides to enlist in the army...
- DirectorWilliam K. HowardSam WoodStarsWilliam PowellRosalind RussellBinnie BarnesPowell plays an American cryptologist who tangles with German spies while falling in love.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsPhilippe TorretonSamuel Le BihanBernard Le CoqThe war exploits of French captain Conan and his men during World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsVictor McLaglenBoris KarloffWallace FordA dozen British soldiers, lost in a Mesopotamian desert during World War I, are menaced by unseen Arab enemies.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsGary CooperWalter BrennanJoan LeslieA Tennessee farmer and marksman is drafted in World War I, and struggles with his pacifist inclinations before becoming one of the most celebrated war heroes.
- DirectorJean-Louis RichardStarsJeanne MoreauJean-Louis TrintignantClaude RichThe Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari is accused of spying for Germany during the First World War.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsErrol FlynnBasil RathboneDavid NivenBritish flying aces in World War I contend with the harsh realities of war.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsGeorge PeppardJames MasonUrsula AndressA young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsGary CooperHelen HayesAdolphe MenjouAn American ambulance driver and an English nurse fall in love in Italy during World War I.
- DirectorWilliam BoydStarsPaul NichollsDaniel CraigJulian Rhind-TuttJune 1916. The British Army is planning a big offensive in the Somme region in France. We follow a platoon of British soldiers as they sit in a forward trench, anxiously awaiting the order to go over the top.
- DirectorVictor SavilleStarsHerbert MarshallConrad VeidtMadeleine CarrollDuring World War I, a young nurse in a hospital in German-occupied Belgium is secretly feeding military information to the British. Complicating matters is the guilt she feels when she has to treat the German casualties inflicted as a result of the information she's passed on, and the fact that the local German commandant is falling in love with her.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJohn GielgudMadeleine CarrollRobert YoungAfter three British Agents are assigned to assassinate a mysterious German spy during World War I, two of them become ambivalent when their duty to the mission conflicts with their consciences.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishDorothy GishRobert HarronYoung lovers in a French village are torn apart with the coming of the Great War.
- DirectorDinu CoceaStarsStela FurcoviciIon LupuMihai MereutaThe story of heroine Ecaterina Teodoroiu, the only woman who fought in the Romanian Army during World War 1.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJames HallMargaret MannCharles MortonA family saga in which three sons of a Bavarian widow go to war for Germany and the fourth goes to America, Germany's eventual opponent.
- DirectorJack GoldStarsMalcolm McDowellChristopher PlummerSimon WardIn World War I, the high casualty rate amongst the rookie pilots of the Royal Flying Corps puts an enormous strain on the survivors.
- DirectorMiquel PujolStarsPhil AustinCyrille AutinYann BeanDuring World War I in 1918, a pigeon and his friends spring into action.
- DirectorGiovanni PastroneStarsBartolomeo PaganoFido SchirruValentina FrascaroliA soldier of near-superhuman strength fights battles in the First World War and wages a private war to rescue a young woman from the castle where she is imprisoned.