The Best World War II Movies and TV Shows on The Criterion Channel
Finding a good World War II movie and TV show to watch can be hard, so we've ranked the best ones and included where to watch them. Check out our list of the best World War II movies and TV shows of all time streaming on The Criterion Channel.
1. The Great Dictator
What it's about: Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy), stream on a TV everywhere service (TCM) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
2. Come and See
What it's about: The invasion of a village in Byelorussia by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.00 on 1 service (Vudu).
3. To Be or Not to Be
What it's about: During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
4. Night and Fog
What it's about: Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
5. Rome, Open City
What it's about: ROME, OPEN CITY is a landmark in film history. Filmed in secrecy during the Nazi occupation of Italy, the film shows a realistic portrayal of the underground resistance in Italy in 1945. The film has strong impacting imagery with its mix of fiction and reality that strengthened Italian Neo-realism and the film industry.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, FilmBox & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).
6. A Man Escaped
What it's about: A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from prison.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
7. Late Spring
What it's about: Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
8. Gallipoli
What it's about: As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank—both agile runners—become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps together. They later find themselves part of the Dardanelles Campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, a brutal eight-month conflict which pit the British and their allies against the Ottoman Empire and left over 500,000 men dead.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).
9. The Stranger
What it's about: A man working for the War Crimes Commission suspects that an important Nazi official has folded himself into a quaint Connecticut town.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Starz, Epix & 4 others), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz & Epix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).
10. The Cranes Are Flying
What it's about: Veronika and Boris come together in Moscow shortly before World War II. Walking along the river, they watch cranes fly overhead, and promise to rendezvous before Boris leaves to fight. Boris misses the meeting and is off to the front lines, while Veronika waits patiently, sending letters faithfully. After her house is bombed, Veronika moves in with Boris' family, into the company of a cousin with his own intentions.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel).
11. Europa Europa
What it's about: A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth. Although improbabilities and happenstance are cornerstones of the film, it is based upon a true story.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
12. The Shop on Main Street
What it's about: In a small town in Nazi-occupied Slovakia during World War II, decent but timid carpenter Tono is named "Aryan comptroller" of a button store owned by an old Jewish widow, Rozalie. Since the post comes with a salary and standing in the town's corrupt hierarchy, Tono wrestles with greed and guilt as he and Rozalie gradually befriend each other. When the authorities order all Jews in town to be rounded up, Tono faces a moral dilemma unlike any he's known before.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).
13. The Sacrifice
What it's about: Alexander, a journalist, philosopher and retired actor, celebrates a birthday with friends and family when it is announced that nuclear war has begun.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).
14. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
What it's about: 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.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
15. Foreign Correspondent
What it's about: The European war was only beginning to erupt across national borders. Johnny Jones, an American crime reporter dispatched by his New York publisher to put a fresh spin on the drowsy dispatches emanating from overseas, has a nose for a good story—which promptly leads him to the crime of fascism and Nazi Germany's designs on European conquest. In attempting to learn more about a seemingly noble peace effort, Jones walks into the middle of an assassination, uncovers a spy ring and—not entirely coincidentally—falls in love.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, FilmBox, The Criterion Channel & 1 other) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
16. The Tin Drum
What it's about: Oskar is born in Germany in 1924 with an advanced intellect. Repulsed by the hypocrisy of adults and the irresponsibility of society, he refuses to grow older after his third birthday.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
17. Europa
What it's about: Postwar Germany, 1945. Leopold Kessler, an American of German descent, works as a sleeping car conductor for the Zentropa railway line. When he meets Katharina Hartmann, the railroad owner's daughter, and they fall in love, his life intersects with the dark and violent path of a mysterious organization opposed to the United States army military occupation.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
18. The Marriage of Maria Braun
What it's about: Maria marries a young soldier in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. She must rely on her beauty and ambition to navigate the difficult post-war years alone.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
19. Closely Watched Trains
What it's about: In a small town still occupied by the Germans as World War II's tide is turning toward the Allies, apprentice train-watcher Milos is oblivious to the war. Instead, he is obsessed with having his first sexual experience. Despite the favors of train conductor Masa, Milos has no luck. His quest leads him to a female Resistance fighter who, in passing, recruits him to the cause. As Milos finally finds love, danger draws closer.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).
20. Ballad of a Soldier
What it's about: During World War II, earnest young Russian soldier Alyosha Skvortsov is rewarded with a short leave of absence for performing a heroic deed on the battlefield. Feeling homesick, he decides to visit his mother. Due to his kindhearted nature, however, Alyosha is repeatedly sidetracked by his efforts to help those he encounters, including a lovely girl named Shura. In his tour of a country devastated by war, he struggles to keep hope alive.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
21. Early Summer
What it's about: Noriko lives in postwar Tokyo with her extended family. Although she enjoys her career and her friends, her more traditionally minded family worries about the fact that she's still single at the advanced age of 28. When 40-year-old business associate Takako proposes marriage, Noriko's family press her into accepting. But when her widowed childhood friend Kenkichi returns to the neighborhood, she finds her heart leading in another direction.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).
22. Germany Year Zero
What it's about: The final film in Rossellini's war film trilogy (the first two being Rome, Open City and Paisà ). Germany Year Zero takes place in post-war Germany, unlike the others, which take place in German-occupied Rome and post-war Italy, respectively. The story follows a twelve-year-old boy, Edmund Kohler, who is mainly left to his own devices in order to survive and to help his family do the same.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, FilmBox & The Criterion Channel).
23. Kanal
What it's about: During the last few days of the Warsaw Uprising following World War II, a modest group of Resistance members remains. The band must take refuge in the sewers under the orders of leader Zadra, but it's only a matter of time before they will have to emerge. However, when they try, they are met only with intense hostility from the Nazis. Despite their attempts stay resolute through immense mental strain, it becomes increasingly apparent that they may be doomed.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
24. The Bridge
What it's about: A group of German boys are ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).
25. Mr. Klein
What it's about: Paris, France, 1942, during the Nazi occupation. Robert Klein, a successful art dealer who benefits from the misfortunes of those who are ruthlessly persecuted, discovers by chance that there is another Robert Klein, apparently a Jewish man; someone with whom he could be mistakenly identified, something dangerous in such harsh times.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
26. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
What it's about: A Japanese pacifist and socialist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
27. Fires on the Plain
What it's about: In the closing days of WWII remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain starvation.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
28. The Burmese Harp
What it's about: In the War's closing days, when a conscience-driven Japanese soldier fails to get his countrymen to surrender to overwhelming force, he adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
29. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
What it's about: Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash…
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
30. Le Silence de la mer
What it's about: In a small town in occupied France in 1941, the German officer, Werner Von Ebrennac is billeted in the house of the uncle and his niece. The uncle and niece refuse to speak to him, but each evening the officer warms himself by the fire and talks of his country, his music, and his idealistic views of the relationship between France and Germany. That is, until he visits Paris and discovers what is really going on...
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
31. 49th Parallel
What it's about: In the early days of World War II, a German U-boat is sunk in Canada's Hudson Bay. Hoping to evade capture, a small band of German soldiers led by commanding officer Lieutenant Hirth attempts to cross the border into the United States, which has not yet entered the war and is officially neutral. Along the way, the German soldiers encounter brave men such as a French-Canadian fur trapper, Johnnie, a leader of a Hutterite farming community, Peter, an author, Philip and a soldier, Andy Brock.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, The Criterion Channel & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
32. The Long Voyage Home
What it's about: 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.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, Shout Factory TV, The Criterion Channel & 1 other) & stream on a TV everywhere service (TCM).
33. A Canterbury Tale
What it's about: Three modern day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town on the way to Canterbury.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
34. In Which We Serve
What it's about: The story of the HMS Torrin, from it's 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.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
35. Westfront 1918
What it's about: A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
36. Story of Women
What it's about: France, World War II. In order to somehow make ends meet, the mother of two children, Marie Latour, does underground abortions and rents a room to a familiar prostitute. She doesn't pay any attention to her husband, who returned from the war because of his injury and lives her own life. Abortions gradually begin to bring a good income, and boredom can be easily dispelled by starting a young lover ...
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
37. Overlord
What it's about: During the war a young lad is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
38. A Farewell to Arms
What it's about: A tale of the World War I love affair, begun in Italy, between American ambulance driver Lt. Frederic Henry and British nurse Catherine Barkley. Eventually separated by Frederic's transfer, tremendous challenges and difficult decisions face each as the war rages on.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Epix, Dove Channel & 4 others), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).
39. Green for Danger
What it's about: In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural hospital. But was the death accidental?
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
40. The Night Porter
What it's about: A concentration camp survivor discovers her former torturer and lover working as a porter at a hotel in postwar Vienna. When the couple attempt to re-create their sadomasochistic relationship, his former SS comrades begin to stalk them.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
41. Innocence Unprotected
What it's about: Documentary about the famous Serbian athlete and movie enthusiast who made a feature film during the Nazi occupation of Belgrade and had some problems after the liberation because of that.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
42. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
What it's about: His ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
43. The Small Back Room
What it's about: At the height of World War II, the Germans begin dropping a new type of booby-trapped bomb on England. Sammy Rice, a highly-skilled but haunted bomb-disposal officer, must overcome his personal demons to defeat this new threat.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
44. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
What it's about: As a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
45. I See a Dark Stranger
What it's about: Determined, independent Bridie Quilty comes of age in 1944 Ireland thinking all Englishmen are devils. Her desire to join the IRA meets no encouragement, but a German spy finds her easy to recruit. We next find her working in a pub near a British military prison, using her sex appeal in the service of the enemy. But chance puts a really vital secret into her hands, leading to a chase involving Bridie, a British officer who's fallen for her, a German agent unknown to them both, and the police...paralleled by Bridie's own internal conflicts.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
46. Shoulder Arms
What it's about: An American doughboy, stationed in France during the Great War, goes on a daring mission behind enemy lines and becomes a hero.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
47. Wooden Crosses
What it's about: The young and patriotic student Demachy joins the French army in 1914 to defend his country. But he and his comrades soon experience the terrifying, endless trench war in Champagne, where more and more wooden crosses have to be erected for this cannon fodder.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
48. The First of the Few
What it's about: 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.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).
49. The Most Beautiful
What it's about: The stories of several young women who work in a 'precision optical instruments' factory during the second World War. Despite illness, injury, and tremendous personal hardship, the women persevere in their tasks, devoted to their work and their country's cause.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (FilmBox & The Criterion Channel).
50. Gates of the Night
What it's about: Paris, during the winter after its Liberation: Jean Diego meets up with his friend Raymond Lecuyer again. A tramp predicts Jean will meet the most beautiful girl in the world, and that same evening Jean meets Malou. But he soon discovers that her brother Guy was the one that gave his friend Raymond away to the Gestapo...
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).