Movies like Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal
The best movies like Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal are Jane (2017), Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Beach Party (1963). If Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDesert Flower (2009)7.6/10 from 508 votes
- NewestA Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough (2026)Released 2026
Jane (2017)
Drawing from never-before-seen footage that has been tucked away in the National Geographic archives, director Brett Morgen tells the story of Jane Goodall, a woman whose chimpanzee research revolutionized our understanding of the natural world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGorillas in the Mist (1988)
The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeach Party (1963)
Anthropology Professor Robert Orwell Sutwell and his secretary Marianne are studying the sex habits of teenagers. The surfing teens led by Frankie and Dee Dee don't have much sex but they sing, battle the motorcycle rats and mice led by Eric Von Zipper and dance to Dick Dale and the Del Tones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisAt Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)
Martin and Hazel Quarrier are small-town fundamentalist missionaries sent to the jungles of South America to convert the Indians. Their remote mission was previously run by the Catholics, before the natives murdered them all. They are sent by the pompous Leslie Huben, who runs the missionary effort in the area but who seems more concerned about competing with his Catholic 'rivals' than in the Indians themselves. Hazel is terrified of the Indians while Martin is fascinated. Soon American pilot Lewis Moon joins the Indian tribe but is attracted by Leslie's young wife, Andy. Can the interaction of these characters and cultures, and the advancing bulldozers of civilization, avoid disaster?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTarzan and His Mate (1934)
Harry Holt returns to Africa with his friend Martin Arlington to head up a large ivory expedition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisQueen of the Desert (2015)
A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire in the Near and Middle East at the dawn of the twentieth century. Her knowledge of the tribal leaders is used by the British to establish the Kingdoms of Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lost City of Z (2017)
A true-life drama in the 1920s, centering on British explorer Col. Percy Fawcett, who discovered evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilization in the Amazon and disappeared whilst searching for it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough (2026)
Veteran naturalist Sir David Attenborough tells the story of a remarkable group of gorillas, from his first encounter in the '70s to the present day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTarzan the Ape Man (1932)
James Parker and Harry Holt are on an expedition in Africa in search of the elephant burial grounds that will provide enough ivory to make them rich. Parker's beautiful daughter Jane arrives unexpectedly to join them. Jane is terrified when Tarzan and his ape friends abduct her, but when she returns to her father's expedition she has second thoughts about leaving Tarzan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUniversal Soldier (1992)
An American soldier who had been killed during the Vietnam War is revived 25 years later by the military as a semi-android, UniSols, a high-tech soldier of the future. After the failure of the initiative to erase all the soldier's memories, he begins to experience flashbacks that are forcing him to recall his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJourney to the Center of the Earth (1959)
An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Passage to India (1984)
Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing Solomon's Mines (1950)
Fortune hunter Allan Quatermain teams up with a resourceful woman to help her find her missing husband lost in the wilds of 1900s Africa while being pursued by hostile tribes and a rival German explorer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKinsey (2004)
Kinsey is a portrait of researcher Alfred Kinsey, driven to uncover the most private secrets of a nation. What begins for Kinsey as a scientific endeavor soon takes on an intensely personal relevance, ultimately becoming an unexpected journey into the mystery of human behavior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
In 1900, young widow Lucy Muir learns that her seaside cottage is haunted and forms a unique relationship with the ghost.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFierce People (2006)
A massage therapist looking to overcome her addictions and reconnect with her son, whose father is an anthropologist in South America studying the Yanomani people, moves in with a wealthy ex-client in New Jersey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurious George (2006)
When The Man in the Yellow Hat befriends Curious George in the jungle, they set off on a non-stop, fun-filled journey through the wonders of the big city toward the warmth of true friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKokoda (2006)
A bitter battle is fought between Australian and Japanese soldiers along the Kokoda trail in New Guinea during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDesert Flower (2009)
The autobiography of a Somalian nomad who was sold in marriage at 13, fled from Africa a while later to become finally an American supermodel and is now at the age of 38, the UN spokeswoman against female genital mutilation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl Rising (2013)
Nine filmmakers each profile a young girl from a different part of the world to weave a global tapestry of youth in the 21st century.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEaten Alive! (1980)
A woman's search for her missing sister leads her to the jungles of New Guinea, where she and an expatriate guide encounter a cult leader and flesh-hungry natives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisCannibal Ferox (1981)
Three friends out to disprove cannibalism meet two men on the run who tortured and enslaved a cannibal tribe to find emeralds, and now the tribe is out for revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisInstinct (1999)
In a prison for the criminally insane, deranged anthropologist Ethan Powell is set to be examined by a bright young psychiatrist, Theo Caulder. Driven by ambition and a hunger for the truth, Caulder will eventually risk everything—even put his very life on the line—in a harrowing attempt to understand the bizarre actions of this madman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fabulous South Seas (1960)
The island of New Guinea is the setting for this film, which focuses on the landscape, the life of the Papuans and their ritual festivals and spirit dances. The colorful birds of paradise are the pride of the islanders. Among the more than 40 species, the smallest, the "Little King" with blood-red plumage, can also be found on the island.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Snow in the South Seas (1961)
Japanese soldiers stranded in Manokwari, New Guinea, improvise a theater play to keep their spirits up and endure the extremely difficult conditions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Haunting (1963)
Dr. John Markway recruits three strangers for a sleep-disorder study at the eerie and isolated Hill House. It soon becomes clear his real interest lies in the mansion itself and its sinister history, as they are forced to confront the nature of its horror…
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
A Harvard anthropologist is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead. In his quest to find the miracle drug, the cynical scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking zombies, blood rites and ancient curses. Based on the true life experiences of Wade Davis and filmed on location in Haiti, it's a frightening excursion into black magic and the supernatural.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhost Town (2008)
Bertram Pincus, a cranky, people-hating Manhattan dentist, develops the unwelcome ability to see dead people. Really annoying dead people. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, a smooth-talking ghost, who pesters him into a romantic scheme involving his widow Gwen. They are soon entangled in a hilarious predicament between the now and the hereafter!
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Relic (1997)
A homicide detective teams up with an evolutionary biologist to hunt a giant creature that is killing people in a Chicago museum.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLe Grand Entretien avec Philippe Descola (2023)
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal?
The closest matches to Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal are Jane (2017), Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Beach Party (1963). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal?
Start with Jane (2017), the closest match to Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal.
What is the highest-rated movie like Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal?
Desert Flower (2009), rated 7.6/10 by 508 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal?
A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal?
Yes: Jane (2017), Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Beach Party (1963).
How are movies similar to Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Margaret Mead's New Guinea Journal, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.