Best 24 History Movies Worth Watching Released in 1999

The world's greatest-ever playwright, William Shakespeare, is young, out of ideas, and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays. Explore Shakespeare in Love / IMDB / YouTube

Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War. Learn about The Thin Red Line / IMDB / YouTube

A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco. Explore The Insider / IMDB / YouTube

A man, having fallen in love with the wrong woman, is sent by the sultan himself on a diplomatic mission to a distant land as an ambassador. Stopping at a Viking village port to restock on supplies, he finds himself unwittingly embroiled in a quest to banish a mysterious threat in a distant Viking land. Details on The 13th Warrior / IMDB / YouTube

The early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch. Read about Elizabeth / IMDB / YouTube

A young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors. Info on The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc / IMDB / YouTube

The story of the romance between the King of Siam and widowed British schoolteacher, Anna Leonowens, during the 1860s. Check out Anna and the King / IMDB / YouTube

History of Apple and Microsoft. Get info on Pirates of Silicon Valley / IMDB / YouTube

During World War II, an ordinary inhabitant of a ghetto fakes news about Allied offensives to inspire hope for other victims of the Nazi regime. Details on Jakob the Liar / IMDB / YouTube

At the turn of the century, a young Russian cadet falls in love with an American beauty, endangering his career and even their lives. Find out about The Barber of Siberia / IMDB / YouTube

The story of Nick Leeson, an ambitious investment broker who singlehandedly bankrupted one of the oldest and most important banks in Britain. Details on Rogue Trader / IMDB / YouTube

It's 1947 and the borderlines between India and Pakistan are being drawn. A young girl witnesses tragedy as her ayah (nanny) is caught between the love of two men and the rising tide of political and religious violence. Learn about Earth / IMDB / YouTube

The new member of a samurai militia unit causes disruption as several of his colleagues fall in love with him, threatening to disturb the rigid code of their squad. More about Taboo / IMDB / YouTube

In 1943 Berlin, a Nazi officer's wife meets and starts a passionate affair with a Jewish woman. Info on Aimee & Jaguar / IMDB / YouTube

Orson Welles produces his greatest film, Citizen Kane (1941), despite the opposition of the film's de facto subject, William Randolph Hearst. Info on RKO 281 / IMDB / YouTube

In late 1944, even as they faced imminent defeat, the Nazis expended enormous resources to kill or deport over 425,000 Jews during the cleansing of Hungary. This Oscar-winning documentary, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, focuses on the plight of five Hungarian Jews who survived imprisonment in Auschwitz. Explore The Last Days / IMDB / YouTube

An epic story about the Ukrainian uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth magnates in the 17th Century. Read about With Fire and Sword / IMDB / YouTube

A shy and quiet World War II evacuee is housed by a disgruntled old man, and they soon develop a close bond. Info on Goodnight Mr Tom / IMDB / YouTube

In Constantinople in the early 1900's, a young woman is brought into the sultan's harem and she manages to become his favorite. But the love she begins to feel for a eunuch ventures the outcome of her plan. Check out Harem Suare / IMDB / YouTube

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), deaf and ill, lives the last years of his life in voluntary exile in Bordeaux, a Liberal protesting the oppressive rule of Ferdinand VII. He's living with his much younger wife Leocadia and their daughter Rosario. He continues to paint at night, and in flashbacks stirred by conversations with his daughter, by awful headaches, and by the bef. Check out Goya in Bordeaux / IMDB / YouTube

One day, ordinary Norwegian girl Sofie receives a videotape on which a certain Alberto Knox talks directly to her from ancient Greece. They start to meet on different occasions as Alberto takes Sofie on an odyssey through the history of philosophy, from ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and all the big revolutions, . Read about Sofies verden / IMDB / YouTube

The rather eccentric (especially in her thinking) author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged becomes involved with a much younger, and married man, to the dismay of those close to her. Read about The Passion of Ayn Rand / IMDB / YouTube

Fact based story about the political battle that was waged against the Mafia in Sicily during the late 1980's and early 1990's. Chazz Palminteri plays Giovanni Falcone, a crusading prosecutor who tried to use money trails as a way to attack the mobsters. He is aided by a former mobster (F. Murray Abraham) who volunteers to turn state's evidence after his sons are kill. Read about Excellent Cadavers / IMDB / YouTube

John Riley, an Irish immigrant soldier recruited in the American army during the Mexican-American War faces anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic bigotry from his fellow servicemen and defects to the Mexican army. See more about One Man's Hero / IMDB / YouTube