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A period of history · War · about Military

Films & Shows Set during World War II

Runs from193719458 years wide

Alternate boundariesThe dates above are the archive’s reading; these are others in use. Every count on this page uses the archive’s.

  • 19311945starts 6 years earlierChina's official dating since 2017, the Fourteen Years' War, from Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931.
  • 19391945starts 2 years laterThe conventional Western dating, from Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939.

Shelfmark Liber LXIV

World Wars Era

47
titles
44 films · 3 series (23 eps) · 27 through its sub-periods
3.8/5
average rating
across 47 rated titles
39%
of the span is tagged
19 of 49 titles set inside it

See World War II on the timelineEvery year from 1937 to 1945 the archive holds, and what is set in them

Compare the titles of World War II in the CanonsWhat every title on it shares, what two or three share, and what is proper to one

Inside this Archive

1923Pearl HarborFilm · 2001 · initially set in 19233.1/51925The King's SpeechFilm · 2010 · initially set in 19253.8/51926OppenheimerFilm · 2023 · initially set in 19264.2/51928The Imitation GameFilm · 2014 · initially set in 1928 · depicts 1939 – 19453.9/51929Hacksaw RidgeFilm · 2016 · initially set in 19294.1/51929Memoirs of a Geishafiled outsideFilm · 2005 · set in 1929 · depicts c. 1935 – c. 19463.6/51935Atonementvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 2007 · initially set in 19354.0/51937City of Life and Deathvia Second Sino-Japanese WarFilm · 2009 · set in 19374.1/51939Schindler's ListFilm · 1993 · initially set in 1939 · depicts 1939 – 19434.5/51939The PianistFilm · 2002 · initially set in 19394.3/51940Darkest Hourvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 2017 · set in 19403.6/51940Dunkirkvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 2017 · set in 19403.8/51940Tora! Tora! Tora!Film · 1970 · initially set in 19403.7/51940Wife of a SpyFilm · 2020 · initially set in 19403.5/51941AnthropoidFilm · 2016 · initially set in 19413.6/51941Das BootFilm · 1981 · set in 19414.3/51941Generation Warvia Eastern Front (World War II)TV series · 3 episodes · initially set in 19414.2/51941T-34via Eastern Front (World War II)Film · 2018 · initially set in 19413.3/51941The Pacificvia Pacific WarTV series · 10 episodes · initially set in 19414.1/51942Army of ShadowsFilm · 1969 · set in 19424.4/51942Back to Bataanvia Pacific WarFilm · 1945 · initially set in 19423.1/51942Baltic Skiesvia Eastern Front (World War II)Film · 1960 · set in 19423.6/51942Band of BrothersTV series · 10 episodes · initially set in 19424.4/51942Enemy at the Gatesvia Eastern Front (World War II)Film · 2001 · initially set in 19423.6/51942GreyhoundFilm · 2020 · set in 19423.2/51942Persian LessonsFilm · 2020 · set in 19423.7/51942Stalingradvia Eastern Front (World War II)Film · 1993 · initially set in 19423.8/51942The Big Red Onevia Western Front (World War II)Film · 1980 · initially set in 19423.7/51943Come and Seevia Eastern Front (World War II)Film · 1985 · set in 19434.6/51943The Battle of NeretvaFilm · 1969 · set in 19433.5/51943The Bridge on the River Kwaivia Pacific WarFilm · 1957 · set in 19434.3/51944Churchillvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 2017 · set in 19443.0/51944Ike: Countdown to D-Dayvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 2004 · set in 19443.3/51944Overlordvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 1975 · set in 19443.6/51944Pressurevia Western Front (World War II)Film · 2026 · set in 19443.5/51944Red TailsFilm · 2012 · initially set in 19442.9/51944Saving Private Ryanvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 1998 · set in 19444.3/51944The Longest Dayvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 1962 · set in 19443.8/51945CorneredFilm · 1945 · set in 19453.3/51945Downfallvia Eastern Front (World War II)Film · 2004 · set in 19454.1/51945EmperorFilm · 2012 · set in 19453.0/51945Flags of Our Fathersvia Pacific WarFilm · 2006 · set in 19453.5/51945Furyvia Western Front (World War II)Film · 2014 · set in 19453.5/51945Godzilla Minus Onevia Pacific WarFilm · 2023 · initially set in 19454.1/51945Jojo Rabbitvia Eastern Front (World War II)Film · 2019 · set in 19454.0/51945Letters from Iwo Jimavia Pacific WarFilm · 2006 · set in 19454.0/51945To the Ends of the Worldvia Pacific WarFilm · 2018 · set in 19453.3/5

47 titles · in the order the archive depicts them. A series counts once, regardless of however many of its episodes carry the tag. 27 titles here come through the periods inside this one rather than its own tag, and are counted only because they are set inside these boundaries. 1 title here is filed under a year outside the boundaries but depicts years inside them; the density below reads filed years only, so it leaves it out.

The Chronicle

The events and themes the archive follows through World War II, in the order they happened, each with the titles that depict it. Press a name to read about it in the threads below.

  1. 1936–1937
    Abdication Crisis of Edward VIIIPolitical
  2. 1937
    Nanjing MassacreAtrocity and Persecution
  3. 1937–1945
    Unit 731Atrocity and Persecution
  4. 1940
    Dunkirk EvacuationMilitary

    The surrounding and subsequent evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force and allied forces from the town of Dunkirk in Northern France in 1940.

  5. 1940–1944
    French ResistanceMilitary
  6. 1940–1948
    Tuskegee AirmenMilitary
  7. 1941
    Attack on Pearl HarborMilitary

    The surprise strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the American naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

  8. 1939–1945
    Battle of the AtlanticMilitary

    The contest between the Allied and European Axis powers during the Second World War for control of the Atlantic sea lanes.

  9. 1941
    Operation BarbarossaMilitary

    The German codename for the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.

  10. 1941–1944
    Siege of LeningradMilitary
  11. 1941–1945
    The HolocaustAtrocity and Persecution

    The systematic extermination of Jewish people across Europe as perpetuated by Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II.

    +2
  12. 1942
    Assassination of Reinhard HeydrichPolitical
  13. 1942
    Bataan Death MarchAtrocity and Persecution
  14. 1942–1943
    Battle of StalingradMilitary
  15. 1939–1945
    Bletchley Park CodebreakersScience and Technology

    The covert effort by the United Kingdom's Government Code and Cypher School, operating out of the Bletchley Park country estate, to break Axis communication encryption during…

  16. 1942
    Doolittle RaidMilitary
  17. 1942–1943
    Guadalcanal CampaignMilitary

    The brutal struggle for control over the Solomon island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War II.

  18. 1943–1944
    Battle of Cape GloucesterMilitary
  19. 1943
    Battle of KurskMilitary

    The largest tank battle in history, fought between the armies of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany around the town of Kursk in mid-1943.

  20. 1943
    Warsaw Ghetto UprisingMilitary

    The largest organized revolt of Jews during the Second World War.

  21. 1944
    Battle of PeleliuMilitary
  22. 1944
    Battle of the BulgeMilitary
  23. 1944
    D-DayMilitary

    The largest invasion by sea in human history, D-Day is the popularized name for Operation Neptune, or the Allied invasion of the German-occupied Normandy coast in June 1944.

    +3
  24. 1944
    Operation Market GardenMilitary
  25. 1945
    Battle of Iwo JimaMilitary

    The fierce campaign by the United States to seize control of the island of Iwo Jima from Japanese forces in order to secure a launching platform for continued bombing raids…

  26. 1945
    Battle of OkinawaMilitary
  27. 1945
    Fall of BerlinMilitary

    The decisive close to the Second World War in Europe, the Battle of Berlin waged in April 1945 between beleaguered German defenders and the full weight of the Soviet Red Army…

  28. 1942–1947
    Manhattan ProjectScience and Technology

    The secret World War II project to create the world's first nuclear weapons.

  29. 1945–1960
    RatlinesCrime and Terror

Sub-Periods

The periods the archive counts as part of World War II. Their titles are gathered on this page where they are set inside its boundaries. The number represents how many titles in these sub-periods are also directly attached to this period and how many are just inherited rather being directly tagged with World War II.

Cinematic Introduction

Every title set during World War II, by the decade it came out. A series is placed on the chart by its first season and counts as one title entity.

First on screen
Back to Bataan1945
Most recent
Pressure2026

2 of these were made while World War II was still going on: Back to Bataan (1945), Cornered (1945).

FilmsSeriesAt the archive’s paceeach bar is the titles released that decade

The median title about World War II came out in 2006; the median across the rest of the archive, in 2004, so this period’s titles run 2 years later. Most over-told: the 2020s, with 6 titles where about 3.5 would be expected. Most under-told: the 1950s, with 1 where about 3.9 would be expected.

The gold dashes are how many of this period’s 47 titles each decade would hold if they had been released at the same pace as the other 244 dated titles in the archive. That measures the archive’s own collecting, not the world’s film output, and at these sizes one title moves a bar by a whole step.

Cast of Characters

The historical people the archive’s titles put on screen in this period, grouped by what they are known for. The number is how many titles set here they appear in.

Military32

Political32

Science and Technology14

Private individual7

Institution2

Arts1

Economic1

Writing and Thought1

Historical Threads

A thread follows one event or historical theme across the archive, wherever and whenever it appears. Pick a tab to read one; they are in the order they are filed on the timeline. Pulling a thread opens up a narrowed timeline view filtered to every year that thread touches.

Dunkirk Evacuationpull it on the timeline

Event

The surrounding and subsequent evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force and allied forces from the town of Dunkirk in Northern France in 1940. The evacuation cemented itself in the popular imagination with the mass deployment of British civilian craft to help rescue trapped soldiers as the German forces surrounding them closed their encirclement.

3 titles set here · filed under 1940

Also runs throughWestern Front (World War II)3Interwar Years

Attack on Pearl Harborpull it on the timeline

Event

The surprise strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the American naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Intended to be a decisive blow that would cripple the American Pacific Fleet in anticipation of war with the United States, the strike left over 2,400 Americans dead and several capital ships, notably four American battleships, sunk. However, the absence of American aircraft carriers from port on the day of the attack left the fleet in better overall shape afterwards than Japanese planners had hoped.

3 titles set here · filed under 1941

Also runs throughPacific War3

Battle of the Atlanticpull it on the timeline

Event

The contest between the Allied and European Axis powers during the Second World War for control of the Atlantic sea lanes. The campaign was defined by Germany's attempts to starve the United Kingdom into submission through submarine warfare and the Allies' subsequent efforts to combat the undersea threat.

3 titles set here · filed under 1941

Operation Barbarossapull it on the timeline

Event

The German codename for the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Pulling together nearly four million combined Axis troops for the attack, Barbarossa opened the Eastern Front of World War II, dissolving the Soviet-German partnership and cementing the Soviet Union as a part of the Allies for the duration of the war, as well as beginning the deadliest land-based military conflict in history.

2 titles set here · filed under 1941

Also runs throughEastern Front (World War II)2

The Holocaustpull it on the timeline

Event

The systematic extermination of Jewish people across Europe as perpetuated by Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. The genocide was conducted in various stages and by various means over the course of the war, though none more identifiable with the atrocity than the death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Treblinka, and Sobibor. In all, some six million Jews would perish from 1941-1945.

7 titles set here · filed under 1941

Its parts, pulled with it:

Also runs throughEastern Front (World War II)2Western Front (World War II)

Bletchley Park Codebreakerspull it on the timeline

Institution

The covert effort by the United Kingdom's Government Code and Cypher School, operating out of the Bletchley Park country estate, to break Axis communication encryption during the Second World War. Perhaps most famously, the codebreakers at Bletchley Park were able to crack the encryption created by Germany's Enigma machine, allowing the Allies to quickly decipher intercepted German messages and gain vital military intelligence.

filed under 1942

Guadalcanal Campaignpull it on the timeline

Event

The brutal struggle for control over the Solomon island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War II. With its key location threatening access to Australia, the island became the site of a prolonged campaign between Japanese and American / ANZAC forces on land, at sea, and in the air.

filed under 1942

Also runs throughPacific War

Battle of Kurskpull it on the timeline

Event

The largest tank battle in history, fought between the armies of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany around the town of Kursk in mid-1943. Involving over two million total combatants, the battle marked a key turning point in the Eastern Front campaign after which point Axis forces would never again be able to mount a serious offensive into the Soviet Union.

filed under 1943

Also runs throughEastern Front (World War II)

Warsaw Ghetto Uprisingpull it on the timeline

Event · Part of The Holocaust

The largest organized revolt of Jews during the Second World War. Faced with deportation to concentration camps during the Holocaust, Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto accumulated weapons and supplies to face down a siege by German forces, tragically falling after nearly a month's resistance.

filed under 1943

D-Daypull it on the timeline

Event

The largest invasion by sea in human history, D-Day is the popularized name for Operation Neptune, or the Allied invasion of the German-occupied Normandy coast in June 1944. After months of planning, experience gained from previous invasions in Italy and in the Pacific, and extensive preparation efforts, the Allies were successfully able to secure a beachhead from which they were able to push out towards the rest of France, liberating Paris by August 1944 and greatly accelerating the end of the Second World War in Europe.

8 titles set here · filed under 1944

How the camera has come to see it

2 stills from the titles set here that compare this thread against the record, in the order the films were released.

  1. Landing at Utah Beach as depicted in the film The Longest Day1962Image via TMDB
    The Longest DayThe Landings at Utah Beach
  2. The Landing at Omaha Beach as depicted in Saving Private Ryan1998DreamWorks LLC, Paramount Pictures Corporation, and Amblin Entertainment, Inc.Fair use
    Saving Private RyanThe Landing at Omaha Beach

Also runs throughWestern Front (World War II)8

Manhattan Projectpull it on the timeline

Project

The secret World War II project to create the world's first nuclear weapons. After years of development and billions of dollars spent, the project culminated in 1945 with the Trinity Test detonation conducted in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945 and the Atomic Bombings of Japan the following month.

filed under 1945

Also runs throughCold War

Saltiness Across the Period

No title set here has been given a saltiness score yet. That is unrated, which is not the same as accurate.

Archive Density

39%19 of the 49 titles the archive sets between 1937 and 1945 carry the World War II tag.

94%With its sub-periods: 46 of the same 49 titles carry World War II or one of Eastern Front (World War II), Pacific War, Second Sino-Japanese War and Western Front (World War II).

This measure can help illustrate cinematic hotspots within a time period by comparing which years of the overarching, actual historical time period are backed up by a cinematic release.

  1. 19371 of 2 · 2 with sub-periods
  2. 19380 of 2
  3. 19394 of 5 · 5 with sub-periods
  4. 19403 of 6 · 6 with sub-periods
  5. 19417 of 10 · 10 with sub-periods
  6. 19428 of 15 · 15 with sub-periods
  7. 19435 of 12 · 12 with sub-periods
  8. 19445 of 14 · 14 with sub-periods
  9. 19459 of 21 · 20 with sub-periods

9 years on the timeline fall inside the boundaries. The dark part of each bar is the share carrying this period; the lighter part beside it, the share carrying one of its sub-periods instead.

Share of the 128 genre taggings across 47 titles set in this period. A title filed under three genres is in three of these slices, so this is a share of taggings rather than of titles.

Credits

Directors

1Christopher Nolan2 titles4.0/5unsalted2Clint Eastwood2 titles3.8/5unsalted3Edward Dmytryk2 titles3.2/5unsalted4Joe Wright2 titles3.8/5unsalted5Steven Spielberg2 titles4.4/5unsalted6Aaron Schneider1 title3.2/5unsalted7Alexey Sidorov1 title3.3/5unsalted8Andrew Marton1 title3.8/5unsalted9Anthony Hemingway1 title2.9/5unsalted10Anthony Maras1 title3.5/5unsalted11Bernhard Wicki1 title3.8/5unsalted12David Ayer1 title3.5/5unsalted13David Lean1 title4.3/5unsalted14Elem Klimov1 title4.6/5unsalted15Guillaume Nicloux1 title3.3/5unsalted16Jean-Jacques Annaud1 title3.6/5unsalted17Jean-Pierre Melville1 title4.4/5unsalted18Jonathan Teplitzky1 title3.0/5unsalted19Joseph Vilsmaier1 title3.8/5unsalted20Ken Annakin1 title3.8/5unsalted21Kinji Fukasaku1 title3.7/5unsalted22Kiyoshi Kurosawa1 title3.5/5unsalted23Lu Chuan1 title4.1/5unsalted24Mel Gibson1 title4.1/5unsalted25Michael Bay1 title3.1/5unsalted26Morten Tyldum1 title3.9/5unsalted27Oliver Hirschbiegel1 title4.1/5unsalted28Peter Webber1 title3.0/5unsalted29Richard Fleischer1 title3.7/5unsalted30Rob Marshall1 title3.6/5unsalted31Robert Harmon1 title3.3/5unsalted32Roman Polanski1 title4.3/5unsalted33Samuel Fuller1 title3.7/5unsalted34Sean Ellis1 title3.6/5unsalted35Stuart Cooper1 title3.6/5unsalted36Taika Waititi1 title4.0/5unsalted37Takashi Yamazaki1 title4.1/5unsalted38Tom Hooper1 title3.8/5unsalted39Toshio Masuda1 title3.7/5unsalted40Vadim Perelman1 title3.7/5unsalted41Veljko Bulajić1 title3.5/5unsalted42Vladimir Vengerov1 title3.6/5unsalted43Wolfgang Petersen1 title4.3/5unsalted

Films only. Co-directors are counted individually, so a director’s solo work and their collaborations are grouped together. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.

Networks

1HBO2 titles4.3/5unsalted2ZDF1 title4.2/5unsalted

Series only, counted once each however many episodes carry the period. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.

Also on the Timeline

Part of and part of it are declared by the archive: one period counted as belonging to another, whatever their dates. Periods overlap freely so concurrent means the two spans share years, and the shared stretch is named. Bounded means it lies wholly inside this one, beginning and ending more than 10 years within its boundaries. Before and after are the nearest periods lying outside this one, with the gap in years shown instead. A shared thread is what the two have in common besides the calendar, and a period lying wholly outside this one can still share one.

RelationPeriodRunsShared yearsShared threadsTitles
Part of itSecond Sino-Japanese War1937–19451937–1945Unit 7312
Part of itWestern Front (World War II)1939–19451939–1945Battle of the BulgeD-DayOperation Market GardenThe Holocaust12
Part of itEastern Front (World War II)1941–19451941–1945The Holocaust8
Part of itPacific War1941–19451941–1945Attack on Pearl HarborBattle of OkinawaDoolittle Raid11
BeforeRoaring Twenties1920–19298 years earliernone shared4
ConcurrentCentury of Humiliation1839–19491937–1945none shared1
ConcurrentGreat Depression1929–19391937–1939none shared2
ConcurrentIndian Independence1885–19481937–1945none shared1
ConcurrentInterwar Years1918–19391937–1939Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII14
AfterCold War1946–19911 year later laterManhattan Project32
AfterFrench Indochina War1946–19541 year later laternone shared2