Movies like The Small Back Room (1949)
The best movies like The Small Back Room (1949) are The Key (1958), The Blockhouse (1973) and The Captive Heart (1946). If The Small Back Room hooked you with its drama and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Best Years of Our Lives (1946)7.7/10 from 778 votes
- NewestThe Last Rifleman (2023)Released 2023
The Key (1958)
In wartime England, circa 1941, poorly-armed tugs are sent into "U-Boat Alley" to rescue damaged Allied ships. An American named David Ross arrives to captain one of these tugs. He's given a key by a fellow tugboat-man -- a key to an apartment and its pretty female resident. Should something happen to the friend, Ross can use the key.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
The Blockhouse (1973)
A group of Slave workers, drafted by the Nazis to help construct their coastal defences in 1944, are trapped in an underground bunker when the Allies land at Normandy on D-Day. They find huge stores of food, but not enough candles. The slow dying of the light parallels their increasing boredom, illness, and jealousy during their entrapment. Based on the Novel 'Le Blockhaus' by Jean Paul Clebert
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
The Captive Heart (1946)
A series of stories about the lives and loves of men in a Prisoner of War camp over five years. The main story is of Hasek, a Czech soldier who needs to keep his identity a secret from the Nazis. To do this, he poses as a dead English Officer and corresponds with the man's wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn Which We Serve (1942)
The story of the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship’s first and only commanding officer is Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUncertain Glory (1944)
In occupied France, a convicted thief and murderer escapes the guillotine when a bombing raid strikes the prison, but is quickly re-captured by the inspector of the Surete responsible for his original arrest. Fearing the guillotine more than his actual death, the convict inveigles the inspector to help him with a plan to rescue 100 Frenchmen taken by the Gestapo following an act of sabotage: he will confess to being the saboteur and allow himself to be executed by firing squad, the Gestapo's method of execution, thus freeing the 100 men.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
The Way to the Stars (1945)
Life on a British bomber base, and the surrounding towns, from the opening days of the Battle of Britain, to the arrival of the Americans, who join in the bomber offensive. The film centres around Pilot Officer Peter Penrose, fresh out of a training unit, who joins the squadron, and quickly discovers about life during war time. He falls for Iris, a young girl who lives at the local hotel, but he becomes disillusioned about marriage, when the squadron commander dies in a raid, and leaves his wife, the hotel manageress, with a young son to bring up. As the war progresses, Penross comes to terms that he has survived, while others have been killed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
The Aftermath (2019)
In the aftermath of World War II, a British colonel and his wife are assigned to live in Hamburg during the post-war reconstruction, but tensions arise with the German widower who lives with them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHotel Berlin (1945)
An assortment of diverse characters gather at the Hotel Berlin in World War II Germany as the Third Reich falls.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Behind the Line: Escape to Dunkirk (2020)
Occupied France, 1940. A Nazi Commander discovers one of his prisoners, Danny is a champion boxer. He forces him to fight for his company's entertainment. But the POWs realise they can use these contests, as cover for an audacious breakout, before they re sent to Germany, where escape will be almost impossible. Their fate and freedom may all come down to how long Danny can keep fighting.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisContraband (1940)
During early World War II, a Danish sea captain, delayed in a British port, tangles with German spies.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
The Wooden Horse (1950)
True story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
A Town Like Alice (1956)
In 1941 Malaysia, the advancing Japanese army captures a lot of British territory very quickly. The men are sent off to labor camps, but they have no plan on what to do with the women and children of the British.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
The Man Who Never Was (1956)
The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBon Voyage (1944)
After escaping a Nazi POW camp, a young Scottish RAF gunner recounts his perilous journey through occupied France with the help of the Resistance. During his debriefing in London, French intelligence officers press him for details—especially about one companion whose true loyalties may not be what they seemed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Battle of the River Plate (1956)
In the early years of the World War II, the Royal Navy is fighting a desperate battle to keep the Atlantic convoy routes open to supply the British Isles, facing the great danger posed by the many German warships, such as the Admiral Graf Spee, which are scouring the ocean for cargo ships to sink.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSailor of the King (1953)
A British naval officer has a brief affair with a woman in England and never knows that she bears him a son. 20 years later the boy is on a ship under his command when he is tracking a German Raider. When the boy is captured after his ship is sunk, he finds a way to slow the German's progress while a lethal hunt for him goes on.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Dunkirk (1958)
A British Corporal in France finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed. He has to get them back to Britain somehow. Meanwhile, British civilians are being dragged into the war with Operation Dynamo, the scheme to get the French and British forces back from the Dunkirk beaches. Some come forward to help, others were less willing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYanks (1979)
During WWII, the United States set up army bases in Great Britain as part of the war effort. Against their proper sensibilities, many of the Brits don't much like the brash Yanks, especially when it comes to the G.I.s making advances on the lonely British girls. One relationship that develops is between married John, an Army Captain, and the aristocratic Helen, whose naval husband is away at war. Helen loves her husband, but Helen and John are looking for some comfort during the difficult times.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe First of the Few (1942)
This 1942 fictionalized biopic chronicles the true story of how two of the most remarkable men in aviation history - visionary Spitfire designer R.J. Mitchell and his test pilot Geoffrey Crisp - designed a streamlined monoplane that led to the development of the Spitfire.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Voyage Home (1940)
The crew of the merchant ship Glencairn hope to survive a transatlantic crossing during World War II. Adapted from four Eugene O'Neill one-act plays.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCottage to Let (1941)
Allied spies and Nazi Agents insinuate themselves at a Scottish cottage (converted to a wartime hospital) with interests on an inventor's nearly perfected bomb sight.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Three modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaterloo Bridge (1940)
On the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)
A German soldier home on leave falls in love with a girl, then returns to World War II.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoctor Zhivago (1965)
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Walk in the Clouds (1995)
World War II vet Paul Sutton falls for a pregnant and unwed woman who persuades him -- during their first encounter -- to pose as her husband so she can face her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
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 & war
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Small Back Room?
The closest matches to The Small Back Room are The Key (1958), The Blockhouse (1973) and The Captive Heart (1946). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Small Back Room?
People who watched The Small Back Room most often go on to The Key (1958), The Blockhouse (1973) and The Captive Heart (1946).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Small Back Room?
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), rated 7.7/10 by 778 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Small Back Room?
The Last Rifleman (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Small Back Room?
Yes: The Blockhouse (1973), The Captive Heart (1946) and Mrs. Miniver (1942).
How are movies similar to The Small Back Room chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Small Back Room, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.