Movies like A Ship Comes In (1928)
The best movies like A Ship Comes In (1928) are The Nest (2020), Hounddog (2008) and Farming (2018). If A Ship Comes In hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHands of Stone (2016)6.6/10 from 470 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
The Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFarming (2018)
Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Padre (2018)
American retired Judge Randall Nemes and his hired gun, Gaspar, track down a con man posing as a priest in a small Colombian town only to be thrown off-course by a scrappy 16-year-old girl intent on reuniting with her sister in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Driver (2020)
When a rebellious teen embarks on a solo summer journey to connect with her roots, she finds herself in a new world, geared up for the ride of her life, and discovers she had the drive in her all along.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNormal (2003)
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntroducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)
An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy still struggled with the challenge of her color, in a time that wouldn't let some stars in by the front door. Yet against the odds she beat out many more famous rivals for the role of "Carmen Jones", becoming the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. Marriages and affairs would break her heart, but her heart was strong. Seductive and easily seduced, she was born to be a star - with all the glory and all the pain of being loved, abused, cheated, glorified, undermined and undefeated. Here was a woman who wouldn't wait in the wings. Halle Berry stars as Dorothy Dandrige.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Turn of the Wheel (1918)
While visiting Monte Carlo with her aunt, Rosalie Dean meets a young man, Maxfield Gray who is ready to kill himself because of his losses at the roulette wheel. She stops him from doing so, and lends him some money to win back what he's lost. He does, but they're only happy for a short while before Max is arrested for the murder of his ex-wife in the States.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
All Woman (1918)
Susan Sweeney inherits a country hotel. When she arrives to take possession, she discovers it to be not the palatial resort she believed, but a run-down inn with an attached saloon. As she struggles to make something of her new operation, she becomes involved in the life and difficulties of her new community....
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Floor Below (1918)
Patricia O'Rourke, a good-natured prankster who works as a copy girl for the Sentinel , angers her co-worker Stubbs and is about to lose her job when the managing editor offers her one more chance. Her assignment is to explain the clue that links the Hope Mission, a derelict home run by millionaire Hunter Mason and his secretary, Monty Latham, with a series of local robberies. When Hunter discovers Patricia in his office, he assumes that she is a crook in need of reforming and takes her into his home to be cared for by his mother.....
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Walking Back (1928)
After his father refuses to lend him his car, jazz age youngster Smoke Thatcher 'borrows' a neighbor's car to take Patsy, his sweetheart, to a dance. A car-fight with a rival results in the wreck of the borrowed automobile. The garage to which the car is taken for repair turns out to be a gang's hideaway and a place where stolen cars are brought and fenced.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dream of Love (1928)
A duke has deposed Prince Mauritz's father, so Mauritz spends his time in affairs with a countess, the duke's wife and a gypsy girl Adrienne. Years later she is a famous actress in a play resembling the sad story of their earlier relationship. He falls in love with her again. The jealous duchess and the duke arrange to have him shot by firing squad but revolutionaries save him and make him King.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Main Event (1927)
Nightclub dancer Glory Frayne falls in love with championship boxer Red Lucas . Luca's latest opponent is likeable young pugilist Johnny Regan . When Johnny meets Glory, he is instantly smitten.....
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Wreck of the Hesperus (1927)
Captain Slocum of the Hesperus arrives on shore in a New England village to find that the girl he loves has been tricked into marrying John Hazzard in his absence. Heartbroken and bitter, the captain, with his daughter, Gale, and second mate, Singapore Jack, returns to sea. He rescues from a burning vessel John Hazzard, Jr., son of his rival, and though he tries to keep the boy from Gale, a romance develops. ...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Almost Human (1927)
John Livingston is a rich mama's-boy, who owns a blooded dog named Paul. Paul meets Maggie Mutt, and Paul, being a pedigree canine and somewhat of a cad, lures trusting Maggie to the barn to have his way. He then departs for his palatial doghouse at the Livingston estate. Meanwhile Maggie is broken-hearted and also finds that she is in a "family way", and gives birth to a pup she names Hank. Maggie tells Hank to find his "human ", and departs the scene. Hank goes to the park, meets a "human" named Mary Kelly, who is a homeless waif and sweetheart of poverty, and the two adopt each other. Later on in the park Paul comes strolling along with his 'human', John. A child falls into the lake and Paul and Hank team up to save her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
North Star (1925)
During a wild party, Wilbur Gale hits another man and, incorrectly believing that he has killed him, flees to the Northwoods. Wilbur's dog, North Star, runs away and is taken in by Noel Blake, a newspaper reporter. Receiving a letter from her brother, Marcia Gale sets out to find him, taking with her Dick Robbins, a false friend who sees an opportunity for blackmail...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Ragamuffin (1916)
In planning to break into the house of the wealthy Bob Van Dyke, Jenny's stepfather decides that his stepdaughter should do most of the dirty work, and Jenny, not wanting to disappoint him, grudgingly agrees. As soon as she enters the house, Bob catches her, but then goes back to his bedroom after making her give her word not to take anything. Jenny breaks her promise...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Ship Comes In?
The closest matches to A Ship Comes In are The Nest (2020), Hounddog (2008) and Farming (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Ship Comes In?
Start with The Nest (2020), the closest match to A Ship Comes In.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Ship Comes In?
Hands of Stone (2016), rated 6.6/10 by 470 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Ship Comes In?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Ship Comes In?
Yes: The Nest (2020), Hounddog (2008) and Farming (2018).
How are movies similar to A Ship Comes In chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Ship Comes In, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.