75 Period Dramas You Probably Haven't Seen
A list of movies, television mini-series and short films that are costume dramas and period films that you may not know about, are sleepers, foreign, older or obscure. From Willow and Thatch, lover of period films, creator of The Period Films List on the Willow and Thatch website.
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- DirectorChristina YaoStarsAaron KwokTielin ZhangLei HaoIn 1899, a care-free young man must prepare to take over his family's Chinese banking empire.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsRip TornConchata FerrellBarry PrimusA widow with a young daughter travels to a ranch in Wyoming to manage the household of a rancher. After a while the man and woman develop a relationship that leads to a marriage. But life in the harsh place takes its toll.
- DirectorAriel ZeitounStarsNora ArnezederGérard LanvinTomer SisleyIn France, prior to Louis XIV ascending the throne, a young baroness is forced to marry against her will and is caught up in a web of treachery and murder, threatening her and her husband, whom she has come to love deeply.
- DirectorAnn TurnerStarsCharlotte RamplingRussell CroweAlexander OuthredSet in 1910 in Australia, the film follows the story of a 14 year old motherless youth, stricken with Polio and entering the forbidding world of adults.
- StarsScott McGregorScott BurgessSigrid ThorntonTwo young men from the country join the army and leave for World War I.
- CreatorCaleb RansonStarsIain De CaesteckerAmy MansonBen Lloyd-HughesThe university days of the vet, James Herriot, set in 1933 Glasgow, Scotland.
- StarsLesley Ann WarrenMichael SarrazinEddie AlbertMiniseries detailing the lives of two Civil War families.
- CreatorLavinia WarnerStarsAnn BellStephanie ColeClaire ObermanAfter the Japanese invasion of Singapore in February 1942, a group of British, Dutch and Australian women are held in a Japanese internment camp on a Japanese-occupied island between Singapore and Australia.
- DirectorEric BurdettStarsLana EsslingerMark EsslingerElizabeth LackeyThe true story of a little girl, who in 1860, wrote to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln suggesting he grow whiskers.
- StarsDavid RintoulAnnette CrosbieIan BannenFollowing his service in World War II, Dr. Finlay returns to the practice at Arden House, at a time when the National Health Service is about to be instituted.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsMagda VásáryováJirí SchmitzerJaromír HanzlíkAn evocation of the childhood memories of Bohumil Hrabal in his provincial town of Nymburk, dominated by the local brewery.Set in the Czech republic, at the beginning of the 20th century (maybe right after WWI).
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsOlivia de HavillandMontgomery CliftRalph RichardsonA naive young woman falls for a handsome young man her emotionally abusive father suspects is only a fortune hunter.
- StarsMark StrongGeorge CostiganNeil ConrichThe lives of characters who live, love, and suffer through their association with the charismatic charms of gangster Harry Starks.
- StarsPatrick BachMatthias HabichAndreas MannkopffJack Holborn is 13-year-old orphan in the 1700's that wants to get a job on a sailing ship to avoid foster homes. Jack was found on the steps of the Holborn catholic church in London, when he was a baby. He was wearing a leather arm band with the name "Jack" on it. His aim is to set sail with Captain Sharingham. At the sight of Jack's arm band, the captain reveals that the band looks familiar, but he won't tell Jack what he knows. Jack is desperately seeking answers, and is not about to let the Captain off the hook. The Captain also has a twin brother who works as a judge. The two brothers hate each other, mostly because of the captain's piracy side business. Jack sneaks onboard the Captain's ship "Charming Molly", and the journey begins. A journey that consists of piracy, traveling through swamps, and slavery in Bombay. Jack will find his answers, but the road there is long.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsRobert RedfordWill GeerDelle BoltonA mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by the Crow tribe and proves to be a match for their warriors in single combat on the early frontier.
- StarsBenedict CumberbatchJared HarrisJamie SivesIn 1812, young British aristocrat Edmund Talbot travels by ship to Australia, and learns more about himself and about life than he had ever bargained for.
- DirectorVéra BelmontStarsSophie MarceauBernard GiraudeauLambert WilsonThe rise and fall of a beauteous actress. She rises from an impoverished background to become a favorite of the Sun King, Louis XIV.
- CreatorSandy RingerStarsHarold HopkinsAnne Scott-PendleburyAnne CharlestonPeriod drama following different years in the life of a Jewish family living in Australia.Each episode of this tv mini-series covered one year in the family from the mid 1950s into the 1970s.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsDustin HoffmanFaye DunawayChief Dan GeorgeJack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Native Americans and fighting with General Custer.
- DirectorKari SkoglandStarsVanessa WilliamsGil BellowsKaren WilliamsIn 19th century New Orleans creole Henriette must choose between love and devotion to the church. Neither choice is going to be easy, as there is great opposition to her ideas of breaking traditions.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiBaotian LiXiaoxiao WangA provincial boy related to a Shanghai crime family is recruited by his uncle into cosmopolitan Shanghai in the 1930s to be a servant to a ganglord's mistress.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsSophie MarceauPhilippe NoiretClaude RichFrance, 1654: D'Artagnan's girl grows up in a convent. When the mother superior is murdered, Eloïse suspects a plan to murder the king and hopes to prevent this and revenge the murder by finding her father and the 3 musketeers.
- DirectorPhilippe de BrocaStarsPhilippe NoiretVincent SchmittRaoul BillereyIn 1793 when terror is widespread in France, peasants known as Chouans fight the revolutionaries in attempt to restore the monarchy.
- DirectorElmo NüganenStarsKaspar VelbergKristjan ÜkskülaMaiken PiusIn 1944 Estonia, a fratricide war ensues when Estonians of the retreating German forces fight against Estonians conscripted into the advancing Soviet Red Army.
- DirectorShyam BenegalStarsKarisma KapoorRekhaManoj BajpayeeZubeidaa, an aspiring Muslim actress, marries a Sikh prince to become his second wife. Her tumultuous relationship with her husband, and her inner demons lead her to a decision which has fatal consequences for them all.