Movies Like China Girl

If you liked China Girl (1942), a romance and drama movie directed by Henry Hathaway, 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
Empire of the Sun (1987)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and war
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the…
2
When the Wind Blows (1986)
★ 7.5/10Also war and drama
With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of…
3
Battleground (1949)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and war
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their…
4
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
★ 7.7/10Also drama and romance
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.
5
The Great Escape (1963)
★ 7.9/10Also drama and war
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war…
6
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
★ 7.8/10Also drama and war
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the…
7
The Colditz Story (1955)
★ 6.8/10Also war and drama
The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This film, based on Pat Reid's epic novel, tells the story of how the…
8
The Last Rifleman (2023)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and war
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…
9
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and romance
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…
10
The Purple Plain (1954)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and war
An RAF airfield in Burma in 1945, during World War II. Canadian bomber pilot Bill Forrester is a bitter man who lives haunted by a tragic past. He has became a reckless warrior, and is feared by his comrades, who…
11
Wings (1927)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and war
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the…
12
The Longest Ride (2015)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and romance
The lives of a young couple intertwine with a much older man as he reflects back on a lost love while he's trapped in an automobile crash.
13
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
★ 7.8/10Also romance and drama
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
14
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
★ 7.5/10Also war and drama
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…
15
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and war
A German soldier home on leave falls in love with a girl, then returns to World War II.
16
Ice Cold in Alex (1958)
★ 7.3/10Also war and drama
A group of army personnel and nurses attempt a dangerous and arduous trek across the deserts of North Africa during the second world war. The leader of the team dreams of his ice cold beer when he reaches Alexandria.
17
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and romance
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.
18
Elephant Walk (1954)
★ 5.9/10Also romance and drama
Colonial tea planter John Wiley, visiting England at the end of World War II, weds lovely English rose Ruth and takes her home to Elephant Walk, Ceylon, where the local elephants have a grudge against the plantation…
19
A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and romance
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.
20
The One That Got Away (1957)
★ 6.8/10Also war and drama
Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.