5 Best War Movies Set In The 19th Century, Ranked

War is dangerous, expensive, and bloody ... and across centuries, filmmakers have been utterly fascinated by the subject. So many great films are based on real and imagined events that occurred in major conflicts, from great World War II films like "Dunkirk" and "Schindler's List" to ones set during the American Revolution like "The Patriot" or, for that matter, the professionally filmed version of the Broadway smash hit "Hamilton." As dark as this subject is, there's no question that it makes for gripping movies and television shows, and within the war movie genre, there are so many niche sub-genres.

One of those is war movies set in the 19th century. Spanning the 1800s, the 19th century was home to plenty of horrifying, deadly conflicts like the American Civil War, Europe's Napoleonic Wars, Africa's Zulu war, and the Taiping Rebellion in Asia, just to name a few. Finding films set during this incredibly particular time period was a bit of a challenge, but we here at Looper are up to the task. From films about underappreciated Civil War fighters to a critically acclaimed movie about one of the greatest U.S. presidents to an action movie that just so happens to be set during wartime in the 1800s, here are the five best 19th century war movies ranked.

Loosely adapted from author Patrick O'Brian's series about a fictional soldier named Jack Aubrey, Peter Weir's enormous, splashy (pun intended) 2003 film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" casts Russell Crowe as Aubrey, at this point a captain in England's Royal Navy. As the man in charge of a massive frigate called the HMS Surprise, Aubrey has to fend off an attack from the French privateer the Acheron, and when the Acheron aims a few well-placed cannonballs at the Surprise, Aubrey absolutely refuses to surrender. This begins a chase across the seas between the Surprise and the Acheron, with Aubrey running the show alongside his close friend and the ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany).

Marking the second collaboration between Bettany and Crowe after the 2001 film "A Beautiful Mind," "Master and Commander," which specifically takes place in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, is a genuinely good take on O'Brian's super-popular novels and a great outing for the two lead actors, as well as supporting players like James D'Arcy, Billy Boyd, and Robert Pugh on hand to spice up the surroundings. Even if you don't know anything at all about the Napoleonic wars, fear not; "Master and Commander" is wonderfully accessible even if you haven't been studying European conflicts in the 19th century.

Ridley Scott has, it should be said, made a whole bunch of movies about war, bloodshed, and conflicts — from "Gladiator" to "Exodus: Gods and Kings" to "Black Hawk Down," just to name a few. If you're doing a deep dive of Scott's filmography and are looking for war films specifically set in the 19th century, though, look no further than his 1977 directorial debut "The Duellists." Like "Master and Commander," "The Duellists," which is adapted from a Joseph Conrad short story called "The Duel," takes place during the Napoleonic Wars but takes place on land and centers around Gabriel Feraud (Harvey Keitel), a devoted Bonapartist who supports Napoleon, and his decades-long rivalry with fellow military officer Armand d'Hubert (Keith Carradine). 

"The Duellists" starts its action in 1800 in the French city of Strasbourg when Feraud almost kills the mayor's son in a duel, at which point d'Hubert is instructed to arrest the man for his wrongdoing. Feraud, naturally, challenges d'Hubert to another duel but it results in a total mess (Feraud's mistress, played by Gay Hamilton), gets involved and makes things drastically worse). From 1800 to 1816, the two men keep tangling and fighting, despite the fact that a begrudging respect grows between them with each meeting. "The Duellists" doesn't end happily, per se, but it does end with an understanding between Feraud and d'Hubert, and it's a fantastic entry into the 19th century war movie canon.

Based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Charles Frazier and directed by Anthony Minghella — the director of "The English Patient" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" — "Cold Mountain" is ostensibly about William "W.P." Inman, a Civil War deserter desperate to get home to his one true love played by Jude Law. In a larger sense, though, the film is about that one true love Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), who promises to wait for W.P. to return from the front lines but, in the process, realizes that she's unable to keep her family farm (in the shadow of North Carolina's titular mountain) afloat without help and ends up teaming up with local farmer Ruby Thewes (Renée Zellweger) to save it. Together, Ada and Ruby save the farm and become a close-knit pair, all as W.P. struggles to get home and forms his own partnership with a young widow named Sara (Natalie Portman).

"Cold Mountain" won Zellweger her first Academy Award and earned nods for Law, its cinematography, film editing, original score, and original song ... and it's also one of the best Civil War movies you could possibly watch to understand the true human cost of this American conflict. With performers like Law, Kidman, and Zellweger at the helm and a truly stacked supporting cast that includes Portman, Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Giovanni Ribisi, Donald Sutherland, and Ray Winstone, just to name a few, "Cold Mountain" isn't just one of the best war movies in this specific time period, but one of the better war movies in the genre.

To make their 1989 Civil War epic "Glory," director Edward Zwick and his screenwriter Kevin Jarre took inspiration from three sources: the books "Lay This Laurel" (by Lincoln Kirstein) and "One Gallant Rush" (by Peter Burchard) as well as personal letters obtained from the estate of the real Union colonel Robert Gould Shaw. That's just part of what makes "Glory," a movie centered around the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment — one of the first mostly Black regiments in the Union Army — so special. Matthew Broderick leads the all-star cast as Shaw with fictional soldiers in the regiments like Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, and the late, great Andre Braugher as Private Trip, Major Cabot Forbes, Sergeant Major John Rawlins, and Corporal Thomas Searles, just to name a few. 

Obviously, a Black regiment during the Civil War means that this regiment's members are in even more danger because we learn, early in the film's run time, that Confederate forces intend to specifically kill any Black soldiers that are part of the Union. Ultimately, though, "Glory" is a story about searing human triumph even as the regiment suffers unimaginable losses during difficult and bloody battles. "Glory" shines a light on one of the most important and historic regiments in the entire Civil War, and on top of that, it features absolutely stunning performances from Washington, Freeman, Broderick, Elwes, and Braugher.

The making of Steven Spielberg's stunning 2012 biopic "Lincoln" — which screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner loosely adapted from the Doris Kearns Goodwin biography "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" — was so intense that the project's star, Daniel Day-Lewis, apparently refused a visit from then-United States President Barack Obama during filming, claiming it would be an unwanted distraction. While we're sorry that President Obama didn't get the privilege of visiting the "Lincoln" set, all's well that ends well ... and the movie we got is absolutely incredible. As he always does, Day-Lewis absolutely transforms into Abraham Lincoln and depicts him in 1865 towards the end of his life as he tries to abolish slavery towards the end of the Civil War. Knowing the grisly end that awaits him at Ford's Theater at the hands of assassin John Wilkes Booth (who is not depicted in the film) makes a depiction of this time in Lincoln's life all the more astonishing.

Day-Lewis is joined by luminaries like Sally Field as Lincoln's wife Mary Todd, David Strathairn as Lincoln's secretary of state William H. Seward, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Lincoln's eldest son Robert Todd, Tommy Lee Jones as Republican congressman Thaddeus Stevens, and Jared Harris as then-lieutenant general Ulysses S. Grant, just to name a few. Unsurprisingly, this Spielberg film was greeted with universal acclaim and accolades, including a nomination for best picture at the Academy Awards and a record third lead actor Oscar for Day-Lewis, as well as nods for several of his co-stars. "Lincoln" is the best 19th century war movie, and it's not even close.