Films about the Age of the Revolutionary Wars

This collection provides information on selected movies, TV productions and documentaries on the themes of gender, military and war in the period covered by the Oxford Handbook.

The most important wars included for this period are:

  • American Revolutionary Wars (1775–83)
  • French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars War (1792–15)
  • Latin American Wars of Independence (1810–30)

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Director(s): Hunt, Peter Huls
Year of Publication: 1972
Abstract:

The nation's fathers harmonize their way through the founding of America in this musical adapted from a popular Broadway show. Colonial representatives gather in Philadelphia with the aim of establishing a set of governmental rules for the...

Director(s): Conway, Jack
Year of Publication: 1935
Major Wars:
Abstract:

A Tale of Two Cities is a 1935 film based upon Charles Dickens' 1859 historical novel of the same title. The story is set in France and England and spans several years before and during the French Revolution (1789–1799). It deals with...

Director(s): Chahine, Youssef
Year of Publication: 1985
Major Wars:
Abstract:

Adieu Bonaparte examines the Napoleonic Wars through the French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798-1801). In 1798, Napoleon landed his army in Egypt, defeating the Mameluke warlords (the remnants of Ottoman rule). The film follows Gen....

Director(s): Weatherhead, Chris
Year of Publication: 2009
Abstract:

In 1775, Henry Felder, a Swiss-German colonist, lives with his family in the back-country of the British colony of South Carolina. He and his community are suffering under British injustice. After many years of struggling with corrupt British...

Director(s): Griffith, D.W.
Year of Publication: 1924
Abstract:

Director D.W. Griffith's sweeping account of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), based on Robert W. Chambers' 1905 novel The Reckoning. In Massachussetts in the mid-1770s, British renegade officer Capt. Walter Butler (Lionel...

Director(s): Cahill, Charles C
Year of Publication: 1967
Abstract:

This documentary series with four short episodes from 1967 recounts the history of the American revolution from late 18th century colonial America through the revolutionary war to the first years of the new nation. It also discusses the influence...

Director(s): Mann, Delbert
Year of Publication: 1988
Abstract:

This adaptation of the classic novel by Howard Feast, published in 1961, takes place at the dawn of the American Revolution. Superstitious teenager Adam Cooper (Chad Lowe) struggles to gain the approval of his intellectual and devout Christian...

Director(s): Pivotto, Sebastián
Year of Publication: 2010
Major Wars:
Abstract:

This biographical drama reveals the last ten years of the life of General Manuel Belgrano, one of the leaders during Argentine Wars for Independence. After rising to prominence after the May Revolution, Belgrano led a series of military campaigns...

Director(s): Salomon, Mikael
Year of Publication: 2003
Abstract:

This historical television film, produced by the A&E Television Networks, focuses on Benedict Arnold (1740–1801), an American-born senior officer of the American Army, who commanded the American Legion in the later part of the American...

Director(s): Burns, Chad
Year of Publication: 2015
Abstract:

This Christian historical adventure film, directed by Chad Burns, tells the story of a British East India Trading Company assassin, who seeks to redeem his past by thwarting a plot against a young nation's hope for freedom. The film follows...

Director(s): Raoul Walsh
Year of Publication: 1951
Major Wars:
Abstract:

Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N is a 1951 British-American naval war film in Technicolor from Warner Brothers, directed by Raoul Walsh. The film is based on three of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels: The Happy Return (...

Director(s): Wajda, Andrzej
Year of Publication: 1983
Major Wars:
Abstract:

The film, directed by Andrzej Wajda, portrays the conflict between the rival Jacobine revolutionary leaders Maximilien Robespierre (1758–94) and Georges Danton (1759–94). The film is an adaptation of the 1929 play The Danton Case by...

Director(s): Koster, Henry
Year of Publication: 1954
Major Wars:
Abstract:

Désirée is a 1954 American historical-biographical romance film directed by Henry Koster, based on the best-selling novel Désirée by Annemarie Selinko, first published in 1952. It stars Marlon Brando as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–...

Director(s): Ford, John
Year of Publication: 1939
Abstract:

This film, based on the 1936 novel Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter D. Edmond, focuses on Gilbert and Lana Martin, a young couple trying to make a home in New York State's Mohawk Valley, but repeated attacks by Native American drive them...

Director(s): Walker, Noland
Year of Publication: 2009
Major Wars:
Abstract:

This documentary tells the story of General Toussaint Louverture, the Haitian Revolution, and the creation of the first black republic in the modern world. Born enslaved, Louverture wins his freedom only to risk it by supporting the most...

Director(s): Narvaja, Miguel Hugo Vaca
Year of Publication: 2009
Major Wars:
Abstract:

This documentary explores the history of Venezuela from its independence to modern day times. It frames Venezuela's struggle within the larger context of Latin America striving to win autonomy and emancipation from colonial and interventionist...

Director(s): Nadia Tass
Year of Publication: 2005
Abstract:

When Felicity meets Penny, a beautiful copper-colored mare, she knows with all her heart that she must free Penny from her cruel owner. Felicity desperately wishes for that same sureness of heart about the rumors of revolution swirling through...

Director(s): Gilbert, Lewis
Year of Publication: 1962
Major Wars:
Abstract:

The historical drama, directed by Lewis Gilbert, is based on the 1958 novel Mutiny by Frank Tilsley. During the Napoleonic Wars, Captain Crawford (Alec Guinness) takes command of the HMS Defiant and is ordered to rendezvous with the...

Director(s): Huston, John
Year of Publication: 1976
Abstract:

Produced for the National Park Service in preparation for the bicentennial of the American Revolution, director John Huston dramatizes the founding of the United States through key events.

Director(s): Hopper, E. Mason
Year of Publication: 1924
Abstract:

A love story between major events of the American Revolutionary War (1775+1783). A disguised British aristocrat and a wealthy landowner's daughter fall in love, but the war and major political events keep them apart. His war ventures earn him the...

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