Best 20th Century Period Pieces on Netflix 2026
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Our pick of the best 20th Century Period Pieces on Netflix right now, ranked by audience rating out of the 100 titles in category code 12739. Tap any title for full details and where to watch.
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1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Rated 9.3/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1994, 2h 22m. Framed for murder, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison and gradually forms a close bond with older inmate Red.
2. Schindler's List (1993)
Rated 8.9/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1993, 3h 15m. Oskar Schindler becomes an unlikely humanitarian, spending his entire fortune to help save 1,100 Jews from Auschwitz during World War II.
3. Forrest Gump (1994)
Rated 8.8/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1994, 2h 22m. Forrest Gump, a friendly, simpleminded man, finds himself in the middle of nearly every major event of the 1960s and '70s.
4. Peaky Blinders (2013)
Rated 8.8/10 on IMDb, from 2013. A notorious gang in 1919 Birmingham, England, is led by the fierce Tommy Shelby, a crime boss set on moving up in the world no matter the cost.
5. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
Rated 8.6/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1997, 1h 56m. A Jewish waiter, his wife and their son are sent to a concentration camp, where the waiter tries to protect his son's innocence by playing a game.
6. The Prestige (2006)
Rated 8.5/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 2006, 2h 10m. Desperate to reveal each other's secrets, two rival magicians begin to perform increasingly risky tricks -- which soon turn deadly.
7. Black Friday (2004)
Rated 8.5/10 on IMDb, from 2004, 2h 41m. This docudrama based on the same-titled book tracks the aftermath of a 1993 bombing in Bombay through the eyes of a journalist covering the story.
8. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Rated 8.5/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1988, 2h 04m. When a Sicilian boy is mesmerized by the movies at his local theater, he befriends a projectionist who tells him to leave home and pursue his dreams.
9. Lawrence of Arabia: Restored Version (1962)
Rated 8.3/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1962, 3h 47m. This Oscar-winning epic tells the true story of T.E.
10. Das Boot: Director's Cut (1981)
Rated 8.3/10 on IMDb, one of IMDb's Top 250, from 1981, 3h 28m. Nominated for six Oscars, this edge-of-your-seat dramatic triumph follows the trials of a German U-boat crew during World War II.