Movies like Goodnight, Mister Tom (1998)
The best movies like Goodnight, Mister Tom (1998) are Empire of the Sun (1987), The Windermere Children (2020) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). If Goodnight, Mister Tom hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSgt. Stubby: An American Hero (2018)7.9/10 from 219 votes
- NewestButterfly (2025)Released 2025
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Windermere Children (2020)
The story of the pioneering project to rehabilitate child survivors of the Holocaust on the shores of Lake Windermere.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
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 · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Rifleman (2023)
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cardinal (1963)
A young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHope and Glory (1987)
A middle-aged man recalls his childhood growing up in and around London during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen the Wind Blows (1986)
With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaiting for Anya (2020)
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Train to Munich (1940)
Czechoslovakia, March 1939, on the eve of World War II. As the German invaders occupy Prague, inventor Axel Bomasch manages to flee and reach England; but those who need to put his knowledge at the service of the Nazi war machine, in order to carry out their evil plans of destruction, will stop at nothing to capture him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe One That Got Away (1957)
Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Life (2023)
British stockbroker Nicholas Winton visits Czechoslovakia in the 1930s and forms plans to assist in the rescue of Jewish children before the onset of World War II, in an operation that came to be known as the Kindertransport.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDarkest Hour (2017)
In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZoo (2018)
Young Tom and his misfit friends fight to save 'Buster' the baby elephant during the German air raid bombings of Belfast in 1941.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnne of Green Gables (2016)
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSgt. Stubby: An American Hero (2018)
The true story of the most decorated dog in American military history - Sgt. Stubby - and the enduring bonds he forged with his brothers-in-arms in the trenches of World War I.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Colditz Story (1955)
The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This film, based on Pat Reid's epic novel, tells the story of how the British, French, Dutch and Polish prisoners of war who were incarcerated in Colditz set out to prove their captors wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChurchill (2017)
A ticking-clock thriller following Winston Churchill in the 24 hours before D-Day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
The true, harrowing story of a young Jewish girl who, with her family and their friends, is forced into hiding in an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExodus (1960)
Ari Ben Canaan, a passionate member of the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah, attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus. He faces obstruction from British forces, who will not grant the ship passage to its destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young Lions (1958)
The lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUn crime de guerre (1994)
A film that relates the trial in Bordeaux in January 1953 of some of the participants in the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre of June 10, 1944.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
The Match (2021)
Inspired by true events from the spring of 1944 when the Nazis organized a football match between a team of camp inmates and an elite Nazi team on Adolf Hitler's birthday. A match the prisoners are determined to win, no matter what happens.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Marie Lloyd: Queen of the Music Hall (2007)
Witness the life and loves of Marie Lloyd, the music hall legend known for her bawdy songs and outrageous lifestyle, which included three marriages and an illegitimate child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
The Assault (1986)
At the end of WWII the Dutch resistance kills a German officer in front of the house of a Dutch family. Years after the war the young boy who witnessed the killing runs into the members of the resistance who committed the killing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scorpion (1997)
Josef Bertholt is head of operations of the Munich Police's drug squad. When his wife Lily is the victim of a hit by drug dealers, he becomes even more obsessed with his work.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Butterfly (2025)
A Jewish North African middle-aged man's swim in the sea triggers memories of his earlier life as an Olympic swimmer before and after World War II.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
1900 (1976)
The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDe Gaulle, l'homme à abattre (2020)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
The Last Train (1973)
Two people, a Frenchman and a Jewish German woman, meet on a train while escaping the German army entering France.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men: one that is good and one that is evil. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Goodnight, Mister Tom?
The closest matches to Goodnight, Mister Tom are Empire of the Sun (1987), The Windermere Children (2020) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Goodnight, Mister Tom?
Start with Empire of the Sun (1987), the closest match to Goodnight, Mister Tom.
What is the highest-rated movie like Goodnight, Mister Tom?
Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero (2018), rated 7.9/10 by 219 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Goodnight, Mister Tom?
Butterfly (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Goodnight, Mister Tom?
Yes: Empire of the Sun (1987), The Windermere Children (2020) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
How are movies similar to Goodnight, Mister Tom chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Goodnight, Mister Tom, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.