Below is an incomplete list of full-length films or mini-series to feature or partly feature events of World War II in the narrative.

Contents

Restrictions

  • The film or mini-series must be concerned with World War II and include events which feature as a part of the war effort.
  • Excludes non-fictional documentaries and shorts.

Films made during the war

1939

Country Title Director Battles, campaigns, events depicted
 United Kingdom The Lion Has Wings Michael Powell, Adrian Brunel, Brian Desmond Hurst RAF mobilisation - the first British propaganda film of the war

1940

Country Title Director battles, campaigns, events depicted
 United Kingdom The Big Blockade Charles Frend Economic blockade of Germany
 United Kingdom Convoy Pen Tennyson Second Battle of the Atlantic
 United States The Long Voyage Home John Ford Second Battle of the Atlantic
 United Kingdom Secret Journey John Baxter Espionage
 United States Waterloo Bridge Mervyn LeRoy While mobilizing for World War II, a British officer reminisces about a romance in World War I *Released May 17, 1940 -- arguably the first Hollywood film set during the war
 United States Women in War John H. Auer Nurses in the Battle of Britain

1941

Country Title Director Battles, campaigns, events depicted
 United Kingdom Forty-Ninth Parallel Michael Powell Survivors of a sunken U-Boat in Hudsons Bay trek across Canada to neutral US
 United States Caught in the Draft David Butler Bob Hope gets drafted
 United Kingdom Dangerous Moonlight Brian Desmond Hurst Battle of Britain
 Soviet Union Frontovye podrugi Viktor Eisymont The Girl from Leningrad
 United Kingdom Freedom Radio Anthony Asquith German Resistance
 United Kingdom Pimpernel Smith Leslie Howard The Scarlet Pimpernel updated to World War II
 United Kingdom Ships with Wings Sergei Nolbandov Battle of Taranto
 United States Sundown Henry Hathaway North African Campaign
 United States Underground Vincent Sherman German Resistance
 United States A Yank in the RAF Henry King American volunteers in the RAF

1942

Country Title Director Battles, campaigns, events depicted
 Italy Alfa Tau! Francesco De Robertis Italian submarine warfare; Mediterranean Theatre of World War II
 Italy Bengasi Augusto Genina North Africa campaign
 United States The Bugle Sounds S. Sylvan Simon Cavalry and tank warfare
 United States Casablanca Michael Curtiz Romantic film in Vichy France-controlled Morocco
 United States Captains of the Clouds Michael Curtiz Canadian bush pilots in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
 United Kingdom The Day Will Dawn Harold French Norwegian resistance
 United States Desperate Journey Raoul Walsh Allied aircrew escaping occupied France
 United States Eagle Squadron Arthur Lubin Eagle Squadron, the American volunteers in the RAF during Battle of Britain
 United States
 United Kingdom		 Flying Fortress Walter Forde B-17 planes
 United States Flying Tigers David Miller American Volunteer Group, Second Sino-Japanese War
 United Kingdom The Foreman Went to France Charles Frend Battle of France
 United Kingdom The First of the Few Leslie Howard Development of Spitfires
 Germany Fronttheater Arthur Maria Rabenalt Battle of Greece?
 Japan Hawai mare oki kaisen Kajiro Yamamoto The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay
 United Kingdom In Which We Serve Noel Coward and David Lean Based on the sinking of HMS Kelly
 United States Lady from Chungking William Nigh Second Sino-Japanese War
 United States Let's Get Tough! Wallace Fox Juvenile delinquents battle the Black Dragon Society saboteurs in New York
 United States Mrs. Miniver William Wyler British Home Front
 United States Navy Comes Through A. Edward Sutherland Second Battle of the Atlantic
 United Kingdom The Next of Kin Thorold Dickinson Careless talk costs lives message and fictional commando raid
 Italy Odessa in fiamme Carmine Gallone Odessa in Flames
 United Kingdom One of Our Aircraft is Missing Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Allied aircrew escaping occupied Netherlands
 United States Pacific Rendezvous George Sidney Spy film about cryptography in the Pacific War
 Italy Un Pilota ritorna Roberto Rossellini
 United States Reunion in France Jules Dassin French Resistance helps downed US pilot
 United Kingdom Sabotage at Sea Leslie S. Hiscott
 United States Somewhere I'll Find You Wesley Ruggles War correspondents in China and Pacific
 United States Stand by for Action Robert Z. Leonard Pacific War
 Germany Stukas Karl Ritter Stuka, German dive bomber
 United States They Raid by Night Spencer Gordon Bennet Commando raids in occupied Norway
 Japan Tsubasa no gaika Satsuo Yamamoto A Triumph of Wings ; co-written by Akira Kurosawa
 Soviet Union Uchinari Jani Isidor Annensky and Vladimir Petrov
 United States Wake Island John Farrow Battle of Wake Island
 United Kingdom Went the Day Well? Alberto Cavalcanti Fictional German invasion of England (see Operation Sealion)
 United States A Yank on the Burma Road George B. Seitz Burma Road

1943

Country Title Director Battles, campaigns, events depicted
 United States Action in the North Atlantic Lloyd Bacon Second Battle of the Atlantic
 United States Aerial Gunner William H. Pine B-17 in the Pacific
 United States Air Force Howard Hawks B-17 bombers in the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42)
 United States Bataan Tay Garnett Battle of Bataan, Philippines
 United States Behind the Rising Sun Edward Dmytryk
 United Kingdom The Bells Go Down Basil Dearden Auxiliary Fire Service during The Blitz
 United States Bombardier Richard Wallace B-17 bomber crewmen in the Pacific
 United States Bombs Over Burma Joseph H. Lewis
 United States Chetniks Louis King Chetniks - Yugoslav guerillas
 United States China John Farrow
 United States Corregidor William Nigh Battle of Corregidor, Philippines
 United States Corvette K-225 Richard Rosson and Howard Hawks Battle of the Atlantic
 United States Crash Dive Archie Mayo U.S. submarine in the North Atlantic
 United States Cross of Lorraine, The Tay Garnett
 United States Cry 'Havoc' Richard Thorpe
 United States Destination Tokyo Delmer Daves U.S. submarine patrol for the Doolittle Raid
 United States Destroyer William A. Seiter The fictional story of the destroyer USS John Paul Jones from commissioning
 United States Edge of Darkness Lewis Milestone Norwegian resistance movement
 United Kingdom Fires Were Started Humphrey Jennings The Blitz
 United States Five Graves to Cairo Billy Wilder Spy film set after the fall of Tobruk in the North African Campaign
 United Kingdom The Flemish Farm Jeffrey Dell Commando raids in Europe
 United States Guadalcanal Diary Lewis Seiler US Marines in Guadalcanal campaign
 United States Gung Ho!: The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders Ray Enright Marine Raiders in the Central Pacific
 United States A Guy Named Joe Victor Fleming The spirit of a deceased US pilot acts as the "guardian angel" of new pilots
 United States Hangmen Also Die Fritz Lang Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Czech resistance
 United States Immortal Sergeant John M. Stahl British troops in North Africa Campaign
 Soviet Union Is kidev dabrundeba Diomide Antadze and Nikoloz Shengelaya
 United Kingdom The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Home Guard
 United Kingdom Millions Like Us Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat Home Front
 United States Mission to Moscow Michael Curtiz Various negotiations between Allies
 United States The Moon is Down Irving Pichel Resistance
 United States The North Star Lewis Milestone Guerrilla warfare on the Eastern Front
 United States Pilot no. 5 George Sidney Battle of the Java Sea
 United States Rookies in Burma Leslie Goodwins Burma Campaign
 United States Sahara Zoltan Korda Allied troops at Second Battle of El Alamein
 United States Salute to the Marines S. Sylvan Simon Battle of the Philippines
 United Kingdom The Silver Fleet Gordon Wellesley Dutch resistance
 United States So Proudly We Hail! Mark Sandrich Battle of the Philippines (1941-42)
 United States The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler James Patrick Hogan
 United States This Land Is Mine Jean Renoir French Resistance
 United States Three Russian Girls Henry S. Kesler and Fyodor Otsep Eastern Front
 United Kingdom Undercover Sergei Nolbandov Yugoslav partisans
 United Kingdom We Dive at Dawn Anthony Asquith Submarine warfare during the Second Battle of the Atlantic

1944

Country Title Director Battles, campaigns, events depicted
 United Kingdom 2,000 Women Frank Launder Internment camps for British women in occupied France
 Italy Aeroporto Piero Costa Italian aviators flying for the Salo Republic; only surviving film made in the Republic of Salo
 United States Days of Glory Jacques Tourneur Soviet partisans
 United States The Eve of St. Mark John M. Stahl
 United States The Fighting Seabees Edward Ludwig The US Navy Seabees
 United States Four Jills in a Jeep William A. Seiter The experiences of female stars in USO shows; Betty Grable, Carole Landis and others play themselves
 United States The Impostor Julien Duvivier
 United States In the Meantime, Darling Otto Preminger
 Soviet Union Jurgais pari Siko Dolidze and Davit Rondeli
 United States Ladies Courageous John Rawlins Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron
 United States Lifeboat Alfred Hitchcock Second Battle of the Atlantic
 Soviet Union Malakhov kurgan Iosif Kheifits and Aleksandr Zarkhi Battle of Sevastopol
 United States Marine Raiders Harold D. Schuster Battle of Guadalcanal
 United States Marriage Is a Private Affair Robert Z. Leonard
 United States The Master Race Herbert J. Biberman
 United States Mr. Winkle Goes to War Alfred E. Green
 United States The Navy Way William A. Berke
 United States Passage to Marseille Michael Curtiz
 United States Passport to Destiny Ray McCarey
 Soviet Union Raduga Mark Donskoy
 Australia The Rats of Tobruk Charles Chauvel Siege of Tobruk
 United States Rosie the Riveter Joseph Santley
 United States See Here, Private Hargrove Wesley Ruggles
 United States Sergeant Mike Henry Levin
 United States Since You Went Away John Cromwell Home Front in the United States
 United States Song of Russia Gregory Ratoff
 Italy
 Romania		 Squadriglia bianca Ion Sava The White Squadron
 United States The Story of Dr. Wassell Cecil B. DeMille Navy doctor in the Battle of Java
 United States The Sullivans Lloyd Bacon Sullivan brothers
 United States Sunday Dinner for a Soldier Lloyd Bacon
 United States Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo Mervyn LeRoy Doolittle Raid
 United States Till We Meet Again Frank Borzage
 United States To Have and Have Not Howard Hawks
 United States Two-Man Submarine Lew Landers
 United States U-Boat Prisoner Lew Landers
 United States Waterfront Steve Sekely
 United Kingdom The Way Ahead Carol Reed Conscripts are trained and fight in the North African Campaign
 United States The White Cliffs of Dover Clarence Brown
 United States Wing and a Prayer Henry Hathaway Battle of Midway
 United States Winged Victory George Cukor

1945

Country Title Director Battles, campaigns, events depicted
 United States Back to Bataan Edward Dmytryk Battle of Bataan, guerilla warfare in the Philippines, Battle of Leyte
 United States Blood on the Sun Frank Lloyd American journalist persecuted by Japanese militarist government
 United States China's Little Devils Monta Bell
 United States Cornered Edward Dmytryk Ex-Nazis in Argentina
 United States Counter-Attack Zoltan Korda Eastern Front (World War II)
 United States First Yank Into Tokyo Gordon Douglas
 United States
Template:China		 God Is My Co-Pilot Robert Florey Flying Tigers
 United States Keep Your Powder Dry Edward Buzzell Women's Army Corps
 Germany Das Leben geht weiter Wolfgang Liebeneiner Life Goes On; about V-2 turning the tide of the war in Germany's favour
 Japan Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors Mitsuyo Seo First full length anime film; show Japanese folk hero and animal buddies driving British soldiers off an island
 United States Objective, Burma! Raoul Walsh Burma Campaign
 United States Out of the Depths D. Ross Lederman Fictional rogue Japanese resistance during the USS MissouriTemplate:WP Ships USS instances surrender ceremony
 United States Pride of the Marines Delmer Daves Battle of Guadalcanal; civilian readjustment
 United States Prison Ship Arthur Dreifuss
 Italy Roma, Città Aperta Roberto Rossellini Rome, the Open City; About the Italian resistance movement movement after the Nazis occupied northern Italy
 United States Samurai Raymond Cannon
 United States The Story of G.I. Joe William A. Wellman Ernie Pyle accompanies Company C, 18th Infantry in the North African Campaign and Battle of Monte Cassino
 United States They Were Expendable John Ford PT boats in the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42)
 United States Too Young to Know Frederick De Cordova War in the South Pacific separates a young couple.
 United States A Walk in the Sun Lewis Milestone Invasion of Salerno
 United Kingdom The Way to the Stars Anthony Asquith RAF and USAAF bomber crews stationed in England
 United States What Next, Corporal Hargrove? Richard Thorpe Final comedic adventures of Private Hargrove in Europe

Late 1940s

Year Country Title Director Battles, campaigns, events depicted
1946  United States The Best Years of Our Lives William Wyler American servicemen struggles after returning home from the war
1946  United Kingdom Journey Together John Boulting Follows the life of three RAF pilots from recruitment to first combat
1946  United Kingdom The Captive Heart Basil Dearden British prisoners of war in Germany
1946  United Kingdom Theirs is the Glory Brian Desmond Hurst and Terence Young Operation Market Garden
1946  United Kingdom School for Secrets Peter Ustinov Operation Biting
1946  Italy Paisà Roberto Rossellini About Italian campaign
1946  Soviet Union
 Yugoslavia		 V gorakh Yugoslavii Abram Room In the Mountains of Yugoslavia ; Yugoslav partisans
1947  United Kingdom Frieda Basil Dearden
1948  United States Command Decision Sam Wood Command stresses in U.S. Eighth Air Force
1948  United Kingdom Against the Wind Charles Crichton Commando raid into occupied Belgium
1948  Norway Kampen om tungtvannet Norwegian heavy water sabotage
1948  United States Fighter Squadron Raoul Walsh P-47 fighters in US air war in Europe
1948  United States /  Switzerland The Search Fred Zinnemann Displaced persons in postwar Germany
1948  West Germany Morituri Eugen York First post-1945 German film about the war
1949  United States Battleground William A. Wellman 101st Airborne Division in the Battle of the Bulge
1949  United States Sands of Iwo Jima Allan Dwan Battle of Iwo Jima
1949  United Kingdom They Were Not Divided Terence Young British Guards Armoured Division
1949  United States Twelve O'Clock High Henry King B-17 bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force
1949  United Kingdom The Small Back Room Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Bomb disposal