feelsalike.comSign in
Casablanca poster

Movies that feel likeCasablanca (1943)

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

If you loved Casablanca, the closest films we have are Children of Paradise (1945), Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946). All three share Casablanca's contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Make Way for Tomorrow (1937).

🍅 99% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Michael Curtizcontemplativeromantictender
9 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:HBO Max ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Casablanca streaming? →

If Casablanca hit the spot, these will too

Children of Paradise poster
Children of Paradise
1945 · dir. Marcel Carné
🍅 98%★ 8.3drama · romance

Contemplative and romantic in the same breath

In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.

Brief Encounter poster
Brief Encounter
1945 · dir. David Lean
🍅 95%★ 8drama · romanceMax

Tender drama, and it commits to that

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.

Great Expectations poster
Great Expectations
1946 · dir. David Lean
🍅 100%★ 7.8drama · romanceMax

Romance with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

The Red Shoes poster
The Red Shoes
1948 · dir. Michael Powell
🍅 98%★ 8.1drama · romanceMax

Drama built on romance, twice over

A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.

Make Way for Tomorrow poster
Make Way for Tomorrow
1937 · dir. Leo McCarey
🍅 100%★ 8.2drama · romance

Tender romance in both cases

An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.

Letter from an Unknown Woman poster
Letter from an Unknown Woman
1948 · dir. Max Ophüls
🍅 100%★ 7.8drama · romance

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past.

Wuthering Heights poster
Wuthering Heights
1939 · dir. William Wyler
🍅 92%★ 7.5drama · romancePrime VideoMax

Romance with a pulse of romance, in both cases

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans poster
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
1927 · dir. F. W. Murnau
🍅 98%★ 8.1drama · romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: love triangle

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

Notorious poster
Notorious
1946 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 96%★ 7.9drama · romance · thriller

Common ground in both: nazi and spy

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than Casablanca does

In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.

The Earrings of Madame de... poster
The Earrings of Madame de...
1953 · dir. Max Ophüls
🍅 97%★ 7.8drama · romanceMax

A streak of tenderness through both

In late 19th century France, the Countess Louise, wife of a wealthy general, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off her secret debts, then claims to have lost them. Her husband quickly learns of the deceit, which is the beginning of many tragic misunderstandings, all involving the earrings, the general, the countess, and her new lover, the Italian Baron Donati.

Summer with Monika poster
Summer with Monika
1953 · dir. Ingmar Bergman
🍅 100%★ 7.5drama · romance

Both play drama straight

One summer day, two teens begin a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.

Grand Hotel poster
Grand Hotel
1932 · dir. Edmund Goulding
🍅 85%★ 7.3drama · romance

Romance approached the same way

Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through worry, scandal, and heartache.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Casablanca’s defining feeling.