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Friday 8 November 2024

From Gladiator to All the President’s Men, historians nominate their best historical movies – and voting is open on HistoryExtra.com to find the people’s favourite.

One of the UK’s leading history websites HistoryExtra.com (the home of BBC History Magazine and the HistoryExtra podcast) is on a search to find the greatest historical movie of all time.

Twenty-two of Britain’s leading historians were challenged by HistoryExtra.com to nominate what they considered to be the best historical movies ever made and give their reasons.  The results have been compiled into a list of the top 100, and now voting is open so people can rank their favourites from Titanic to Lawrence of Arabia.

“HistoryExtra.com challenged 22 historians to choose the historical movies that have most inspired, entertained and enthralled them, and explain why. Movies can take us into the past, bringing a historical period or person to life and immersing us in their world, and the 100 movies on this list do just that. Our historians have chosen the movies that inspired them, but only you can crown the winner. It will be fascinating to see what will top the list as the people’s favourite, so please browse the list and choose your top five.”

Kev Lochun, Deputy Digital Editor, HistoryExtra

Black and white photo of a man with short dark hair and a beard, wearing a dark t-shirt, smiling gently while sitting indoors near a window.

“As an aficionado of Elizabeth I, I should hate this film. It is riddled with inaccuracies and leaves the viewer in no doubt that here was no ‘Virgin Queen’. And yet, it brilliantly evokes the drama, intrigue and sheer treachery of Elizabeth’s life before and after she became queen. Cate Blanchett’s commanding performance in the title role rightly won her international recognition and an Oscar nomination. She brought to life the vulnerable woman behind the magisterial image and showed the personal traumas and heartaches that helped craft her into the ‘Gloriana’ of legend. All round, a brilliant film.”

Tracy Borman, Historian, who nominated the 1998 film Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur

 

A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair smiles softly, wearing a dark blazer and top, posed against a black background in a black-and-white portrait.

“Set in 14th-century England, A Knight’s Tale stars Heath Ledger as William Thatcher, a fictional peasant squire who poses as a knight and competes in tournaments. Along the way he bumps into historical figures, such as Edward the Black Prince and Geoffrey Chaucer (who first appears stark naked). The film scores low on historical accuracy, and high on anachronism (medieval crowds sing Queen’s We Will Rock You), but through wit and a brilliant cast, it captures the drama and thrill of medieval tournaments, translated effectively for modern audiences.”

Alice Loxton, history broadcaster and author who nominated 2001’s A Knight’s Tale

A woman with long dark hair, wearing a pearl necklace and earrings, and a long-sleeved blouse, smiles at the camera outdoors with trees blurred in the background. The image is in black and white.

“300 is the thrilling story of how Leonidas and a band of Spartan warriors in tight black speedos defended the pass of Thermopylae against the Persian king of kings, a million-strong army, and a rhinoceros. To criticise it for historical inaccuracies, however, would be entirely to miss the point. It is impossible to make a realist film set in antiquity, and 300 – precisely because it recognises this – is the most convincing and unsettling evocation of ancient mores that you will see in the cinema. There were no liberals in Sparta. The Lacedaemonian Film Board would have been all over 300.”

Tom Holland, Historian, whose picks included 2006 film 300

A man with short, light hair and glasses smiles at the camera. He is wearing a dark jacket over a black shirt and is pictured against a plain, dark background in black and white.

To vote for your favourite historical film from HistoryExtra.com’s historians’ list of 100, visit HistoryExtra.com