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Janet O'Donnell's avatar

My favorite is "Lawrence of Arabia". Very hard to choose 4 more as so many excellent films. Perhaps "A Man For All Seasons". "Master and Commander", "The Lion in Winter" and "The Last of the Mohicans".

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Ady Marshall's avatar

Mine has to be Braveheart

I know how incorrect the film was in every aspect but I love it

And my love for the film made me research it

Then research the kings of England then I was absolutely hooked on history

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Lindsey's avatar

The Death of Stalin, political satire at its finest, a wonderful cast. Terribly funny but also dark and a reflection of the danger and terror happening at the time.

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Nathen Amin's avatar

Yeah, that was excellent.

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Robert Bond's avatar

I do love the extended Kingdom of Heaven. I don’t mind Orlando but it does seem that it was written for Russel Crowe, clearly the character is meant to be much older.

But it’s a brilliant beautiful and thoughtful film

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Nathen Amin's avatar

Yeah, he's the problem with that film for me. It doesn't really work if it's not the extended version, really.

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Clare Chambers's avatar

Gladiator and Braveheart for their casts, storylines and film scores, and mostly for its comedic quips from Alan Rickman and the fact many scenes were filmed in some of my favourite places on earth (The Peak District and Yorkshire Dales):

Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991) - the overture always makes me smile and is still ranked in Classic FM's top 10 film scores of all time. It plays as the credits pass over clips of the Bayeux Tapestry and when I once visited said tapestry in France, all I could hear was the theme playing in my head as we walked around it transfixed. 👀 😄

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Alex Chisholm's avatar

Lion In Winter - not historically accurate but the dynamic between Peter O'Toole and Kathryn Hepburn just sizzles. Katherine delivered the spirit of Eleanor

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - it's the little details that are actually historically accurate within a very silly film that get me!

Life of Brian - just for the What Did The Romans every do for us scene

Bandit Queen - great story, great sound track.

Elizabeth also by Shekhur Kapur. Was a huge Elizabeth fan as a teenager and this came close to the Elizabeth I imagined

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Mareeta Rose's avatar

It's hard to pick just one when I have so many! But as a Wars of the Roses fan, one in particular I love is "Tower of London" from 1939. It's more historically accurate than you'd expect and Basil Rathbone makes a great Richard III. (who is surprisingly not a hunchback and doesn't say "my kingdom for a horse!" and all that)

And of course I love anything with Vincent Price in it so it was great seeing him as Clarence.

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Diane Wilshere's avatar

I can't look at the list as I don't have an account. For my favorite historical films I start with the 1927 silent film Napoleon by French director Abel Gance. It is a masterpiece of filmmaking that covers Napoleon's life from boyhood through the invasion of Italy. I echo your choice of Schindler's List as it is Spielberg's true masterpiece. Tora Tora Tora for its impressive coverage of the attack on Pearl Harbor (much better than the 1990's Pearl Harbor mess. Then the Clint Eastwood film Letters from Iwo Jima told from the perspective of the Japanese he paired it with Flags of Our Fathers. the raising of the American flag in the Letters film is a tiny insignificant moment.

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