Movies like Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944)
The best movies like Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) are Once (2007), Star! (1968) and I Still Believe (2020). If Irish Eyes Are Smiling hooked you with its drama and music, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Red Shoes (1948)8.0/10 from 787 votes
- NewestThe Wave (2025)Released 2025
Once (2007)
A vacuum repairman moonlights as a street musician and hopes for his big break. One day a Czech immigrant, who earns a living selling flowers, approaches him with the news that she is also an aspiring singer-songwriter. The pair decide to collaborate, and the songs that they compose reflect the story of their blossoming love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStar! (1968)
Gertrude Lawrence rises to stage stardom at the cost of happiness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Still Believe (2020)
The true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHigh Strung Free Dance (2018)
Zander Raines, a dazzling and tempestuous young choreographer, gives the break of a lifetime to two hopeful artists when he casts a stunning contemporary dancer, Barlow, and innovative pianist, Charlie, in New York’s most-anticipated new Broadway show: Free Dance. But the move throws off the show’s delicate creative balance when Charlie falls hard for Barlow, while Zander embraces her as his muse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLoving You (1957)
Deliveryman Deke Rivers is discovered by publicist Glenda Markle and country-western musician Tex Warner who want to promote him to fame and fortune, giving him every break he deserves. Romantic complications arise as Susan, another singer in the group, offers him devoted admiration as Glenda leads him on with promises of a golden future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glenn Miller Story (1954)
A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHigh Strung (2016)
When a hip hop violinist busking in the New York subway encounters a classical dancer on scholarship at the Manhattan Conservatory of the Arts, sparks fly. With the help of a hip hop dance crew they must find a common ground while preparing for a competition that could change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYoung Man with a Horn (1950)
Taken in by the musical world as a young orphan, Rick Martin grows up with a desire to play pure jazz instead of the commercial gigs he lands, whilst also coping with the problems caused by his tempestuous marriage to an aloof heiress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt's Christmas, Eve (2018)
Interim school superintendent Eve Morgan finds herself in a tough spot when she is assigned to shut down a school's failing music program and must come to terms with her musical past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGood Vibrations (2012)
The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label sprung, representing bands such as The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Scripture (2017)
The hidden memoir of an elderly woman confined to a mental hospital reveals the history of her passionate yet tortured life, and of the religious and political upheavals in Ireland during the 1920s and 30s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrigadoon (1954)
Americans Jeff and Tommy, hunting in Scotland, stumble upon a village - Brigadoon. They soon learn that the town appears once every 100 years in order to preserve its peace and special beauty. The citizens go to bed at night and when they wake up, it's 100 years later. Tommy falls in love with a beautiful young woman, Fiona, and is torn between staying or going back to his hectic life in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToo Late Blues (1961)
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFinding You (2021)
Finley, a talented aspiring violinist, meets Beckett, a famous young movie star, on the way to her college semester abroad program in a small coastal village in Ireland. An unexpected romance emerges as the heartthrob Beckett leads the uptight Finley on an adventurous reawakening, and she emboldens him to take charge of his future, until the pressures of his stardom get in the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeyond the Sea (2004)
Based on the life and career of legendary entertainer, Bobby Darin, the biopic moves back and forth between his childhood and adulthood, to tell the tale of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeter Ibbetson (1935)
When his mother dies, young Peter Ibbetson leaves Paris and his best friend, Mary, behind to live with a severe uncle in England. Years later, Peter is an architect with little time for women, until he begins a project with the Duke and Duchess of Towers. When Peter and the duchess become great friends, she reveals that she is Mary — but the duke soon suspects his wife of infidelity and challenges Peter to a duel, threatening the pair's second chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWest Side Story (1961)
In Manhattan’s Upper West Side, rival gangs of Polish-Americans and newly arrived Puerto Ricans clash for control of the neighborhood, even as two young members from opposite sides fall dangerously in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Girl (1931)
A man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Red Shoes (1948)
A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThey Won't Believe Me (1947)
On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTu Meri Zindagi Hai (2027)
A self-destructive, tormented rockstar finds his life and love transformed through an intense romantic journey shaped by music and emotion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Coming SoonMovies like thisPalm Springs (1936)
A gambler in need of cash plots a romance between his daughter and a wealthy Englishman. The daughter, however, has plans of her own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Lili Marleen (1981)
The story of a German singer named Willie, who while working in Switzerland, falls in love with a Jewish composer named Robert, whose family is helping people to flee from the Nazis. Robert’s family is skeptical of Willie, thinking she could be a Nazi as she becomes famous for singing the song “Lili Marleen”.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmadeus (1984)
Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Cloth Peddler (1965)
Set in Baku at the turn of the 20th century, a young successful businessman Asgar wishes to marry. He wants his bride to be the choice of his heart, however, Azerbaijani tradition restricted him from communicating with the lady as a lover before marriage. So Asgar decides to disguise himself as a mere cloth peddler and the young woman Gulchohra falls in love with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & music
Paganini (1973)
Operetta concerning the love affair of Niccolò Paganini, the violinist, and Élisa Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
The Wave (2025)
A music student’s testimony ignites a feminist uprising on her campus, where protest becomes performance and collective voice becomes an act of resistance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
Three Colors: Blue (1993)
The wife of a famous composer survives a car accident that kills her husband and daughter. Now alone, she shakes off her old identity and explores her newfound freedom but finds that she is unbreakably bound to other humans, including her husband’s mistress, whose existence she never suspected.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDancer in the Dark (2000)
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her young son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life becomes increasingly difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Song of Night (1932)
He was known as Anatole Litvak during his Hollywood directorial career, but he was still Anatole Litwak when he helmed the German musical Das Lied Einer Nacht (The Song of Night). Famed Polish tenor Jan Kiepura stars as famed Italian tenor Ferraro. Escaping from his tyrannical manager, Ferraro switches identities with a young tourist (Fritz Schulz) and goes off on an unscheduled Swiss holiday. Still travelling incognito, our hero falls in love with a winsome mountain girl (Magda Schneider). Alas, both his romance -- and his freedom -- are placed in jeopardy when it turns out that the charming young fellow with whom Ferraro traded identities was actually a notorious swindler. Anatole Litvak also directed the English-language version of Das Lied Einer Nacht, Be Mine Tonight
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Irish Eyes Are Smiling?
The closest matches to Irish Eyes Are Smiling are Once (2007), Star! (1968) and I Still Believe (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Irish Eyes Are Smiling?
Start with Once (2007), the closest match to Irish Eyes Are Smiling.
What is the highest-rated movie like Irish Eyes Are Smiling?
The Red Shoes (1948), rated 8.0/10 by 787 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Irish Eyes Are Smiling?
The Wave (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Irish Eyes Are Smiling?
Yes: Once (2007), Star! (1968) and I Still Believe (2020).
How are movies similar to Irish Eyes Are Smiling chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Irish Eyes Are Smiling, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.