Historical Films
Historical settings, not necessarily story
List activity
56 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
73 titles
- DirectorChuck VincentStarsSybil DanningDonald PleasenceRick HillIn ancient Pompeii, slaves are bought and sold for household chores and sex. A mysterious queen moves among the elite, while secretly helping the slaves to escape.
- DirectorRobert RossenStarsGary CooperRita HayworthVan HeflinAn army major, himself guilty of cowardice, is asked to recommend soldiers for the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Mexican Border Incursion of 1916.
- DirectorJack CardiffStarsRichard WidmarkSidney PoitierRuss TamblynA vagabond Viking adventurer and a Moor both compete to find "The Mother of All Voices", a legendary golden bell near the Pillars of Hercules.
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsStewart GrangerElizabeth TaylorPeter UstinovIn 1796, Captain George Bryan "Beau" Brummell of the 10th Royal Hussars Regiment offends the Prince of Wales with his straightforward outspokenness and gets fired from the Army but is chosen as the Prince's personal advisor.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerOrson WellesCécile AubryA disinherited 13th Century Saxon nobleman leaves Norman England with an archer friend to seek his fortune in the Far East.
- DirectorAnthony KimminsLeslie ArlissAlexander KordaStarsDavid NivenMargaret LeightonMorland GrahamIn the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the Young Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie leads an insurrection to overthrow the Protestant House of Hanover and restore his family, the Catholic branch of the House of Stuart, to the British throne.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsOliver ReedRaquel WelchMark LesterPoor boy Tom Canty and Edward, Prince of Wales exchange identities, but events force the pair to experience each other's lives as well.
- DirectorDouglas HickoxStarsBurt LancasterPeter O'TooleSimon WardA dramatization of the Battle of Isandlwana, where the British Army met its match against the Zulu nation.
- DirectorJürgen GoslarStarsTrevor HowardRon ElyBritt EklandAs the slave trade is dwindling in East Africa in the late 19th century, two competing slave traders start a brutal violent conflict between each other for the monopoly on the remaining profits.
- DirectorRobert BoltStarsSarah MilesJon FinchRichard ChamberlainA noblewoman doomed to a loveless marriage falls into a scandalous affair with the dashing Lord Byron.
- DirectorJames ClavellStarsMichael CaineOmar SharifFlorinda BolkanDuring the Thirty Years' War of 1600s, a band of Protestant mercenaries peacefully coexist with German Catholic villagers in a hidden idyllic mountain valley untouched by war.
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsStanley BakerJack HawkinsUlla JacobssonOutnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczRouben MamoulianStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonRex HarrisonQueen Cleopatra VII of Egypt experiences both triumph and tragedy as she attempts to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome.
- DirectorJohn GillingStarsVictor MatureAnne AubreyAnthony NewleyIn India, the 19th century, the rebellious Kasim Khan fought the English.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsMelina MercouriKeith MichellFlora RobsonBelle (Melina Mercouri) is a tempestuous Gypsy girl who is after Sir Paul Deverill (Keith Michell). Her plan is to marry him and take him for every cent he has before moving on to other lovers.
- DirectorJack LeeStarsPeter FinchRonald LewisDavid McCallumTwo brothers join their father in Captain Starlight's bush ranger gang in 19th Century Australia.
- DirectorRobert RossenStarsRichard BurtonFredric MarchClaire BloomThe life and military conquests of Alexander III of Macedon (July 20/21, 356 - June 10/11, 323 B.C.), commonly known as Alexander the Great.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsYvonne De CarloRock HudsonMaxwell ReedGilliat,a fisherman/smuggler is in jail, and is offered a pardon if he undertakes a mission to sail to France to rescue Droucette, an English agent whose cover has been blown, and who has now been jailed. Gilliat accepts the challenge.
- DirectorGérard KikoïneStarsOliver ReedEartha KittHerbert LomAbdee, the formerly enslaved Scottish nobleman living on the lush 18th century colonial Caribbean island of St. Joseph's, is framed for murder and forced to lead a new rebellion.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsMichael YorkRaquel WelchOliver ReedThe Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsOliver ReedRaquel WelchRichard ChamberlainA young swordsman comes to Paris and faces villains, romance, adventure and intrigue with three Musketeer friends.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsFred MacMurrayCharlton HestonDonna ReedAfter purchasing Louisiana from France, the USA sends surveyors Lewis and Clark, assisted by a Shoshone guide, to chart the new territory.
- DirectorGeorge ShermanStarsStuart WhitmanJuliet ProwseKen ScottTwo British soldiers in 1830s South Africa flee military discipline and join a group of Boers heading north on "the Great Trek." In between fighting off Zulu attacks, one of these soldiers falls in love with the trek-leader's granddaughter who has been promised to another man.
- DirectorLewis GilbertStarsAlec GuinnessDirk BogardeMaurice DenhamOn the H.M.S. Defiant, during the French Revolutionary War, fair Captain Crawford is locked in a battle of wills against his cruel second-in-command Lieutenant Scott-Padget, whose heavy-handed command style pushes the crew to mutiny.
- DirectorDaryl DukeStarsBryan BrownJoan ChenJohn StantonHistorical fiction set against the backdrop of Hong Kong in its early years of British rule.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsAnthony QuinnJames CoburnDennis PriceIn 1870, a Jamaican colonial family sends its children to Britain for proper schooling but their ship is taken over by pirates who become fond of the kids.
- DirectorMel DamskiStarsGraham ChapmanPeter BoyleCheech MarinAfter serving two decades in prison, Yellowbeard (Graham Chapman) breaks out determined to recover the treasure that he buried so long ago, alongside his son, old crew, and the British Navy.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsColin FirthAnnette BeningMeg TillyFrance before 1789: When a widow hears that her lover is to marry her cousin's daughter, she asks the playboy Valmont to take the girl's virginity. But first she bets him, with her body as prize, to seduce a virtuous, young, married woman.
- DirectorTinto BrassStarsMalcolm McDowellPeter O'TooleHelen MirrenA dramatization of the ascent to Caesar and subsequent reign of Caligula, one of the most notorious leaders of ancient Rome. We see his ambition, his scheming, his perversion and decadence, his brutality and his lunacy.
- DirectorDavid MichôdStarsTom Glynn-CarneyGábor CzapTom FisherYoung Henry V encounters deceit, war and treachery after becoming King of England in the 15th century, in the aftermath of his brother's death.
- DirectorTony MaylamStarsMichael YorkJenny AgutterSimon MacCorkindaleIn 1901, two British yachtsmen visiting Germany's Frisian Islands accidentally discover a German plot to invade England.
- DirectorRichie SmythStarsJamie DornanEmmanuelle SeignerMark StrongIrish Commandant Pat Quinlan leads a stand off with troops against French and Belgian Mercenaries in the Congo during the early 1960s.
- DirectorFerdinand FairfaxStarsTommy Lee JonesMichael O'KeefeMax PhippsA swashbuckling adventure which takes place in the mid-1800's on the South Pacific islands where bloody raids and battles were once the rule of the day.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
- DirectorGuy JenkinStarsJessica AlbaBrenda BlethynHugh DancyA young Englishman is sent to Malaysian Borneo in the 1930s to stay with a tribe as UK's colonial representative. A local woman (J.Alba) helps him understand local tradition and language. He falls in love with her etc. despite the taboo.
- DirectorCharles ShyerStarsHilary SwankSimon BakerJonathan PryceIn pre-Revolutionary France, a young aristocratic woman left penniless by the political unrest in the country must avenge her family's fall from grace by scheming to steal a priceless necklace.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJean SimmonsVictor MatureGene TierneyIn ancient Egypt, a poor orphan becomes a genial physician and is eventually appointed at the Pharaoh's court where he witnesses palace intrigues and learns dangerous royal secrets.
- DirectorFrederick De CordovaStarsYvonne De CarloRichard GreeneJackie GleasonA desert guerilla, with flashing scimitar, opposes a tyrannical prince and marries the caliph's daughter.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsKeith CarradineHarvey KeitelAlbert FinneyFrance, 1801. Due to a minor perceived slight, mild-mannered Lieutenant d'Hubert is forced into a duel with hot-headed irrational Lieutenant Feraud. The disagreement ultimately results in scores of duels spanning several years.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsAlan LaddPatricia MedinaAndré MorellDuring King Arthur's time, a sword maker wishes to win Lady Linet's heart but first he must become a noble knight.
- DirectorRobert WiseRaoul WalshStarsStanley BakerRossana PodestàBrigitte BardotThe Iliad's story of the Trojan war, told from the Trojan viewpoint.
- DirectorJames FargoStarsAnthony QuinnMichael SarrazinChristopher LeeIn 1948, at the U.S. embassy in Zadestan, a young diplomat is ordered to find the missing daughter of an influential U.S. Senator.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsJack PalanceMilly VitaleGuy RolfeRevak is an Iberian prince from Penda, a small island where the Carthagian fleet ransacked and enslaved the surviving native men, including him. After an eventful passage aboard a galley, Revak becomes an elephant driver in Carthage city, and could become the favorite of mighty women, but has only one thirst: bloody revenge, at all cost, so the barbarian makes common cause with the attacking Romans, Carthage's historical enemy and rival for Mediterranean hegemony, scorning love...
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsAlan LaddDeborah KerrCharles BoyerIn a remote region of post-independence India, the love of a blind British woman pricks the conscience of an arms dealer.
- DirectorFreddie FrancisStarsTimothy DaltonJonathan PryceTwiggyIn Victorian England, two grave robbers supply a wealthy doctor with bodies to research anatomy on, but greed causes them to look for a more simple way to get the job done. Based on the horrifying Burke and Hare case.
- DirectorJohn HoughStarsEmma SammsOliver ReedClaire BloomSwashbuckling tale of romance, betrayal, jealousy, banditry, murder, and court intrigue set in the 1660s, during the Restoration to the English throne of King Charles II.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsTrevor HowardVanessa RedgraveJohn GielgudIn 1854, during the Crimean War, poor planning leads to the British Light Brigade openly charging a Russian artillery position with tragic consequences.
- DirectorClive DonnerStarsDavid HemmingsMichael YorkPrunella RansomeWhile Old England is being ransacked by roving Danes in the ninth century, Alfred is planning to join the priesthood. But observing the rape of his land, he puts away his religious vows, to take up arms against the invaders, leading the English Christians to fight for their country. Alfred soundly defeats the Danes and becomes a hero. Although Alfred still longs for the priesthood, he is torn between his passion for God and his lust for blood.
- DirectorJames ClavellStarsTommy SteeleStanley BakerAlan BadelThe adventures and the exploits of notorious English thief and prison-breaker Jack Sheppard in 1720s London.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsAnjelica HustonAssi DayanAnthony HigginsIn a story set during the Hundred Years War, a student who has abandoned his studies in Paris, pairs with a young noblewoman with whom he has fallen in love.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsMichael JaystonJanet SuzmanRoderic NobleTsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.
- DirectorCharlton HestonStarsCharlton HestonHildegard NeilEric PorterAfter the murder of her lover Caesar, Egypt's queen Cleopatra needs a new ally. She seduces his probable successor Mark Antony. This develops into real love and slowly leads to a war with the other possible successor: Octavius.
- DirectorStuart BurgeStarsCharlton HestonJason RobardsJohn GielgudThe growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar, but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsPatrick BerginIain GlenRichard E. GrantThe legendary true-story of Capt. Richard Francis Burton and Lt. John Hanning Speke's tumultuous expedition to find the source of the Nile river.
- DirectorMichael AustinStarsPhoebe CatesJim BroadbentWendy HughesA mysterious young woman speaking a strange language shows up in an English village, where she is taken in by aristocrats who assume she is a foreign princess
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsRalph RichardsonTrevor HowardRobert MorleyA man occupies a position of trust with a merchant in an East Asian port. He's sacked after he's caught stealing, but he pretends to commit suicide, and a Captain he befriended agrees to take him to a secret trading post.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsRichard EganRalph RichardsonDiane BakerA small Army of Greeks spearheaded by three hundred Spartans do battle with the whole invading Persian Army.
- DirectorBryan ForbesStarsJohn MillsMichael CaineRalph RichardsonIn Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other, or can be made to have seemed to do so.
- DirectorBasil DeardenEliot ElisofonStarsCharlton HestonLaurence OlivierRichard JohnsonIn the Sudan, in 1884 to 1885, Egyptian forces led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) defend Khartoum against an invading Muslim Army led by a religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi (Sir Laurence Olivier).
- DirectorFielder CookStarsBillie WhitelawRalph RichardsonJohn GielgudIn 1815, a soldier becomes the Governor of St. Helena, and jailer of Napoleon.
- DirectorClive DonnerStarsDerek de LintKim ThomsonDenholm ElliottIn medieval Paris, a young religious scholar and the beautiful niece of a local patrician fall madly in love and consummate their passion for each other. In the religious uproar that follows, they are condemned and brutally punished.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsSusannah YorkJohn WatersJohn CastleAn old captain & his young wife share a lot of adventures after they're shipwrecked and captured by Aborigines on an island near Australia.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsMichael YorkRichard AttenboroughTrevor HowardAt a British Regimental party in Colonial India, the widow of Captain Scarlett is assaulted in the garden, and she accuses one of the newly arrived junior Lieutenants of the crime.
- DirectorLewis GilbertStarsWilliam HoldenSusannah YorkCapucinePolitical and personal intrigues surround a group of characters in Malaya, after the close of the Second World War.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsAlbert FinneySusannah YorkGeorge DevineThe romantic and chivalrous adventures of adopted bastard Tom Jones in 18th-century England.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsAlec GuinnessJohn MillsSusannah YorkAfter World War II, a Highland Regiment's acting Commanding Officer, who rose from the ranks, is replaced by a peace-time Oxford-educated Commanding Officer, leading to a dramatic conflict between the two.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsColin FrielsSean ConneryJoanne WhalleyIn a West African nation, the womanizing British 1st Secretary of the High Commissioner deals with different issues.
- DirectorStefan SchwartzStarsAlice EvansDaniel LapaineSophia MylesA group of Irish noblemen kidnap girls in order to marry into their fortune and avoid becoming priests or soldiers.
- DirectorJim GoddardStarsJulian GloverEdward WoodwardPeter WoodwardIn eighteenth century London, the celebrated Angelo family of fencing instructors are employed to protect a visiting Ambassador from French assassins.
- DirectorAlan BridgesStarsJames MasonEdward FoxDorothy TutinWhile Europe stands on the brink of World War I in Autumn 1913, Sir Randolph Nettleby hosts a weekend of shooting on his estate for European aristocrats.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsGregory PeckVirginia MayoRobert BeattyDuring the Napoleonic wars, a British Navy Captain has adventures in Central American waters.
- DirectorDelbert MannStarsRock HudsonRod TaylorMary PeachDuring the Cold War, Air Force Colonel Jim Caldwell shapes up his Strategic Air Command B-52 wing to pass a nuclear war readiness test.
- DirectorCharles B. PierceStarsLee MajorsCornel WildeMel FerrerAn eleventh century Viking Prince sails to America to find his father, who on a previous voyage had been captured by Indians.