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Classic Documentaries Before 1990 · page 100

2,921 documentaries · ordered 26 October 2026 · How we order lists

Newest first: the year each film was released, from the open film record (Wikidata), then the order the list has always had. Every film’s page names its source.

1. No. 2476194114 min

   Scenes of Yan'an

   Director not on record · Hong Kong
2. No. 247719411 h 54 min

   Sieg im Westen

   by Edmund Smith · Germany · Nazi Germany · German

   historywar
3. No. 247819411 h 7 min

   The Forgotten Village

   by Herbert Kline · United States · English
4. No. 24791941

   The Guangdong Front

   Director not on record · British Hong Kong

   warSecond Sino-Japanese War
5. No. 248019419 min

   The training ship Georg Stage

   Director not on record · Denmark
6. No. 24811941

   Yellow Caesar

   by Alberto Cavalcanti · United Kingdom · English
7. No. 248219401 h 30 min

   Baptism of Fire (1940 film)

   by Hans Bertram · Germany · German
8. No. 24831940

   Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940

   by Zora Neale Hurston · United States · English
9. No. 2484194058 min

   Feldzug in Polen

   by Fritz Hippler · Nazi Germany · German

   historywar
10. No. 24851940

    Hullo, Fame!

    Director not on record
11. No. 248619401 h 16 min

    Inuit

    by Jette Bang · Denmark
12. No. 248719401 h 21 min

    Kampf um Norwegen – Feldzug 1940

    by Martin Rikli · Germany · German
13. No. 248819401 h 2 min

    Liberation

    by Oleksandr Dovzhenko · Soviet Union
14. No. 248919401 h 8 min

    Man och kvinna

    by Gunnar Skoglund · Sweden · Swedish
15. No. 249019401 h 31 min

    Michelangelo: Life of a Titan

    by Curt Oertel · Switzerland · Germany · German
16. No. 2491194020 min

    Spring Offensive

    by Humphrey Jennings · United Kingdom
17. No. 24921940

    The Children from Overseas

    by Stanley Hawes · Canada · English
18. No. 249319401 h 12 min

    The Curse of the Swastika

    by Fred Watts · United Kingdom
19. No. 249419401 h 5 min

    The Eternal Jew

    by Fritz Hippler · Nazi Germany · German Reich · German
20. No. 249519401 h 9 min

    The Fight for Life

    by Pare Lorentz · United States · English
21. No. 24961940

    The Fourth Estate: A Film of a British Newspaper

    by Paul Rotha · United Kingdom · English
22. No. 24971940

    The Mannerheim Line

    by Nikolay Komarevtsev · Soviet Union

    war
23. No. 2498194011 min

    The Miracle of Sound

    by Douglas Shearer · United States · English
24. No. 24991940

    The Plague

    by Temet Natsagdorj · Mongolian People's Republic · Mongolian

    Marmotabubonic plague
25. No. 25001940

    The Tragedy of Carpatho-Ukraine

    by Vasyl Avramenko

By decade

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The collection

3,059New Documentaries of the 2020sdocumentaries, newest first3,128Documentaries of the 2010s in 2026documentaries, newest first4,066Documentaries of the 2000s in 2026documentaries, newest first1,196Documentaries of the 1990s in 2026documentaries, newest first767Documentaries of the 1980s in 2026documentaries, newest first