Movies like MacArthur's Japan (1949)
The best movies like MacArthur's Japan (1949) are Emperor (2012), MacArthur (1977) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). If MacArthur's Japan hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
MacArthur's Japan
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHacksaw Ridge (2016)8.2/10 from 15,512 votes
- NewestOperation Blood Hunt (2024)Released 2024
Emperor (2012)
As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMacArthur (1977)
The film portrays MacArthur's life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, when he was removed from his Korean War command by President Truman for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHouse of Bamboo (1955)
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHacksaw Ridge (2016)
WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDestination Tokyo (1943)
During World War II, Captain Cassidy and his crew of submariners are ordered into Tokyo Bay on a secret mission. They are to gather information in advance of the planned bombing of Tokyo. Along the way, the crew learn about each other as they face the enemy and some of them lose their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Outsider (2018)
A former American G.I. joins a yakuza family after his release from prison in post-World War II Osaka.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Harm's Way (1965)
A Naval officer, reprimanded after Pearl Harbor, is later promoted to Rear Admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnbroken (2014)
A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOperation Blood Hunt (2024)
Prolific expert of the occult and whiskey, Reverend Conte, accompanies a ragtag group of military rejects to a remote South Pacific Island to investigate the disappearance of Marines units stationed there in 1944, said to be at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. Upon speaking with the island’s inhabitants, they soon discover the Marines had actually been massacred by a group of Lycanthropes, known to most as WEREWOLVES.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMerrill's Marauders (1962)
Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill leads the 3,000 American volunteers of his 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), aka "Merrill's Marauders", behind Japanese lines across Burma to Myitkyina, pushing beyond their limits and fighting pitched battles at every strong-point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNever Back Down: No Surrender (2016)
Picking up after the events of Never Back Down 2, former MMA champion Case Walker is on the comeback trail to become champion once again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlood on the Sun (1945)
Nick Condon, an American journalist in 20s Tokyo, publishes the Japanese master plan for world domination. Reaction from the understandably upset Japanese provides the action, but this is overshadowed by the propaganda of the time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThey Were Expendable (1945)
After a demonstration of new PT boats, Navy brass are still unconvinced of their viability in combat, leaving Lt. "Rusty" Ryan frustrated. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Ryan and his buddy Lt. Brickley are told they can finally take their squadron into battle. The PT boats quickly prove their worth, successfully shooting down Japanese planes, relaying messages between islands, and picking off a multitude of enemy ships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInto the Storm (2009)
This powerful follow-up to “The Gathering Storm” follows Churchill from 1940 to 1945 as he guided his beleaguered nation through the crucible of the war years--even as his marriage was encountering its own struggles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Box Diaries (2024)
Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country's outdated judicial and societal systems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
It has been ten years since The Battle of the Breach and the oceans are still, but restless. Vindicated by the victory at the Breach, the Jaeger program has evolved into the most powerful global defense force in human history. The PPDC now calls upon the best and brightest to rise up and become the next generation of heroes when the Kaiju threat returns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBack to Bataan (1945)
A U.S. Army colonel leads local fighters in a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Village (2023)
In a once-scenic village now dominated by a vast trash disposal site, a young man yearns to break free from a cruel fate tying him to the very grounds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInu-Oh (2022)
A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Hokusai (2015)
A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
The four turtles travel back in time to the days of the legendary and deadly samurai in ancient Japan, where they train to perfect the art of becoming one. The turtles also assist a small village in an uprising.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisMemoirs of a Geisha (2005)
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOkada Yukiko - Memories in Swiss (2002)
The first DVD release of two Okada Yukiko videos, "Okada Yukiko in Switzerland" and "Okada Yukiko Memories of Switzerland", both released in 1985, on one disc.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Gappa, the Triphibian Monster (1967)
An expedition in the South Pacific lands on a tropical island where the natives worship the mysterious deity Gappa. An earthquake opens up an underground cavern and a baby reptile is discovered inside. The natives warn the foreigners to leave the hatching alone, but they don't listen and take it back to a zoo in Japan. Soon after, moma and papa Gappa start smashing Tokyo looking for their kidnapped child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisHajimemashite Nakamori Akina (1985)
Akina Nakamori's second video work "Hajimemashite" consists of 12 songs (including three singles "Slow Motion," "Girl A," and "Second Love") from her debut year (1982), filmed at Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles and other locations where Akina Nakamori visited to record and interview for "Slow Motion" from March 11 to 17, 1982, just before her debut. It also includes the recording of her debut song "Slow Motion," and is full of valuable memorial footage from before her debut!
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like MacArthur's Japan?
The closest matches to MacArthur's Japan are Emperor (2012), MacArthur (1977) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after MacArthur's Japan?
Start with Emperor (2012), the closest match to MacArthur's Japan.
What is the highest-rated movie like MacArthur's Japan?
Hacksaw Ridge (2016), rated 8.2/10 by 15,512 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like MacArthur's Japan?
Operation Blood Hunt (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like MacArthur's Japan?
Yes: Emperor (2012), MacArthur (1977) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970).
How are movies similar to MacArthur's Japan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside MacArthur's Japan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.