Movies like The Secrets of the Red Sea (1937)
The best movies like The Secrets of the Red Sea (1937) are Nate and Hayes (1983), The Jewel of the Nile (1985) and The English Patient (1996). If The Secrets of the Red Sea hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Red Turtle (2016)7.4/10 from 1,422 votes
- NewestThe Stranger (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchThe Stranger (2025)Also in French
Nate and Hayes (1983)
Nathaniel Williamsen is taken to an island mission with his fiancee Sophie. Their ship, the Rona, is captained by the roguish Bully Hayes, who also takes a liking to Sophie. When Sophie is kidnapped by slave trader Ben Pease "Nate" teams with Hayes in order to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Joan Wilder is thrust back into a world of murder, chases, foreign intrigue... and love. This time out she's duped by a duplicitous Arab dignitary who brings her to the Middle East, ostensibly to write a book about his life. Of course, he's up to no good, and Joan is just another pawn in his wicked game. But Jack Colton and his sidekick Ralph show up to help our intrepid heroine save the day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe English Patient (1996)
In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almásy enters into a world of love, betrayal, and politics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLord Jim (1965)
After being discredited as a coward, a 19th century seaman lives for only one purpose: to redeem himself. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2000.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaper Towns (2015)
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge, he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Quentin arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Quentin soon learns that there are clues, and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer Quentin gets, the less he sees of the girl he thought he knew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCastaway (1986)
Middle-aged Gerald Kingsland advertises in a London paper for a female companion to spend a year with him on a desert island. Young Lucy Irving takes a chance on contacting him, but once on the island, things prove a lot less idyllic than in the movies. Gradually, it becomes clear that it is Lucy who has the desire and the strength to try and see the year through.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorth Sea Hijack (1980)
When terrorists take over two oil rigs, and threaten to blow them up if their demands are not met, an eccentric anti-terrorism expert volunteers his unique commando unit to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
A group of Southern-California high school students ignore their studies in favor of indulging in their teenage distractions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)
A by-the-book Captain is ordered to capture a strategic village in Italy. The Italian soldiers are willing to surrender, if they can have a festival first. The lieutenant convinces the Captain this is the only way. Because of aerial reconnaissance, they must look like they are fighting. To sort this out an intelligence officer is sent in. Meanwhile the festival gets complicated with the Mayors daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Pirates of Somalia (2017)
After an inspiring chance encounter with his idol, rookie journalist Jay Bahadur uproots his life and moves to Somalia looking for the story of a lifetime. Hooking up with a local fixer, he attempts to get embedded with the local Somali pirates, only to quickly find himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stranger (2025)
Algiers, 1938. Meursault, a quiet and unassuming employee in his early thirties, attends his mother's funeral without shedding a tear. The next day, he begins a casual affair with Marie, a work colleague. He quickly slips back into his usual routine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Kings (1999)
A group of American soldiers stationed in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War find a map they believe will take them to a huge cache of stolen Kuwaiti gold hidden near their base, and they embark on a secret mission that's destined to change everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pirate (1948)
A girl is engaged to the local richman, but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco. A traveling singer falls in love with her and to impress her he poses as the pirate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEden Is West (2009)
Desperate to break free from the poverty of his homeland, Elias boards a ramshackle people-smuggling trawler to France. But when the boat is raided by police, Elias leaps into the ocean, eventually finding himself washed up on a Mediterranean beach resort called Eden. So begins Elias odyssesy across Western Europe to Paris, where wondrous promise, helpful new friends and perilous dangers await him every step of the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Hologram for the King (2016)
Alan Clay, a struggling American businessman, travels to Saudi Arabia to sell a new technology to the King, only to be challenged by endless Middle Eastern bureaucracy, a perpetually absent monarch, and a suspicious growth on his back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Red Turtle (2016)
The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sign of Four (1987)
Mary Morstan has received a pearl in the post every year since her father's disappearance. This leads Holmes and Watson to the truth about a secret pact between four convicts during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChina Seas (1935)
Captain Alan Gaskell sails the perilous waters between Hong Kong and Singapore with a secret cargo: a fortune in British gold. That's not the only risky cargo he carries; both his fiery mistress and his refined fiancee are aboard!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeaven Will Wait (2016)
Mélanie, 16 years old, lives with her mother. She likes going to school, her friends, playing the cello, and she wants to change the world. But when she meets a boy on the Internet and falls in love with him, her world changes as she is gradually recruited by Daesh. Sonia is 17 years old, and she almost did something irrevocable to “guarantee” her family a place in paradise. These teenage girls might be called Anaïs, Manon or Leila, and one day they all might go some way down the recruitment process. But can they ever come back from it?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Secrets of the Red Sea?
The closest matches to The Secrets of the Red Sea are Nate and Hayes (1983), The Jewel of the Nile (1985) and The English Patient (1996). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Secrets of the Red Sea?
Start with Nate and Hayes (1983), the closest match to The Secrets of the Red Sea.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Secrets of the Red Sea?
The Red Turtle (2016), rated 7.4/10 by 1,422 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Secrets of the Red Sea?
The Stranger (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Secrets of the Red Sea?
Yes: The Stranger (2025), Eden Is West (2009) and The Red Turtle (2016).
How are movies similar to The Secrets of the Red Sea chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Secrets of the Red Sea, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.