This is a list of fictional feature films or miniseries which feature events of World War II in the narrative.
There is a separate list of World War II TV series.
Criteria The film or miniseries must be concerned with World War II (or the War of Ethiopia and the Sino-Japanese War) and include events which feature as a part of the war effort. For short films, see the List of World War II short films. For documentaries, see the List of World War II documentary films and the List of Allied propaganda films of World War II.
Fictional feature films specifically pertaining to the Holocaust appear in the List of Holocaust films#Narrative films.
Common topics Many aspects of this conflict have repeatedly been the subject of drama. These common subjects will not be linked when they appear in the film descriptions below:
Europe Adolf Hitler, Nazi Party and Nazism National Socialist Germany (Third Reich) Benito Mussolini and Fascism Kingdom of Italy (and Fascist Italy) and Italian Social Republic Death camps, Nazi concentration camps, earlier concentration camps Partition and occupation of Poland and Polish resistance Occupied France, Vichy France and French Resistance Occupied Norway The Holocaust
Asia–Pacific Emperor Shōwa and Imperialism Empire of Japan (Japanese Imperial) Non-geographical POW
Films made during the War of Ethiopia and the Sino-Japanese War Before the Second World War explicitly began with the Nazi German, then later Soviet (Russian) invasions of Poland in September 1939, Germany had already absorbed Austria in the Anschluß of 1938, then the Czechoslovak lands of Bohemia and Moravia. Meanwhile, Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union were involved in the Spanish Civil War,For movies set during the Spanish Civil War please refer to List of Spanish Civil War films (1936–1939), and Italy had conquered Ethiopia (1935–1936) and Albania (1939). China had been fighting against Japan since the 1931 invasion of their northeastern province of Manchuria in a war that completely opened in 1937, called the Second Sino-Japanese War, until Japan attacked the U.S.A. at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, then the British Empire and the Dutch East Indies colonial possessions also in December 1941. 1936 CountryMain title(Alternative titles)Original title(Original script)DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depictedItalyIl grande appelloMario CameriniItalian father and son in the War of EthiopiaNazi GermanyVerräterKarl RitterForeign spies in a German armaments factory
1937 CountryMain title(Alternative titles)Original title(Original script)DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depictedItalySentinels of BronzeSentinelle di bronzoRomolo MarcelliniItalian colonial soldiers defeat the Ethiopian attack on WalwalJapanSong of Marching Shingun no uta (進軍の歌)Yasushi SasakiVolunteer in the Japanese Army fighting in China
1938 CountryMain title(Alternative titles)Original title(Original script)DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depictedJapanChocolate and SoldiersChocolate to heitai (チョコレートと兵隊)Takeshi SatoJapanese Army soldier's battlefield letters with chocolate wrappers sent to son while fighting in ChinaSoviet UnionConcentration Camp (Bog Soldiers / Soldiers of the Swamp)Bolotnye soldaty (Болотные солдаты)Nazi concentration camp guards attempt to break spirits of CommunistsChinaBā bǎi zhuàngshì (八百壮士) Ying YunweiDefense of Sihang WarehouseFranceIt Happened in GibraltarGibraltarFedor OzepBritish officer in Gibraltar pretends to be traitorJapanInvisible InvaderSugata-naki shinnyūsha (姿無き侵入者)Shuzo FukudaForeign spies in Japan pretend to be travelersItalyLuciano Serra, PilotLuciano Serra pilotaGoffredo AlessandriniItalo-Abyssinian WarKoreaMilitary TrainGun'yō ressha ()Gun-yong-yeolcha ()Gwang-je SeoA Korean train conductor is involved in espionage on a Japanese military trainJapan (Five Scouts)Gonin no sekkôhei (五人の斥候兵)Tomotaka TasakaFive Japanese Army soldiers on reconnaissance mission behind Chinese linesJapanTōyō heiwa no michi (東洋平和の道)Shigeyoshi SuzukiChinese farmers overcame their distrust of Japan after being helped by Japanese soldiersFranceLe drame de ShanghaïGeorg Wilhelm PabstJapanese Black Dragon agents in Shanghai
Films made during the Second World War
Note: Soviet films are in Russian and originate in the Russian SFSR, unless otherwise noted.
1939 CountryMain title(Alternative titles)Original title(Original script)DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depictedItalyBattles in the Shadow Lotte nell'ombraDomenico GambinoForeign spies steal the formula of a new explosiveUnited StatesConfessions of a Nazi SpyNazi spy ring in the United StatesUnited StatesHitler, Beast of Berlin (Hell's Devils / Beasts of Berlin)Drama. German anti-Hitler political prisonerHungaryHungary's RevivalMagyar feltámadásDrama, romance. The film celebrates the recent Hungarian territorial gains following the Munich agreement and the First Vienna Award.RAF mobilization This is the first World War II British propaganda film.ItalyPiccoli naufraghiFlavio CalzavaraAdventure. Twelve Italian boys embark on a merchantman ship to fight in the War of Ethiopia, but are shipwrecked on an island. Then they manage to take control of another merchantman smuggling weapons to Ethiopia.Japan EmpireMud and SoldiersTsuchi to heitai (土と兵隊)Drama based on Ashihei Hino novel. Effect of war on Japanese soldiers during Sino-Japanese WarUnited KingdomQ Planes (Clouds Over Europe)Thriller. Foreign spies suspected in disappearance of secret aircraft United KingdomSecret Journey (Among Human Wolves)Based on Charles Robert Dumas' short story. British secret service agent on missionJapan EmpireShanghai Landing SquadShanhai Rikusentai (上海陸戦隊)Japanese Special Naval Landing ForcesNazi GermanyShoulder ArmsDas Gewehr überJürgen von AltenGerman emigrant in Australia returns to his country for military service in the ArmyUnited StatesSouth of the BorderAction/Western. US Federal Agent on mission in Mexico to prevent German agents from gaining control of Mexican oil refineries and inciting revolutionNazi GermanyThree Non-Coms Drei UnteroffiziereWerner HochbaumLuftwaffe NCO'sUnited KingdomTraitor Spy (The Torso Murder Mystery)Mystery thriller based on T. C. H. Jacobs novel. German spy employed in anti-submarine patrol boat and torpedo factoryUnited StatesWings of the NavyDrama. Experimental fighter for the US Navy
1940 CountryMain title(Alternative titles)Original title(Original script)DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depictedUnited StatesArise, My LoveMitchell LeisenRomantic comedy. Spanish Civil War through French capitulation, 1940Nazi GermanyAttention! The Enemy Is Listening! Achtung! Feind hört mit!Arthur Maria RabenaltForeign spies in a German armaments factoryCharles FrendEconomic blockade of GermanyJapan (The Burning Sky / Flaming Sky)Moyuru ōzora (燃ゆる大空)Yutaka AbeAction-drama. Imperial Japanese Army Air Service during Sino-Japanese WarItaly Il cavaliere di KrujaCarlo CampogallianiAdventure. An Italian journalist gets involved in the Albanian opposition to King Zog and is finally saved by the Italian invasion of AlbaniaUnited StatesComrade XKing VidorSpy drama. US journalist in the Soviet Union moonlights as spy.United KingdomConvoyPen TennysonBattle of the AtlanticNazi GermanyEnemies FeindeViktor TourjanskyInvasion of Poland justified by Polish persecution of ethnic GermansUnited StatesForeign CorrespondentAlfred HitchcockSpy thriller. American reporter tries to expose spies in Britain on the eve of World War II.United StatesCharlie ChaplinSatire. Dictator Adenoid Hynkel is replaced by identical JewUnited StatesJohn FordBattle of the AtlanticUnited States (I Married a Nazi)Irving PichelDrama. American woman's German husband develops Nazi sympathiesUnited KingdomNight Train to Munich (Gestapo)Carol ReedMystery-thriller. Inventor and daughter kidnapped by Gestapo then rescued by British agentUnited StatesCharles BartonAction-mystery. Journalist and US Navy frogman investigate U-boat terrorNazi GermanyRequest ConcertWunschkonzertEduard von BorsodyLuftwaffe airmen fighting over Poland and then the AtlanticUnited StatesSki PatrolLew LandersOlympians oppose each other again in the Winter WarJapanNishizumi senshacho-den (西住戦車長伝)Kōzaburō YoshimuraJapanese tank commander fights in the Sino-Japanese War and dies in the Battle of NankingUnited KingdomTen Days in ParisJeremy BrownComedy mystery. United StatesWaterloo BridgeMervyn LeRoyCalled-up British officer reminisces over World War I romance Released on 17 May 1940, this is arguably the first Hollywood film set during the war.United StatesWomen in WarJohn H. AuerAction-drama. Allied nurses on pre-Dunkirk Battle of France front
1941