Movies like Sword in the Desert (1949)
The best movies like Sword in the Desert (1949) are Battleground (1949), The Devil's Brigade (1968) and Blood on the Sun (1945). If Sword in the Desert hooked you with its action and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPrimal: Tales of Savagery (2019)8.4/10 from 373 votes
- NewestHind Under Siege (2025)Released 2025
Battleground (1949)
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil's Brigade (1968)
At the onset of World War II, American Lt. Col. Robert Frederick is put in charge of a unit called the 1st Special Service Force, composed of elite Canadian commandos and undisciplined American soldiers. With Maj. Alan Crown leading the Canadians and Maj. Cliff Bricker the acting head of the American contingent, there is initial tension -- but the team comes together when given a daunting mission that few would dare to attempt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFixed Bayonets! (1951)
The story of a platoon during the Korean War. One by one, Corporal Denno's superiors are killed until it comes to the point where he must try to take command responsibility.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCast a Giant Shadow (1966)
An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his Jewish heritage. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 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 Way Ahead (1944)
A mismatched collection of conscripted civilians find training tough under Lieutenant Jim Perry and Sergeant Ned Fletcher when they are called up to replace an infantry battalion that had suffered casualties at Dunkirk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe War Below (2021)
During World War I, a group of British miners are recruited to tunnel underneath no man's land and set bombs from below the German front in hopes of breaking the deadly stalemate of the Battle of Messines.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this400 Bullets (2021)
One cold winter night in Afghanistan is about to get a whole lot worse for Rana Rae, a Gurkha soldier left to guard a British military outpost, when Captain Noah Brandt arrives looking for refuge from a group of rogue special ops and a cell of heavily armed Taliban. The two soldiers must fight for their lives as they attempt to call for backup before the rogue squad, led by the backstabbing Sergeant Bartlett, can hunt them down to retrieve a case of missile guidance chips that Noah intercepted. But Bartlett and his men do not count on Rana, whose ferocious Gurkha training makes him a force to be reckoned with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrimal: Tales of Savagery (2019)
Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: Tales of Savagery features a caveman and a dinosaur on the brink of extinction. Bonded by tragedy, this unlikely friendship becomes the only hope of survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisExtortion (2017)
A doctor desperately tries to save his wife and their 5 year old son after their vacation in the Bahamas takes an unexpected turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Guns of Navarone (1961)
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOverlord (1975)
During World War II, a young man is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-Day, June 6th, 1944.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGunga Din (1939)
British army sergeants Ballantine, Cutter and MacChesney serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din. While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark of the Sun (1968)
A band of mercenaries led by Captain Curry travel through war-torn Congo across deadly terrain, battling rival armies, to steal $50 million in uncut diamonds. But infighting, sadistic rebels and a time lock jeopardize everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTobruk (1967)
In September 1942, the German Afrika Korps under Rommel have successfully pushed the Allies back into Egypt. A counter-attack is planned, for which the fuel dumps at Tobruk are a critical impediment. In order to aid the attack, a group of British commandos and German Jews make their way undercover through 800 miles of desert, to destroy the fuel dumps starving the Germans of fuel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat If They Bomb Here Tonight (2025)
A Lebanese couple spends a sleepless night, fearing an Israeli airstrike could shatter their glass walls. With children nearby, they face the impossible choice to stay or flee their life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
Hind Under Siege (2025)
The true story of 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was separated from her mother and trapped in a car under heavy attack in Gaza surrounded by an Israeli tank in January 2024.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Farha (2021)
Palestine, 1948. After the withdrawal of the British occupiers, tensions rise between Arabs and Jews. Meanwhile, Farha, the smart daughter of the mayor of a small village, unaware of the coming tragedy, dreams of going to study in the big city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaltz with Bashir (2008)
A film director from Israel interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParadise Now (2005)
Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Private War (2018)
One of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time, Marie Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Voice of Hind Rajab (2025)
January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A five-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisArea C (2018)
In the West Bank, Area C is a Palestinian area surrounded by Israeli settlements. Facing poverty and violence, a clever and sensitive Palestinian child tries his hardest to keep his home and family safe from aggressive settlers, even if just for a little while.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Kafr Kassem (1977)
On the eve of the Israeli attack on Egypt in 1956, Israel declares martial law in all the occupied Arab territories without any previous notice. When the villagers of Kafr Kassem returned home from the fields, they were butchered and killed in what is known today as the massacre of “Kafr Kassem”.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Control Room (2004)
A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sword in the Desert?
The closest matches to Sword in the Desert are Battleground (1949), The Devil's Brigade (1968) and Blood on the Sun (1945). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sword in the Desert?
Start with Battleground (1949), the closest match to Sword in the Desert.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sword in the Desert?
Primal: Tales of Savagery (2019), rated 8.4/10 by 373 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sword in the Desert?
Hind Under Siege (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Sword in the Desert?
Yes: Battleground (1949), The Devil's Brigade (1968) and Blood on the Sun (1945).
How are movies similar to Sword in the Desert chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sword in the Desert, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.