Best Period Pieces [Copperncherrio]

by copperncherrio | created - 20 Dec 2012 | updated - 20 Dec 2012 | Public

That I've seen... This list is no no particular order.

However it is a MUST WATCH list.

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1. Little Dorrit (2008)

TV-PG | 34 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

The Dorrits are a family whose life revolves around the Marshalsea, a debtor's prison. Amy Dorrit's kind nature brings the family into contact with a wide swath of English society, from the poorest to the richest, and back again.

Stars: Matthew Macfadyen, Claire Foy, Tom Courtenay, Judy Parfitt

Votes: 10,477

2. Casanova (2005)

TV-MA | 58 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

After a life spent seeking pleasure and decadence, Casanova seeks his one true love, Henriette.

Stars: Rose Byrne, David Tennant, Peter O'Toole, Rupert Penry-Jones

Votes: 5,435

3. 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: 2,690

4. Wives and Daughters (1999)

TV-PG | 75 min | Drama

The daughter of a country doctor copes with an unwanted stepmother, an impetuous stepsister, burdensome secrets, the town gossips, and the tug on her own heartstrings for a man who thinks of her only as a friend.

Stars: Francesca Annis, Justine Waddell, Bill Paterson, Keeley Hawes

Votes: 7,318

5. The Paradise (2012–2013)

TV-PG | 60 min | Drama

The story of a young woman who works in a department store and gets caught up in the charms of the modern world.

Stars: Joanna Vanderham, Emun Elliott, Stephen Wight, Sonya Cassidy

Votes: 12,595

6. 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: 17,713

7. Cranford (2007–2009)

TV-PG | 469 min | Drama

In the 1840s, Cranford is ruled by the ladies. They adore good gossip, and romance and change is in the air, as the unwelcome grasp of the Industrial Revolution rapidly approaches their beloved rural market-town.

Stars: Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Julia McKenzie, Deborah Findlay

Votes: 10,617

8. Downton Abbey (2010–2015)

TV-PG | 60 min | Drama, Romance

A chronicle of the lives of the British aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early twentieth century.

Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Brendan Coyle

Votes: 224,774

9. Jane Eyre (2006)

TV-PG | 58 min | Drama, Romance

A young governess falls in love with her brooding and complex master. However, his dark past may destroy their relationship forever.

Stars: Ruth Wilson, Toby Stephens, Lorraine Ashbourne, Aidan McArdle

Votes: 22,359

10. North & South (2004)

TV-PG | 235 min | Drama, Romance

North and South is a four-part adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's love story of Margaret Hale, a middle-class southerner who is forced to move to the northern town of Milton.

Stars: Daniela Denby-Ashe, Richard Armitage, Tim Pigott-Smith, Sinéad Cusack

Votes: 34,939

11. Tess of the D'Urbervilles (2008)

TV-PG | 60 min | Drama, Romance

The story of Tess Durbeyfield, a low-born country girl whose family find they have noble connections.

Stars: Gemma Arterton, Eddie Redmayne, Ruth Jones, Hans Matheson

Votes: 6,620

12. Pride and Prejudice (1995)

TV-PG | 55 min | Drama, Romance

While the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.

Stars: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker, Julia Sawalha

Votes: 92,247

13. Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)

R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Music

71 Metascore

Laura Henderson (Dame Judi Dench) buys an old London theater and opens it up as the Windmill, a performance hall which goes down in history for, amongst other things, its all-nude revues.

Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Christopher Guest, Will Young

Votes: 16,450 | Gross: $11.03M

14. John Adams (2008)

TV-14 | 71 min | Biography, Drama, History

The life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.

Stars: Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, John Dossett, Stephen Dillane

Votes: 36,592

15. The Secret Garden (1993)

G | 101 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy

74 Metascore

A young, recently-orphaned girl is sent to England after living in India all of her life. Once there, she begins to explore her new, seemingly-isolated surroundings, and its secrets.

Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Kate Maberly, Maggie Smith, Heydon Prowse, Andrew Knott

Votes: 44,455 | Gross: $31.18M

16. The Artist (I) (2011)

PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

89 Metascore

When George, a silent movie superstar, meets Peppy Miller, a dancer, sparks fly between the two. However, after the introduction of talking pictures, their fortunes change, affecting their dynamic.

Director: Michel Hazanavicius | Stars: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell

Votes: 248,568 | Gross: $44.67M

17. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)

PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Romance

63 Metascore

Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.

Director: Bharat Nalluri | Stars: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds, David Alexander

Votes: 29,731 | Gross: $12.29M

18. Toast (2010 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

57 Metascore

The ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain.

Director: S.J. Clarkson | Stars: Oscar Kennedy, Victoria Hamilton, Colin Prockter, Ken Stott

Votes: 10,458

19. The Painted Veil (2006)

PG-13 | 125 min | Drama, Romance

69 Metascore

Dr Walter gets married to the beautiful Kitty but soon finds out that she is cheating on him. Battling his way through problems, he heads to China to fight a dreaded disease spread in a small village.

Director: John Curran | Stars: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Catherine An

Votes: 95,919 | Gross: $8.06M

20. Secondhand Lions (2003)

PG | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Family

52 Metascore

Fourteen-year-old Walter Caldwell's irresponsible mother Mae sends him to live with his bachelor uncles, Hub and Garth, so that she can go on yet another husband-hunting trip.

Director: Tim McCanlies | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Kyra Sedgwick

Votes: 61,724 | Gross: $41.41M

21. The Best of Men (2012 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 90 min | Biography, Drama, History

In 1943, a refugee doctor from Nazi Germany uses new methods to rehabilitate those with spinal injuries in Great Britain. Based on actual events.

Director: Tim Whitby | Stars: George MacKay, Bebe Sanders, Leigh Quinn, Eddie Marsan

Votes: 1,698

22. Atonement (2007)

R | 123 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

85 Metascore

Thirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.

Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn, Saoirse Ronan

Votes: 299,701 | Gross: $50.93M

23. A Very Long Engagement (2004)

R | 133 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

76 Metascore

Tells the story of a young woman's relentless search for her fiancé, who has disappeared from the trenches of the Somme during World War One.

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jodie Foster, Dominique Pinon

Votes: 75,941 | Gross: $6.17M

24. Emma (2009)

TV-PG | 62 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Emma Woodhouse, a wealthy young woman living in the early 19th century, whose misplaced confidence in her matchmaking abilities occasions several romantic misadventures, which leads her into deeper meanings of love and life

Stars: Romola Garai, Michael Gambon, Jonny Lee Miller, Jodhi May

Votes: 18,032

25. Quills (2000)

R | 124 min | Biography, Drama

70 Metascore

In a Napoleonic era insane asylum, an inmate, the irrepressible Marquis De Sade, fights a battle of wills against a tyrannically prudish doctor.

Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine

Votes: 56,715 | Gross: $7.06M

26. Gosford Park (2001)

R | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery

90 Metascore

Set in the 1930s, a group of pretentious rich and famous get together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. But when a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect.

Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Maggie Smith, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas

Votes: 93,986 | Gross: $41.31M

27. Walk the Line (2005)

PG-13 | 136 min | Biography, Drama, Music

72 Metascore

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.

Director: James Mangold | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick

Votes: 265,770 | Gross: $119.52M

28. The Last Samurai (2003)

R | 154 min | Action, Drama

55 Metascore

Nathan Algren, a US army veteran, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in the modern warfare techniques. Nathan finds himself trapped in a struggle between two eras and two worlds.

Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, William Atherton

Votes: 470,835 | Gross: $111.11M

29. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

R | 119 min | Drama, Romance

74 Metascore

A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.

Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz

Votes: 75,108 | Gross: $34.70M

30. Hysteria (2011)

R | 100 min | Biography, Comedy, Romance

53 Metascore

The truth of how Mortimer Granville devised the invention of the first vibrator in the name of medical science.

Director: Tanya Wexler | Stars: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Felicity Jones

Votes: 33,173 | Gross: $1.80M

31. American Horror Story (2011– )

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

An anthology series centering on different characters and locations, showcasing different aspects of horror.

Stars: Lady Gaga, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Sarah Paulson

Votes: 343,355

32. Hugo (2011)

PG | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

83 Metascore

In 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley

Votes: 336,757 | Gross: $73.86M

33. Mad Men (2007–2015)

TV-MA | 45 min | Drama

A drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper.

Stars: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones

Votes: 260,384

34. Midnight in Paris (2011)

PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

81 Metascore

While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller

Votes: 449,748 | Gross: $56.82M

35. Albert Nobbs (2011)

R | 113 min | Drama, Romance

57 Metascore

Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th-century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most elegant hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.

Director: Rodrigo García | Stars: Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Antonia Campbell-Hughes

Votes: 25,582 | Gross: $3.01M

36. Mansfield Park (1999)

PG-13 | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

71 Metascore

Fanny, born into a poor family, is sent away to live with wealthy uncle Sir Thomas, his wife and their four children, where she'll be brought up for a proper introduction to society.

Director: Patricia Rozema | Stars: Frances O'Connor, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola, Hannah Taylor Gordon

Votes: 25,831 | Gross: $4.76M

37. The Remains of the Day (1993)

PG | 134 min | Drama, Romance

86 Metascore

A butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.

Director: James Ivory | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, John Haycraft, Christopher Reeve

Votes: 84,390 | Gross: $22.95M

38. Sense and Sensibility (1995)

PG | 136 min | Drama, Romance

84 Metascore

Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the title opposites.

Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, James Fleet, Tom Wilkinson

Votes: 125,657 | Gross: $43.18M

39. Howards End (1992)

PG | 142 min | Drama, Romance

88 Metascore

Set in the early 20th century, class distinctions and troubled relations affect the relationship between two families and the ownership of a cherished British estate known as Howards End.

Director: James Ivory | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter

Votes: 35,823 | Gross: $25.97M

40. Rome (2005–2007)

TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Drama, Romance

A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.

Stars: Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson, Polly Walker, Kerry Condon

Votes: 185,252

41. Deadwood (2004–2006)

TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, History

A show set in the late 1800s, revolving around the characters of Deadwood, South Dakota; a town of deep corruption and crime.

Stars: Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Brad Dourif

Votes: 117,560

42. An Education (2009)

PG-13 | 100 min | Drama

85 Metascore

A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age.

Director: Lone Scherfig | Stars: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams

Votes: 138,139 | Gross: $12.57M

43. Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, Romance

66 Metascore

The Brothers Grimm arrive at the home of a wealthy Grande Dame who speaks of the many legends surrounding the fable of the cinder girl before telling the "true" story of her ancestor.

Director: Andy Tennant | Stars: Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott, Patrick Godfrey

Votes: 81,692 | Gross: $65.71M

44. The Last Emperor (1987)

PG-13 | 163 min | Biography, Drama, History

76 Metascore

Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying

Votes: 111,466 | Gross: $43.98M



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