Movies like The Jolson Story (1946)
The best movies like The Jolson Story (1946) are Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and Night and Day (1946). If The Jolson Story 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 ratedClouds (2020)8.2/10 from 1,072 votes
- NewestBrighton (2026)Released 2026
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight and Day (1946)
When his first stage show fails, songwriter Cole Porter goes off to fight in WWI until, injured, he lands in a hospital. He impresses nurse Linda Lee with his creativity, but their budding romance must wait as Cole heads home. Back in New York, he mounts a series of popular shows, and when his work brings him back to Europe, he eventually marries Linda. But success doesn't spare him from marital complications or bad news about a beloved relative.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Old Chicago (1938)
The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrace Unplugged (2013)
A talented young singer and aspiring songwriter’s Christian faith and family ties are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom in GRACE UNPLUGGED, a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
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 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 thisThe Five Heartbeats (1991)
In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoneydripper (2007)
In 1950s Alabama, the owner of the Honeydripper juke joint finds his business dropping off and against his better judgment, hires a young electric guitarist in a last ditch effort to draw crowds during harvest time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisTaking Sides (2002)
One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 1930s, Wilhelm Furtwangler's reputation rivaled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification programme. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate post-war period, the Allies slowly bring law and order to bear on an occupied Germany. An American major is given the Furtwangler file, and is told to find everything he can and to prosecute the man ruthlessly. Tough and hard-nosed, Major Steve Arnold sets out to investigate a world of which he knows nothing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKöln 75 (2025)
The true story of Vera Brandes, teenage patron saint of the 1970s Cologne music scene, who risked everything to organize the greatest solo concert in music history: Keith Jarrett’s legendary Köln Concert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like this'Round Midnight (1986)
Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLike Sunday, Like Rain (2014)
A struggling musician becomes a 12-year-old musical prodigy's guardian for a summer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisYou Got Served (2004)
At Mr. Rad's Warehouse, the best hip-hop crews in Los Angeles compete for money and respect. But when a suburban crew crashes the party, stealing their dancers — and their moves — two warring friends have to pull together to represent the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Complete Unknown (2024)
New York, early 1960s. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in the West Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTake the Lead (2006)
A former professional dancer volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system and, while his background first clashes with his students' tastes, together they create a completely new style of dance. Based on the story of ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulane.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClouds (2020)
Young musician Zach Sobiech discovers his cancer has spread, leaving him just a few months to live. With limited time, he follows his dream and makes an album, unaware that it will soon be a viral music phenomenon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBeat Street (1984)
An aspiring DJ, from the South Bronx, and his best friend, a promoter, try to get into show business by exposing people to hip-hop music and culture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEight Men Out (1988)
Buck Weaver and Hap Felsch are young idealistic players on the Chicago White Sox, a pennant-winning team owned by Charles Comiskey - a penny-pinching, hands-on manager who underpays his players and treats them with disdain. And when gamblers and hustlers discover that Comiskey's demoralized players are ripe for a money-making scheme, one by one the team members agree to throw the World Series. But when the White Sox are defeated, a couple of sports writers smell a fix and a national scandal explodes, ripping the cover off America's favorite pastime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl (2012)
Director Alfred Hitchcock is revered as one of the greatest creative minds in the history of cinema. Known for his psychological thrillers, Hitchcock’s leading ladies were cool, beautiful and preferably blonde. One such actress was Tippi Hedren, an unknown fashion model given her big break when Hitchcock’s wife saw her on a TV commercial. Brought to Universal Studios, Hedren was shocked when the director, at the peak of his career, quickly cast her to star in his next feature, 1963’s The Birds. Little did Hedren know that as ambitious and terrifying as the production would be to shoot, the most daunting aspect of the film ended up coming from behind the camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Current War (2018)
Electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to create a sustainable system and market it to the American people.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLes Misérables: 25th Anniversary in Concert (2010)
This concert, recorded to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the landmark musical Les Miserables, gathers the casts of the show's 2010 original production at the Queen's Theatre, the 1985 original production by the London company, and the 2010 production at the Barbican together for one performance. Together with talents like Michael Ball, Hadley Fraser, and John Owen-Jones, the performers present the play's musical numbers in a semi-theatrical style, fully costumed and with all the emotion of the musical's heyday.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisI'm Not There (2007)
Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger to international icon and revealing how Dylan constantly reinvented himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiot at the Rite (2005)
In the spring of 1913, Parisian businessman Gabriel Astruc opens a new theater on the Champs Elysées. The first performance is the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring', danced by the Ballet Russes. The rehearsal process is extremely fraught: the orchestra dislike Stravinsky's harsh, atonal music; the dancers dislike the 'ugly' choreography of Vaslav Nijinsky. The volatile, bisexual Nijinsky is in a strained relationship with the much older Sergei Diaghilev, the Ballet Russes' charismatic but manipulative impresario. Public expectation is extremely high after Nijinsky's success in 'L'apres-midi d'un faune'. Finally, 'The Rite of Spring' premieres to a gossip-loving, febrile, fashion-conscious Parisian audience sharply divided as to its merits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Brighton (2026)
Brighton is a delightful short film capturing the joy of family, travel, and living in the moment. Sanjay, a funny and vibrant personality, decides to take his sisters, Kirshma and Rita, on a memorable trip to Brighton, a lively seaside resort in the United Kingdom. Traveling from Aldershot, the trio embarks on their adventure, filled with laughter, conversations, and excitement. Once in Brighton, they immerse themselves in the fun-filled atmosphere, exploring the iconic beachfront, enjoying the lively promenade, and creating memories they'll cherish forever. Set against the backdrop of Brighton's rich history, dating back to the Bronze Age and Roman times, the film reflects on the beauty of life's journey. It serves as a reminder to savor every moment, as life is an endless adventure waiting to be enjoyed. Brighton is a heartwarming story about family bonds, the joy of exploration, and the timeless charm of one of England's most beloved seaside destinations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn American in Paris (1951)
Jerry Mulligan is an exuberant American expatriate in Paris trying to make a reputation as a painter. His friend Adam is a struggling concert pianist who's a long time associate of a famous French singer, Henri Baurel. A lonely society woman, Milo Roberts, takes Jerry under her wing and supports him, but is interested in more than his art.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Splendor (2003)
An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this42nd Street (1933)
Broadway director Julian Marsh needs just one more hit show so he can retire and recover his health. It looks like he just may pull it off until temperamental star Dorthy Brock breaks her ankle on the eve of the show's premiere and has to be replaced by her understudy Peggy.
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 The Jolson Story?
The closest matches to The Jolson Story are Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and Night and Day (1946). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Jolson Story?
People who watched The Jolson Story most often go on to Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and Night and Day (1946).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Jolson Story?
Clouds (2020), rated 8.2/10 by 1,072 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Jolson Story?
Brighton (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Jolson Story?
Yes: Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and Night and Day (1946).
How are movies similar to The Jolson Story chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Jolson Story, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.