Skip to content

Movies like Wait for the Signal from the Sea (1986)

The best movies like Wait for the Signal from the Sea (1986) are Munich - The Edge of War (2021), Radium Girls (2020) and Adventures of a Mathematician (2021). If Wait for the Signal from the Sea 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

  1. Munich - The Edge of War (2021)

    At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  2. Radium Girls (2020)

    Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. Adventures of a Mathematician (2021)

    The warmhearted story of Polish immigrant and mathematician Stan Ulam, who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. Stan deals with the difficult losses of family and friends all while helping to create the hydrogen bomb and the first computer.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  4. Oranges and Sunshine (2010)

    The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovers one of the most significant social scandals in recent times – the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom to Australia and other Commonwealth countries. Almost singlehandedly, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011)

    A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. The Pentagon Papers (2003)

    This compelling political drama is based on the true story of high-ranking Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg, who, during the Nixon era, strove to preserve American democracy by leaking top-secret documents to the New York Times and Washington Post. The documents in question would eventually become famous as the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the true reasons for U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

  7. Julia (1977)

    At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  8. The Book of Daniel (2013)

    Taken into slavery after the fall of Jerusalem in 605 B.C., Daniel is forced to serve the most powerful king in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar. Faced with imminent death, Daniel proves himself a trusted Advisor and is placed among the king's wise men. Threatened by death at every turn Daniel never ceases to serve the king until he is forced to choose between serving the king or honoring God. With his life at stake, Daniel has nothing but his faith to stand between him and the lions' den.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. Suffragette (2015)

    Based on true events about the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Panther (1995)

    In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. Shattered Glass (2003)

    Stephen Glass is a staff writer for the respected current events and policy magazine The New Republic and a freelance feature writer for publications such as Rolling Stone, Harper's and George. By the mid-90s, Glass' articles had turned him into one of the most sought-after young journalists in Washington, but a bizarre chain of events - chronicled in Buzz Bissinger's September 1998 Vanity Fair article - suddenly stopped his career in its tracks.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  12. Giant (2026)

    Follows Prince Naseem Hamed from his humble beginnings on the tough working-class streets of Sheffield and his discovery by Ingle, himself a steel industry worker turned boxing trainer. Their unlikely partnership, Naz’s unorthodox style, cocky persona, and sheer dominance in the ring propelled them to the top of boxing’s elite and unprecedented levels of global superstardom, all in the face of the rampant Islamophobia and racism of ’80s and 90’s Britain.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. Eight 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 & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Richard Jewell (2019)

    Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. Ararat (2002)

    Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. 7 Women (1965)

    In a mission in China in 1935, a group of women are preyed on by Mongolian bandits, led by Warlord chief Tunga Khan.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. The 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. Girl in the Box (2016)

    The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Mansfield Park (2007)

    Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)

    An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy still struggled with the challenge of her color, in a time that wouldn't let some stars in by the front door. Yet against the odds she beat out many more famous rivals for the role of "Carmen Jones", becoming the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. Marriages and affairs would break her heart, but her heart was strong. Seductive and easily seduced, she was born to be a star - with all the glory and all the pain of being loved, abused, cheated, glorified, undermined and undefeated. Here was a woman who wouldn't wait in the wings. Halle Berry stars as Dorothy Dandrige.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  21. In a Southern Town (1969)

    Murad, a young man, lives by the old ethical norms that are still valid in the suburbs of his city. He had promised Tofig, his childhood friend, to give him his sister as a wife, but Tofig is in love with another girl. He forgets the promise and takes the girl home. Murad is offended. According to the code of honor, he must take revenge. One of the first films ever produced in the Soviet Union to challenge the sociopolitical establishment.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history

  22. The Devil under the Windshield (1988)

    A journalist is investigating a group of poachers who are illegally selling the huge amounts of fish

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  23. Pomegranate Orchard (2017)

    Inspired by Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, the film follows a prodigal son who returns after 12 years. His reappearance at the family home in rural Azerbaijan significantly alters their way of life.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  24. You Can't Take an Island with You (1980)

    A young girl is trying to save an island which is endangered by nearby construction.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  25. The Red Train (1993)

    Political farce. Soviet power is compared to a symbolic "Red Train" without a steering wheel bringing happiness to people.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  26. All For The Best (1997)

    The events occur during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Because of a corpse in a zinc coffin with an arguable address, two families get excited. Having cut the lid off the coffin to identify the soldier, they find out that he is, in fact, Armenian - former citizen of Baku.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  27. The Hope (1995)

    The film is about war in Garabagh and when we look at wounded solider we see our son, brother or father.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  28. The Outsiders (1992)

    The movie tells about the fate of young people, about their pure love and desire for friendship. Falling into the net of dirty people, only love saves them from death.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  29. The Family (1998)

    January 1990, Baku. The Soviet Union hasn't collapsed yet. Around 300 thousand Azeri have been forsed out from their homes in Armenia and Daghlig Garabagh. Rallies of protest, political meetings spring up in Baku. The old patriarch, Ismail gathers under his roof distant relatives, people of different nationalities, beliefs, and ideas. The old man is tortured by everything happening around him: unrest in the city as well as discord and discarder in his own overpopulated apartment. All his efforts to preserve the family are in vain. People want to live separately. Former friends become bitter enemies because of the senseless aggression.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  30. The Preservation of Secret (1986)

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like Wait for the Signal from the Sea and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Wait for the Signal from the Sea?

The closest matches to Wait for the Signal from the Sea are Munich - The Edge of War (2021), Radium Girls (2020) and Adventures of a Mathematician (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Wait for the Signal from the Sea?

Start with Munich - The Edge of War (2021), the closest match to Wait for the Signal from the Sea.

What is the highest-rated movie like Wait for the Signal from the Sea?

Richard Jewell (2019), rated 7.4/10 by 2,844 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Wait for the Signal from the Sea?

Giant (2026) is the most recent release on this list.

How are movies similar to Wait for the Signal from the Sea chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Wait for the Signal from the Sea, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

↑ ↓ to move · Enter to open · Full search page