films and series set in the 1930s and 1940s
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- StarsAdriana UgarteMari Carmen SánchezTristán UlloaThe life of Sira, a dressmaker consumed by the love of a man, left the turmoil of Madrid prior to the Civil War at Tangier, where she inadvertently becomes part of an espionage scheme.
- StarsYoo Ah-inLim Soo-jungGo Kyung-pyoWriters that lived under Japanese rule in the 1930s are reincarnated into a bestselling writer who is in a slump, a mysterious ghostwriter, and a devoted fan of the bestselling writer.
- DirectorAngelos FrantzisStarsKaryofyllia KarabetiKatia GoulioniPigmalion DadakaridisThe story of songwriter Eftyhia Papagiannopoulou (1893-1972), who escaped the burning of Smyrna and journeyed to Athens, Greece, where she became a major figure in Greek popular music and the beloved lyricist of the country.
- DirectorSaul DibbStarsMichelle WilliamsKristin Scott ThomasMargot RobbieDuring the early years of German occupation of France in World War II, romance blooms between Lucile Angellier (Michelle Williams), a French villager, and Lieutenant Bruno von Falk (Matthias Schoenaerts), a German soldier.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsCate BlanchettJames FleetAbigail CruttendenA young Scottish woman joins the French Resistance during World War II to rescue her Royal Air Force boyfriend who is lost in France.
- DirectorAlexandre ArcadyStarsNora ArnezederFu'ad Aït AattouAnne ParillaudAlgeria in the 1930s. Nine-year-old Jonas was placed in the care of his uncle in Oran. He befriends the youth of Rio Salado. Emily is loved by all. The love that grows between Jonas and Emily is influenced by the country's conflicts.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsGaspard ManesseRaphael FejtöFrancine RacetteA French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.
- DirectorRob MarshallStarsZiyi ZhangKen WatanabeMichelle YeohThe heartwarming tale of Nitta Sayuri, a young Japanese woman who transcended from her fishing-village roots and became one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.
- DirectorDavid LeveauxStarsLily JamesJai CourtneyChristopher PlummerA German soldier tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the home of Kaiser Wilhelm in Holland during the onset of World War II, but falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman during his investigation.
- StarsEmile HirschHolliday GraingerSarah HylandBonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, an American robbery team, were responsible for a 21-month crime spree from 1932. They robbed gas stations, restaurants, and small-town banks, chiefly operating in Texas, Oklahoma, as well as other states.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
- DirectorRoberto BenigniStarsRoberto BenigniNicoletta BraschiGiorgio CantariniWhen an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsJonathan Rhys MeyersRadha MitchellChow Yun-FatAbout young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
- DirectorBrian PercivalStarsSophie NélisseGeoffrey RushEmily WatsonWhile subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
- DirectorManousos ManousakisStarsAndreas KonstantinouVasiliki TroufakouAdrian FrielingDuring the tumultuous 1943, against the backdrop of a German-occupied Thessaloniki, two star-crossed lovers struggle to surmount prejudice and fear, as the brutalities against the town's persecuted Jewish community escalate.
- DirectorMel GibsonStarsAndrew GarfieldSam WorthingtonLuke BraceyWorld War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
- DirectorAnthony MinghellaStarsRalph FiennesJuliette BinocheWillem DafoeAt the close of World War II, a young nurse tends to a badly burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
- DirectorPantelis VoulgarisStarsVangelis MourikisGiorgos SymeonidisVictoria HaralabidouNear the end of the Greek Civil War two brothers find themselves in opposite sides.
- CreatorAnna HatzisofiaHaris RomasStarsHaris RomasKetty KonstadinouKleio-Danai OthonaiouA few years before WW2 in a girls' boarding School who all live in a conservative way Zoi,a new beautiful and open-minded teacher, arrives.
- StarsGrigoris ValtinosFilippos SofianosAntzela GerekouAggelikoula Delli, shortly before her wedding to Apostolos Petropoulos, learns through an anonymous letter that her future husband is cheating on her. Uncle Odysseus asks family friend and policeman Petros Manias to investigate the case. Petros discovers that Apostolos is cheating on Aggeliki, but decides not to reveal the truth to her in order not to upset her. So she marries Apostolos, without knowing who he is. But very soon Petros falls in love with Aggeliki and regrets his lie.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioCate BlanchettKate BeckinsaleA biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.
- DirectorNick CassavetesStarsGena RowlandsJames GarnerRachel McAdamsAn elderly man reads to a woman with dementia the story of two young lovers whose romance is threatened by the difference in their respective social classes.
- DirectorTom HarperStarsHelen McCroryJeremy IrvinePhoebe Fox40 years after the first haunting at Eel Marsh House, a group of children evacuated from WWII London arrives, awakening the house's darkest inhabitant.
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsKeira KnightleyJames McAvoyBrenda BlethynThirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
- CreatorRonald D. MooreStarsCaitríona BalfeSam HeughanSophie SkeltonClaire Beauchamp Randall, a nurse in World War II, mysteriously goes back in time to Scotland in 1743. There, she meets a dashing Highland warrior and gets drawn into an epic rebellion.
- CreatorOliver GoldstickStarsRichard CoyleMamie GummerTom RileyA gripping family drama and entrepreneurial fable, set in a post-war Paris fashion house. It exposes the grit behind the glamour of a rising business, spearheaded by two clashing brothers.
- DirectorJulian FellowesStarsAlex EtelTimothy SpallMaggie SmithA haunting ghost story spanning two worlds, more than a century apart. When 13-year-old Tolly finds he can mysteriously travel between the two, he begins an adventure that unlocks family secrets laid buried for generations.
- StarsMaeve DermodyCharles DanceToby StephensTen strangers are invited to an island by a mysterious host, and start to get killed one by one. Could one of them be the killer?
- DirectorEric BarbierStarsPierre NineyCharlotte GainsbourgDidier BourdonA man recounts his life, from his childhood through his experiences in World War II, and the story of his self-sacrificing mother, who raised him alone.
- StarsFinn ElliotGreg WiseHattie MorahanA young boy struggles to fit into the life of a post-war English village after witnessing the death of his mother.
- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsLily JamesArmie HammerKristin Scott ThomasA young newlywed arrives at her husband's imposing family estate on a windswept English coast and finds herself battling the shadow of his first wife, Rebecca, whose legacy lives on in the house long after her death.
- DirectorDiarmuid LawrenceStarsCharles AitkenPaolo Antonio SimioniBeatrix BiroWhile traveling by train, a young socialite is befriended by a charming yet enigmatic older woman. However, when the woman disappears, the other passengers deny she ever existed.
- StarsBryan DickSally HawkinsZoë TapperA story of unrequited love set in 1930s London.
- DirectorPaolo TavianiStarsLuca MarinelliLorenzo RichelmyValentina BellèAn Italian partisan torn between the resistance movement and his obsession with a young woman during World War II.
- DirectorSergei PopovStarsAmir AbdykalovYura BorisovMaksim DemchenkoThe film is based on a novella by the well-known Soviet writer who served at the front, Emmanuil Kazakevich "Two in the Steppe" and the war diaries of Konstantin Simonov.
- DirectorChristian SchwochowStarsGeorge MacKayJannis NiewöhnerJeremy IronsA British diplomat travels to Munich in the run-up to World War II, where a former classmate of his from Oxford is also en route, but is working for the German government.
- DirectorMichael NoerStarsCharlie HunnamDamijan OklopdzicChristopher FairbankWrongfully convicted for murder, Henri Charriere forms an unlikely relationship with fellow inmate and quirky convicted counterfeiter, Louis Dega, in an attempt to escape from the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island.
- DirectorAngelina JolieStarsJack O'ConnellMiyaviDomhnall GleesonAfter a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis Zamperini spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he's caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
- DirectorJonathan TeplitzkyStarsColin FirthNicole KidmanStellan SkarsgårdA former British Army officer, who was tortured as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II, discovers that the man responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and sets out to confront him.
- DirectorMartin ZandvlietStarsRoland MøllerLouis HofmannJoel BasmanIn post-World War II Denmark, a group of young German POWs are forced to clear a beach of thousands of land mines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight.
- CreatorPeter BowkerStarsJonah Hauer-KingZofia WichlaczLesley ManvilleWorld War II-era drama centered on the lives of ordinary people affected by the war.
- DirectorPetter NæssStarsFlorian LukasDavid KrossLachlan NieboerWorld War II: After an aerial battle over Norway, British and German airmen find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Finding shelter in the same cabin, they realize the only way to survive the winter is to set aside the rules of war.
- DirectorAlexey ChupovNatasha MerkulovaStarsYura BorisovTimofey TribuntsevAleksandr YatsenkoFast-paced story of pre-death repentance marathon for the captain of the National Security Service (NKVD) Fyodor Volkonogov set against the backdrop of 1938 political persecutions in the USSR.
- DirectorRenat DavletyarovStarsPyotr FyodorovAnna PeskovaValeriy GrishkoDuring a mission in WWII, the plane of Nikolai Komlev is shot down. He manages to bring his plane down in a remote forest clearing, but far from friendly territory, he faces a relentless test of physical and mental endurance.
- DirectorAleksey SidorovStarsAlexander PetrovIrina StarshenbaumViktor DobronravovAn SS Panzer Division uses a T-34 manned by Soviet POWs as a training target, but the prisoners plot a daring maneuver.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsJim CaviezelSean PennNick NolteAdaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
- DirectorEmir KusturicaStarsPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicLazar RistovskiMirjana JokovicTwo underground black marketeers, Marko and Blacky, sell weapons to the Communist resistance in wartime Belgrade, living the good life along the way.