Go to the home page Go to the master list sorted by rank Go to the master list sorted alphabetically Go to the top films as determined by each taste Go to the master list sorted by director Go to the master list sorted by actor Go to the master list sorted by year of release Go to the master list sorted by genre Go to the master list sorted by nation of origin Go to more lists of films Find alternate titles of master list films Go to lists of top films as determined by normal film fans Go to the FAQ and other essays Go to the links page Go to the site map

Top History Films

The best history films as defined by the IMDb.

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Gone with the Wind 1939 Victor Fleming 11
2 Schindler's List 1993 Steven Spielberg 22
3 The Shawshank Redemption 1994 Frank Darabont 48
4 The Battleship Potemkin 1925 Sergei M. Eisenstein 65
5 The Birth of a Nation 1915 D.W. Griffith 112
6 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 Lewis Milestone 119
7 Intolerance 1916 D.W. Griffith 133
8 The Passion of Joan of Arc 1928 Carl Theodor Dreyer 139
9 Paths of Glory 1957 Stanley Kubrick 144
10 The Great Escape 1963 John Sturges 175
11 Aguirre: The Wrath of God 1972 Werner Herzog 181
12 Spartacus 1960 Stanley Kubrick 198
13 Andrei Rublev 1969 Andrei Tarkovsky 200
14 Henry V 1944 Laurence Olivier 286
15 The Battle of Algiers 1966 Gillo Pontecorvo 292
16 Chariots of Fire 1981 Hugh Hudson 297
17 Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 Frank Lloyd 300
18 All the President's Men 1976 Alan J. Pakula 309
19 Glory 1989 Edward Zwick 358
20 The Right Stuff 1983 Philip Kaufman 364
21 Apollo 13 1995 Ron Howard 375
22 The Untouchables 1987 Brian De Palma 379
23 Alexander Nevsky 1938 Sergei M. Eisenstein and Dmitri Vasilyev 383
24 Zulu 1964 Cy Endfield 407
25 The Leopard 1963 Luchino Visconti 420
26 JFK 1991 Oliver Stone 424
27 Reds 1981 Warren Beatty 452
28 The Elephant Man 1980 David Lynch 457
29 Z 1969 Costa-Gavras 483
30 The Scarlet Empress 1934 Josef von Sternberg 505
31 Queen Christina 1933 Rouben Mamoulian 529
32 The Longest Day 1962 Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, and Bernhard Wicki 536
33 The Killing Fields 1984 Roland Joffé 544
34 Gallipoli 1981 Peter Weir 590
35 The Insider 1999 Michael Mann 636
36 The Lion in Winter 1968 Anthony Harvey 720
37 When We Were Kings 1996 Leon Gast 752
38 October 1928 Grigori Aleksandrov and Sergei M. Eisenstein 766
39 Ivan the Terrible, Part II 1958 Sergei M. Eisenstein and M. Filimonova 786
40 Jezebel 1938 William Wyler 811
41 The Conqueror Worm 1968 Michael Reeves 812
42 1900 1976 Bernardo Bertolucci 814
43 'Breaker' Morant 1980 Bruce Beresford 815
44 Henry V 1989 Kenneth Branagh 822
45 The Unbearable Lightness of Being 1988 Philip Kaufman 845
46 Eight Men Out 1988 John Sayles 852
47 Ben-Hur 1925 Fred Niblo 861
48 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961 Stanley Kramer 920
49 Quiz Show 1994 Robert Redford 961
50 The Official Story 1985 Luis Puenzo 974
51 Black Hawk Down 2001 Ridley Scott 1006
52 Kagemusha 1980 Akira Kurosawa 1007
53 Hotel Rwanda 2004 Terry George 1028
54 Elizabeth 1998 Shekhar Kapur 1039
55 Hero 2002 Yimou Zhang 1060
56 Senso 1954 Luchino Visconti 1079
57 Inherit the Wind 1960 Stanley Kramer 1094
58 Richard III 1955 Laurence Olivier 1137
59 Cleopatra 1963 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1169
60 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid 1973 Sam Peckinpah 1175
61 Gangs of New York 2002 Martin Scorsese 1209
62 Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors 1964 Sergei Parajanov 1242
63 Heaven's Gate 1980 Michael Cimino 1269
64 Quo Vadis 1951 Mervyn LeRoy 1317
65 The Rise to Power of Louis XIV 1966 Roberto Rossellini 1379
66 A Night to Remember 1958 Roy Ward Baker 1474
67 Russian Ark 2002 Aleksandr Sokurov 1477
68 Letters from Iwo Jima 2006 Clint Eastwood 1482
69 Matewan 1987 John Sayles 1505
70 Salvatore Giuliano 1962 Francesco Rosi 1567
71 Downfall 2004 Oliver Hirschbiegel 1576
72 The Best of Youth 2003 Marco Tullio Giordana 1611
73 Gettysburg 1993 Ronald F. Maxwell 1658
74 The Madness of King George 1994 Nicholas Hytner 1673
75 Seabiscuit 2003 Gary Ross 1684
76 Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto 1954 Hiroshi Inagaki 1716
77 Thirty Seconds over Tokyo 1944 Mervyn LeRoy 1770
78 The Crucible 1996 Nicholas Hytner 1780
79 Miracle 2004 Gavin O'Connor 1795
80 Storm over Asia 1928 Vsevolod Pudovkin 1798
81 Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970 Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda 1832
82 The Song of Bernadette 1943 Henry King 1853
83 The Dam Busters 1955 Michael Anderson 1883
84 Viva Zapata! 1952 Elia Kazan 1911
85 The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith 1978 Fred Schepisi 1935
86 Queen Margot 1994 Patrice Chéreau 1954
87 Band of Brothers 2001 David Frankel, Mikael Salomon, Tom Hanks, David Leland, Richard Loncraine, David Nutter, Phil Alden Robinson, and Tony To 1956
88 Julius Caesar 1953 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 2009
89 Troy 2004 Wolfgang Petersen 2051
90 Newsfront 1978 Phillip Noyce 2057
91 That's Entertainment! 1974 Jack Haley Jr. 2060
92 Black Robe 1991 Bruce Beresford 2076
93 Amistad 1997 Steven Spielberg 2092
94 Munich 2005 Steven Spielberg 2113
95 Samurai 3: Duel at Ganryu Island 1956 Hiroshi Inagaki 2120
96 Northwest Passage 1940 King Vidor 2123
97 Samurai 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple 1955 Hiroshi Inagaki 2133
98 Once Upon a Time in China 1991 Hark Tsui 2140
99 Jesus Christ Superstar 1973 Norman Jewison 2146
100 The Civil War 1990 Ken Burns 2204
101 Edward II 1991 Derek Jarman 2233
102 Samson and Delilah 1949 Cecil B. DeMille 2255
103 The Doors 1991 Oliver Stone 2263
104 The Alamo 1960 John Wayne 2267
105 Platform 2000 Zhang Ke Jia 2286
106 Brotherhood of the Wolf 2001 Christophe Gans 2328
107 A Bridge Too Far 1977 Richard Attenborough 2353
108 Robin and Marian 1976 Richard Lester 2358
109 Bloody Sunday 2002 Paul Greengrass 2391
110 Baseball 1994 Ken Burns 2396
111 Good Night, and Good Luck. 2005 George Clooney 2453
112 Enemy at the Gates 2001 Jean-Jacques Annaud 2471
113 The Sign of the Cross 1932 Cecil B. DeMille 2473
114 Carnival in Flanders 1935 Jacques Feyder 2479
This page was last modified on March 5, 2008