Movies Like The Beggar's Opera

If you liked The Beggar's Opera (1953), a history and crime movie directed by Peter Brook, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
King Creole (1958)
★ 6.4/10Also music and crime
Delinquent Danny Fisher flunks out of high school, quits his job as a nightclub busboy, and one night gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at…
2
Step Up (2006)
★ 6.9/10Also music and crime
Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.
3
Newsies (2017)
★ 8/10Also music and history
A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike…
4
Judy (2019)
★ 6.7/10Also history and music
Thirty years after starring in 'The Wizard of Oz', beloved actress and singer Judy Garland arrives in London to perform sold-out shows at the Talk of the Town nightclub. While there, she reminisces with friends and…
5
Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary in Concert (2010)
★ 8.3/10Also history and music
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…
6
Amadeus (1984)
★ 8/10Also history and music
Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
7
Nail Bomber: Manhunt (2021)
★ 6.5/10Also crime and history
This documentary examines the 1999 London bombings that targeted Black, Bangladeshi and gay communities, and the race to find the far-right perpetrator. He terrorized a city, seeking to ignite a race war but justice…
8
Köln 75 (2025)
★ 7.1/10Also history and music
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.
9
Good Ol' Freda (2013)
★ 7.1/10Also music and history
The story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: The Beatles. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda tells her tales for the first time in 50…
10
Connie and Carla (2004)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and music
After accidentally witnessing a mafia hit in the Windy City, gal pals Connie and Carla skip town for L.A., where they go way undercover as singers working the city's dinner theater circuit ... disguised as drag queens…
11
American Pop (1981)
★ 6.9/10Also music and history
The history of American popular music runs parallel with the history of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, with each male descendant possessing different musical abilities.
12
Muscle Shoals (2013)
★ 7.2/10Also history and music
In a tiny Alabama town with the curious name of Muscle Shoals, something miraculous sprang from the mud of the Tennessee River. A group of unassuming, yet incredibly talented, locals came together and spawned some of…
13
Love & Mercy (2015)
★ 7.1/10Also music and history
In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, under the sway of a controlling therapist, he finds a savior in Melinda…
14
O.J.: Made in America (2016)
★ 8.4/10Also crime and history
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
15
The Visitor (2008)
★ 7.1/10Also crime and music
A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
16
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)
★ 6.3/10Also history and crime
Chicago February 14th 1929. Al Capone finally establishes himself as the city's boss of organised crime. In a north-side garage his hoods, dressed as policemen, surprise and mow down with machine-guns the key members…
17
Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
★ 7.2/10Also music and history
Biography of Loretta Lynn, a country and western singer that came from poverty to fame.
18
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019)
★ 7.1/10Also history and music
An immersive look at the eventful life and brilliant artistic career of visionary American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991).
19
Pavarotti (2019)
★ 7.3/10Also history and music
Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
20
My Generation (2017)
★ 7/10Also music and history
The vivid and inspiring story of British film icon Michael Caine's personal journey through 1960s swinging London.