Period dramas I should watch
by dejana91 | created - 11 Jun 2017 | updated - 11 Jun 2017 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
Not Rated | 128 min | Drama, History, Romance
A pair of lookalikes, one a former French aristocrat and the other an alcoholic English lawyer, fall in love with the same woman amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution.
Directors: Jack Conway, Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen
Votes: 6,302
2. The Abduction Club (2002)
96 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A group of Irish noblemen kidnap girls in order to marry into their fortune and avoid becoming priests or soldiers.
Director: Stefan Schwartz | Stars: Alice Evans, Daniel Lapaine, Sophia Myles, Matthew Rhys
Votes: 1,781
3. The Age of Innocence (1993)
PG | 139 min | Drama, Romance
A tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Linda Faye Farkas
Votes: 67,859 | Gross: $32.20M
4. Amazing Grace (2006)
PG | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
The idealist William Wilberforce maneuvers his way through Parliament, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade.
Director: Michael Apted | Stars: Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Romola Garai
Votes: 25,702 | Gross: $21.21M
5. Bleak House (2005)
TV-PG | 30 min | Crime, Drama
A suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system.
Stars: Anna Maxwell Martin, Carey Mulligan, Denis Lawson, Gillian Anderson
Votes: 10,638
6. Cold Mountain (2003)
R | 154 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In the waning days of the American Civil War, a wounded soldier embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with his sweetheart.
Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Eileen Atkins
Votes: 156,171 | Gross: $95.64M
7. Foyle's War (2002–2015)
TV-14 | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As WWII rages, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front; investigating crime on the south coast of England. Later series, see the retired detective working as an MI5 agent in the aftermath of the war.
Stars: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell, Ellie Haddington
Votes: 18,297
8. He Knew He Was Right (2004)
240 min | Drama
Louis Trevelyan's refusal to trust his wife Emily destroys their marriage.
Stars: Oliver Dimsdale, Christina Cole, Laura Fraser, Nathan Heath
Votes: 1,717
9. The Hour (2011–2012)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama
A behind-the-scenes drama and espionage thriller in Cold War-era England that centers on a journalist, a producer, and an anchorman for an investigative news programme.
Stars: Romola Garai, Ben Whishaw, Dominic West, Anna Chancellor
Votes: 11,061
10. The House of Mirth (2000)
PG | 135 min | Romance, Drama
A woman risks losing her chance of happiness with the only man she has ever loved.
Director: Terence Davies | Stars: Gillian Anderson, Dan Aykroyd, Eleanor Bron, Terry Kinney
Votes: 8,087 | Gross: $3.04M
11. I Capture the Castle (2003)
R | 113 min | Drama, Romance
A love story set in 1930s England that follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and the fortunes of her eccentric family struggling to survive in a decaying English castle.
Director: Tim Fywell | Stars: Romola Garai, Rose Byrne, Bill Nighy, Sophie Stuckey
Votes: 7,985 | Gross: $1.17M
12. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (2012–2015)
TV-PG | 60 min | Crime, Drama, History
A female sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of Melbourne in the late 1920s, fighting injustice with her pearl-handled pistol and her dagger-sharp wit.
Stars: Essie Davis, Nathan Page, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Ashleigh Cummings
Votes: 17,735
13. Our Mutual Friend (1998)
88 min | Drama
Intertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in Charles Dickens's 1860s London.
Stars: Paul McGann, Keeley Hawes, Dominic Mafham, David Bradley
Votes: 2,694
14. The Way We Live Now (2001)
TV-14 | 75 min | Drama, Romance
Augustus Melmotte is a European-born city financier whose background is as mysterious as his business. Only weeks after his arrival in London, he announced a new venture and promises instant fortune.
Stars: David Suchet, Matthew Macfadyen, Cillian Murphy, Paloma Baeza
Votes: 3,322
15. Beloved Sisters (2014)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, History, Romance
The 18th century literary genius Friedrich Schiller falls in love with the sisters Charlotte and Caroline von Lengefeld. After a passionate summer together in a menage a trois, jealousy and rivalry endanger their union.
Director: Dominik Graf | Stars: Hannah Herzsprung, Florian Stetter, Henriette Confurius, Claudia Messner
Votes: 1,599 | Gross: $0.05M
16. Tale of Tales (2015)
R | 134 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
From the bitter quest of the Queen of Longtrellis, to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of a king, to the King of Highhills obsessed with a giant Flea, these tales are inspired by the fairytales by Giambattista Basile.
Director: Matteo Garrone | Stars: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly
Votes: 31,225 | Gross: $0.08M
17. The Princess of Montpensier (2010)
Not Rated | 139 min | Action, Drama, History
Based on the classic didactic novel, the action centers on the noble lady who soon becomes exposed to the sexual and political intrigues of the French court of the religious wars era.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Mélanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet
Votes: 4,287 | Gross: $0.34M
18. Wuthering Heights (2009)
TV-PG | 71 min | Drama, Romance
Foundling Heathcliff is raised by the wealthy Earnshaws in Yorkshire but in later life launches a vendetta against the family.
Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlotte Riley, Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Lancashire
Votes: 9,840
19. The New World (2005)
PG-13 | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale
Votes: 89,934 | Gross: $12.71M
20. Brides (2004)
128 min | Drama, Romance
Set in 1922, is the story of a mail order bride, one of 700, aboard the SS KING ALEXANDER, who falls in love with an American photographer. She is bound for her new husband, in New York; he is on his way home to a failed marriage.
Director: Pantelis Voulgaris | Stars: Damian Lewis, Victoria Haralabidou, Andréa Ferréol, Evi Saoulidou
Votes: 5,006
21. Sunshine (1999)
R | 181 min | Drama, History, Romance
The fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.
Director: István Szabó | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle
Votes: 15,804 | Gross: $5.10M
22. Firelight (1997)
R | 103 min | Drama, Romance
A governess agrees to bear a child to help her father.
Director: William Nicholson | Stars: Sophie Marceau, Stephen Dillane, Dominique Belcourt, Kevin Anderson
Votes: 4,812 | Gross: $0.78M
23. Oscar and Lucinda (1997)
R | 132 min | Drama, Romance
In mid-1800s England, Oscar is a young Anglican priest, a misfit and an outcast, but with the soul of an angel. As a boy, even though from a strict Pentecostal family, he felt God told him ... See full summary »
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 7,198 | Gross: $1.51M
24. The Horseman on the Roof (1995)
R | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In a time of war and disease, a young officer gallantly tries to help a young woman find her husband.
Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau | Stars: Olivier Martinez, Juliette Binoche, Pierre Arditi, François Cluzet
Votes: 6,397 | Gross: $1.88M
25. The Inheritance (1997 TV Movie)
95 min | Drama, Romance
A 19th-century woman, companion to a blue-blooded New England girl, falls for an aristocrat.
Director: Bobby Roth | Stars: Cari Shayne, Brigitta Dau, Paul Anthony Stewart, Brigid Brannagh
Votes: 1,646
26. Victoria & Albert (2001)
200 min | Biography, Drama, History
The marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, a longtime royal love story.
Stars: Victoria Hamilton, Jonathan Firth, James Callis, Diana Rigg
Votes: 1,040
27. The Winslow Boy (1999)
G | 104 min | Drama, Romance
Following the theft of a postal order, a 14-year-old cadet is expelled from Naval College. To save the honour of the boy and his family, the pre-eminent barrister of the day is engaged to take on the might of the Admiralty.
Director: David Mamet | Stars: Rebecca Pidgeon, Jeremy Northam, Nigel Hawthorne, Matthew Pidgeon
Votes: 9,452 | Gross: $3.96M
28. Love Comes Softly (2003 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 88 min | Drama, Family, Romance
A young woman on her way to a new life in the 1800's suddenly finds herself a widow. Now she must live with a recently widowed young man and his daughter. Can any of them find love again?
Director: Michael Landon Jr. | Stars: Katherine Heigl, Dale Midkiff, Corbin Bernsen, Skye McCole Bartusiak
Votes: 6,984
29. Rose Hill (1997 TV Movie)
PG | 99 min | Family, Western
In the late 1800s, four young, New York City street kids save an abandoned baby girl and move to Montana to start a new life. Stars Jennifer Garner. From the Hallmark Hall of Fame Collection.
Director: Christopher Cain | Stars: Jennifer Garner, Jeffrey D. Sams, Zak Orth, Justin Chambers
Votes: 705
30. Love's Enduring Promise (2004 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 120 min | Drama, Family, Western
The Davis family saga continues as Missie's romance with a wealthy surveyor is interrupted by her father's life-threatening accident. However, the mysterious stranger who begins helping them makes Missie second-guess her true feelings.
Director: Michael Landon Jr. | Stars: January Jones, Logan Bartholomew, Dale Midkiff, Katherine Heigl
Votes: 3,659
31. Testament of Youth (2014)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, History
A British woman recalls coming of age during World War I - a story of young love, the futility of war, and how to make sense of the darkest times.
Director: James Kent | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton, Dominic West
Votes: 30,518 | Gross: $1.82M
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